WILLIAM A. WILLING

William Arthur Willing, engaged in the practice of law in Northwood, with real estate and insurance as a department of his business, was born in Camillus, New York, February 12, 1871, a son of Richard Arthur and Ormanta (Watson) Willing. The father was born in Sheffield, England, and with his father and his stepmother, his own mother having died in England, he crossed to Canada when a little lad of but four years and pursued his education in that country. The grandfather was a miller in England and continued in the same line of business in Canada, remaining active in that field of labor until his death. His second wife also died in Canada. Richard A. Willing continued a resident of the Dominion until 1865, when he crossed the border into the United States and became a resident of Camillus, New York, where he engaged in the milling business which he had previously learned under the direction of his father. He continued to follow the milling trade in Camillus for two years, after which he removed to Phelps, New York, where he operated two mills, continuing one of the active factors in the business circles of that place until his death, which occurred in 1910, when he was sixty-three years of age. His wife survived until June, 1914, and was sixty-eight years of age when called to her final rest. Both were "members of the Presbyterian church and were people of the highest respectability. The father was a republican in his political views but did nor seek nor desire office as a reward for party fealty.

William A. Willing spent his boyhood at Phelps, New York, and attended the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to the high school. He afterward became a student in the Rochester University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1888. He then entered the milling business in connection with his father and was active along that line until 1897, when he came to the west and matriculated in the State University of Iowa as a law student. He also had office credits at Northwood, Iowa, as the result of his study with the firm of Lamb & Gilmore, and he was graduated from the university in the spring of 1898. He then took up his abode in Northwood and purchased the practice of Mr. Gilmore, organizing the firm of Lamb & Willing. At a later period he entered into partnership with L. S. Butler, with law offices at Forest City, Iowa, and at Northwood, but after a year the partnership was discontinued, Mr. Willing conducting the Northwood office until 1902. He then bought out the practice of Mr. Lamb and conducted his business interests independently until 1909. In that year he removed to Mason City, Iowa, and became general agent for the Equitable Life Insurance. Company. On the 1st of October he accepted the position of field supervisor with the Equitable Life Insurance Company and served in that capacity for several years. While in Mason City in the insurance business he also conducted, in partnership with his brother, a soda grill and both of his interests constituted sources of substantial success. While engaged in law practice in Northwood he filled the position of mayor, to which he was called in 1906, so serving until the fall of 1908, when he resigned. He was also secretary and manager of the Northwood Telephone Company for five years and he is now agent for the Equitable Life Insurance Company, with offices at Northwood. Thoroughness has characterized everything that he has undertaken. It is manifest in the preparation of his cases while still active at the bar and it is a feature of the conduct of his other interests. Fraternally he is a Mason and has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is also a member of Za-Ga-Zig Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He follows in the political footsteps of his father, giving his endorsement to republican principles, but has never been ambitious to hold office, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his law practice and his insurance business. For twenty years he has been a resident of Iowa, where he has become widely and favorably known, and in Northwood, where he makes his home, he has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; PAGES 228-229

Transcription by Gordon Felland, 9/22/2006