William E. Ginther, dealer in hardware and farm machinery, and general insurance agent, Charleston; was born in the province of Saxony, Prussia, May 2, 1834; his father was a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and he attended school and worked in his father’s shop till he was 16 years old, when he came to this country, landing in New York on the 4th of July, 1850; coming to Chicago, he worked on a farm and on the old Galena & Chicago R. R. for awhile; afterward engaged in farming for himself; in 1861, he engaged as a traveling salesman for H. W. Austin, of Chicago, his route lying through Central and Southern Illinois, and Missouri; in 1864, he removed to Charleston, and, until 1869, followed the hardware and lumber business, the firm being McGee & Ginther; he then became a partner in the firm of Weiss, Ginther & Co.., proprietors of the Charleston Woolen-Mill; in 1874, he resumed the hardware business, and in September, 1877, started in the insurance business also; he represents fifteen first-class fire insurance companies, and three life and accident companies. He represented a part of Cook Co. in the State Legislature in 1861 and 1862, his district comprising; the West Division of Chicago and the western portion of Cook Co.; for four years previously, he had been a member of the Cook County Board of Supervisors; since coming to Charleston, he has abstained from political life, and with the exception of serving in the City Council, has held no public office. He was married in 1853 to Miss Catherine Jacobs, of St. Charles, T11., a native of Bavaria, Germany; she died in 1858, leaving one son-Francis W., now U. S. Postal Clerk from Pittsburgh, Penn., to New York City; Mr. Ginther was married again in 1859, to Miss Christina Schneider, of Oak Park,; they have five children – Emma L., Anna, Clara A., Minnie C. and William E., Jr.
