December 23, 1877 – April 22, 1965
William Christopher Ryan was born in Morton, IL to William and Mary Griffin Ryan. He was one of three children.
On June 15, 1909 he married Emma Giehl at St. Mary’s Church in Metamora, IL. She survived him as well as sons William G. Ryan and Julian G. Ryan. Daughter Mrs. Margaret Jones of Peoria, IL preceded him in death.
After his mother died, William was reared at the old Catholic Orphanage in Metamora, IL and later boarded with relatives in Iowa and Minnesota. It was during this period that he began working as a printer and news contributor. After the turn of the century, Ryan returned to Metamora on vacation and pursued buying the local paper. He eventually bought the newspaper for $400, plus the expense of acquiring a telephone and a load of coal. He published his first edition of The Herald on November 9, 1904, the day Theodore Roosevelt was elected President. William Ryan was Editor and Publisher of The Metamora Herald for more than 53 years.
From the Metamora Herald dated April 29, 1965
He was a competent, thorough reporter and a perfectionist in news-writing and editing, never deviating from the self-imposed, strict journalistic code of objectivity, good taste and compassion in handling the news in the community each week.
A tradition and an institution in his own time and a weekly newspaperman’s newspaperman, Mr. Ryan had chronicled the births, the illnesses and mishaps, the marriages, the joys and heartbreaks, humorous experiences – and the deaths – of several generations in his beloved Metamora and environs from 1904 until 1958.
