My Genealogy Hound

Chrisostomus Will, another early settler of Gasconade County, was born in Hesse Cassel, Germany, in 1819, and is the son of Peter and Gertrude (Herbst) Will. The father was also born in Hesse Cassel in 1776, and the mother, who was nine years younger than her husband, was born in Bavaria. The father was a farmer and was for twenty-one years burgomaster of his village. He and wife spent their entire lives in Hesse Cassel, and both lived to be sixty-two years of age. Eleven children were born to their marriage, five sons and six daughters, of whom only two came to America: Magnus, who came in 1838 to Cincinnati, Ohio, was here married and worked at the stone-mason’s trade until 1842, when he came to Hermann. He died in 1888, leaving a widow and twelve children. Chrisostomus remained in the land of his birth until 1848, when he joined his brother in Hermann. In 1850 he took for his wife Otilia Fritz, a native of Alsace, born in 1831, and who lived but five years after marriage, leaving three children, two sons and a daughter. In 1856 Mr. Will married Mrs. Marianna Stolle, nee Mueller. She was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1830, and to her marriage to Mr. Will became the mother of ten children, three of whom are living, one son and two daughters. Mr. Will and wife are members of the Catholic Church, as was also his first wife. He served in the militia during the war, and is a Democrat in his political views. He has lived on his present farm, which consists of ninety acres of good land, for twenty-nine years, and is a member of the St. Joseph’s Association of youths and men.