Elizabeth's father, Conrad, was a doctor and salt mine owner, He founded the town of Brownsville. He came to IL from PA in 1814 and died 11 Jun 1934. Elizabeth was born in PA.

Conrad WILL manufactured salt and became wealthy. He was State Senator for Brownsville in the First General Assembly.

Will County is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. State of Illinois. This county is part of Chicagoland. As of 2000, the population is 502,266. It was named after Dr. Conrad Will, a businessman and politician who used slaves in his southern Illinois salt production. A law allowed slaves to be leased from other states and used in the free state of Illinois only for salt production.

The county (Will) received its name from Dr. Conrad Will, a member of the first Constitutional Convention and a member of the Illinois Legislature until his death in 1835.

Not until the 1842 Maria Adams case do we start getting details about the kidnappings. Crenshaw purchased the indenture contracts for Maria Adams and her husband Charles in late 1829 or early 1830. He purchased the contracts from Col. A. G. S. Wight who was moving to Galena. Also included in the sale was a son named Nelson, a daughter named Ellen,32 and possibly some younger children. In October 1829, Maria gave birth to another daughter, Nancy Jane. Charles had less time on his contract and filed his freedom papers on April 29, 1834.33
Maria was born in 1790. She was indentured in Randolph County, Illinois, on July 14, 1810, for 45 years, when she was 15 years old.34 Charles was born about 1794. In late 1813 or early 1814, he moved from Maryland to Illinois with his owners. On March 19, 1814, he was indentured to Dr. Conrad Will, who had moved to the Big Muddy River the year before. Charles was lucky and his indenture was only for 20 years. Sometime during the next four years, Illinois Territorial Gov. Ninian Edwards purchased Charles' contract. During this time Charles also married Maria. Possibly as a wedding present, on March 6, 1818, Edwards filed a statement in Randolph County Court at Kaskaskia pledging that he would let Maria go free when Charles' contract expired.35

Will, Conrad of Jackson County, Ill. Delegate to Illinois state constitutional convention Jackson County, 1818. Burial location unknown. Will County, Ill. is named for him.

CONRAD WILL 7

CONRAD WILL was of German parentage. His parents came from Germany as early as the latter part of the eighteenth century. Conrad was born in 1779, studied medicine and practiced in Somerset County, where he married Susanah Kimmel in 1804. He visited Illinois in 1813, stopping awhile at Kaskaskia, which was then a fairly thriving town. He rode over the settled portions of Illinois and when ready to return to Pennsylvania he bought for gold a drove of cattle which he drove over the country to the Pennsylvania markets, making a handsome profit. He then decided to move to Illinois and located at a salt spring some four miles down the Big Muddy River from Murphysboro. Here he prepared to manufacture salt and at the same time practice medicine. He returned to Pitts burgh, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1816, and bought thirty cast iron kettles weighing 400 pounds each and holding sixty gallons of water, in which the boiled down the salt water. He was instrumental in getting Jackson County organized in 1816, and the capital was fixed at Brownsville, which was the home of Doctor Will. Brownsville grew to be a flourishing town. Doctor Will was one of the early county commissioners; he kept a store, practiced medicine, ran a saw and grist mill, and operated a tannery. Doctor Will employed slaves in his salt works under the in denture system, but the works never paid Doctor Will for all his labor and trouble and he discontinued the making of salt for the general market, and operated the works as a sort of local enterprise. Doctor Will was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818, the other delegate from Jackson County being James Hall, Jr. Doctor Will took a very active part in the conduct of public affairs and was the associate of some of the most prominent men in early Illinois history. He was a member of the State Senate at the time of his death in June, 1835.

Bought land in Jackson county - WILL CONRAD May 1, 1815 Federal sale, WILL CONRAD March 23, 1818 Federal sale (FD), WILL CONRAD March 23, 1818 Federal sale (FD)

More About Conrad Will and Susanna Kimmel:
Marriage: 1804, Pennsylvania.

Children of Conrad Will and Susanna Kimmel are: