WILLIAM MYERS IMMEL
William Myers Immel, agent of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, at Washington, Tazewell County. Ill., has won the confidence of his superiors by sixteen years of faithful and intelligent service to the road and the traveling public. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction, being born in Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pa., in 1857, the son of John and Maria Immel, also natives of the Keystone State. John Myers was a skillful trader and a typical horse dealer, and devoted most of his life to this occupation. He was somewhat of a wanderer, although for many years his home was in Reading. Pa. His wife died in Reading in 1867, and in 1873 he brought his children to Tazewell County, Ill., where larger opportunities awaited him, and where he continued, as before, to gain a fair livelihood, and to derive a certain amount of satisfaction from his somewhat precarious business. On his expeditions he became familiar with the greater part of the State, and remained active until a short time before his death, September 22, 1882.
The son, William, was fifteen years old when the family came to Tazewell County, and was at once apprenticed to a carpenter in Washington, becoming in time, skilled in a more than ordinary degree in this useful trade. Desiring to try his fortune further west, he lived on a farm in Nebraska four years, and for the following three years was a clerk in the Santa Fe office at Wellington, Kan. Later he became telegraph operator and agent at Attica, Kan., still later having charge of various offices until placed in charge of the station at his old home in Washington, Tazewell County. October 25, 1882, he was united in marriage with Flora Bell Myers, and there are two children of this union: Guy and May. The handsome and well appointed home of the Immel family is surrounded by fifteen acres of improved land and constitutes one of the most valuable and desirable properties in Washington. Guy Immel is a bright and promising youth, and, following in his father’s footsteps, is interested in railroading, having been recently appointed agent and operator at Surry, Ill. Mr: Immel is prominent in fraternal associations, and is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. The family are members of the Lutheran Church.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County - page 1027