JOSEPH DROLL, is proprietor of a well known summer resort of Marion County, having an elegant and commodious residence on section 13, Brookside Township, just outside the city limits of Centralia. He was born in Baden, Germany, June 24, 1827, and is a son of Casper Droll. His father was born in Baden and was the only son of Joseph Droll, Sr., a German farmer. Upon the old homestead he was reared and there married Theresa Myer, daughter of Philip Myer, by whom he had seven children. Barney, who resides in St. Louis County, Mo., and Joseph are the only ones living in this country.
The parents both spent their en tire lives in Baden, where the father followed farming, and with the Roman Catholic Church they hold membership.
Our subject spent his boyhood and youth in his native land, and after acquiring his education in the village school of Steinbock and attaining to mature years, he was there married to Elizabeth, daughter of Leopold Rheinbold, who was also a farmer of Baden. Mr. Droll then purchased a house, and his father gave him some land, which he operated for three years, when he determined to try his forture in America. In 1853 he sailed for the New World, and in January, 1854, landed in New Orleans, after a voyage of two months. He then made his way to St. Louis. He had neither friends nor acquaintances in this country, but after a time he made arrangements to carry on a boarding house for the railroad contractors at Big Muddy, where he remained until July of the same year.
Mr. Droll then came to Centralia, where he carried on a boarding house for the men on the Illinois Central Railroad. After a time he became proprietor of the Centralia House, and at length opened his present establishment. He first purchased three acres of land, for which he paid $500, and afterward bought an adjoining tract of three acres. He set out two acres in grapes and planted about two hundred apple and peach trees. He erected a fine house, which he now conducts as a beer garden and summer resort. In it is a fine hall 40x60 feet, which is one of the most popular resorts in the county.
To Mr. and Mrs. Droll were born four children, but only one is now living, Mary, wife of Lawrence Hoffman, of Centralia, by whom she has four children, Joseph, Ida, Lena and Elizabeth.
When our subject and his wife came to Centralia, the town was very small and none of its present inhabitants were then living within its borders. He has been prominently identified with many of its leading interests and enterprises. He was one of the first stockholders of the Centralia Fair Association, the Centralia Mining and Manufacturing Company, and the gas company. He is also a stockholder in the Centralia Iron and Nail Works, the Exchange Bank, and the St. Louis Insurance Company. In politics he is a Democrat, and socially is an Odd Fellow, belonging to both the subordinate lodge and encampment. He is now serving as Past Grand of the local lodge. Mr. Droll is now recognized as one of the substantial citizens of Centralia, a position which he has attained through his own well directed efforts, for when he came to Centralia he had no capital.
Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record Clinton, Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois"
Chapman Publishing Co, Chicago, 1894
Pages 362 - 363
Submitted by Sandy (Whalen) Bauer