Will S. Beels is publisher and Editor of the Hopkinton Leader. He was born March 15, 1863, at Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, a son of Alonzo and Mary (Crosby) Beels. The father was a sailor and captain upon the Great Lakes for many years, and became a pioneer of Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, in 1840. He removed to Independence , Iowa in 1869.

     Will S. Beels was educated in the district schools. he found employment in a printing office as a boy, and as the work proved congenial has devoted his life to it.  In 1885 he purchased the Oelwein Register, conducting it for two years. In 1888 he went to Emmetsburg, and two years later established the Tribune of that city, selling out in 1894. In that same year he was employed on the Manchester Democrat as local editor, which position he resigned in 1897 to accept the position of manager and editor of the Delaware County News at Manchester. In 1890 he bought the Hopkinton Leader, which has been greatly improved and enlarged since that time. It is republican in politics.

     Mr. Beels was married November 30, 1886, to Miss Flora A. Howard, daughter of Warren M. and Margaret (Nelson Howard.