Otwell, William

Died: 1844-XX-XX Madison County, Illinois

Otwell was an early settler of Madison County, Illinois. In 1814, he served on the grand jury for the county. He constructed the public jail in 1816, the first public building built in the county. Otwell represented Madison County in the Illinois House of Representatives on three occasions, from 1820 to 1822, from 1824 to 1826, and as a Whig from 1838 to 1840. Otwell was a Methodist, and he helped establish and lead Methodist churches in Upper Alton and Edwardsville.

W. T. Norton, ed., Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People 1812 to 1912 (Chicago: Lewis, 1912), 1:76, 338, 499; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 198-199, 207; Gazetteer of Madison County (Alton, IL: James T. Hair, 1866), 47, 49, 269-70; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 189, 211, 317.