Membership Meeting to be Held on 10/21/2018

Posted on by October 14, 2018

We will be holding a membership meeting at the museum on Sunday, October 21st, 2018, at 2:00 P.M.  We will be discussing society business as well as completed, ongoing and future projects. If you have a show & tell item, feel free to bring it. Elections for 2019 board members will be held. Nominations for new board members may be made up to and including the day of the meeting.

The program will be presented by Steve Schlager, a Carterville business owner and author who enjoys weaving fiction around local history to create tales that could have been true. His program will be based on a fictional train robbery that occurred in the 1920’s.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Seeking Photos of Past Sheriffs

Posted on by September 10, 2018

For decades, the Williamson County Historical Society has been trying to locate photographs of past Williamson County sheriffs and over the years the list has been narrowed down to the following names. If you are related to one of the counties past sheriffs listed below, look through your family photo albums and see if you can help us find photos of these individuals. Photos can be emailed to wchsmail@yahoo.com

Sheriff Year Born Years Served
Caplinger, Wilson J. 1825 1876-78
Goodall, Hardin 1833 1868-70
Goodall, John 1824 1850-52
Gray, Joab 1864 1889-1902
Hendrickson, Richmond R. 1827 1860-62
Huffstutler, Joel 1812 1846-50 & 1854-56
McHaney, Richard T. 1815 1858-60
Norris, Noah E. 1832 1874-76
Parks, Hugh Milo 1846 1894-98
Sanders, Jacob W. 1829 1856-58
Sisney, George W. 1831 1866-68
Spencer, Lewis H. 1830? 1862-64

Pittsburg Illinois Records Published and Indexed

Posted on by August 28, 2018

Since there is little published about the village of Pittsburg, Illinois other than historical notations, we were pleased when Jane Whitehead, granddaughter of James T. Fowler, approached us with a couple of Justice of the Peace Docket books to copy. Fowler resided over local city skirmishes in Pittsburg while serving as Justice of the Peace of the village for at least a couple of decades. Most of the cases involved assault, theft, bad debts, public drunkenness or domestic abuse. Included along with the Justice of the Peace dockets were entries of Chattel Mortgages where those looking to borrow money from someone would officially establish collateral for the loan, usually in the form of livestock or personal property. Continue reading →

Last of Paisley Scrapbook Volumes Indexed

Posted on by August 5, 2018


The last book in the Paisley Scrapbook series has been indexed and the index has been added to our Master Newspaper Index on our website. These volumes are related to the two trials held in late 1922 and early 1923 centered around the Herrin Massacre. They contain information related to the questioning of dozens of potential jurors and witnesses for the trial and reveal familial relationships, residential and occupational information of dozens of local residents. The index includes over 1,000 references.

Oldham Paisley and his father, W.O. Paisley, owned and operated the Marion Daily Republican from 1915 until it was sold in the 1970’s. During the 1920’s, Oldham covered all of the major events of the county as a reporter including the KKK, kidnapping and murder, gang members, gang warfare and the Herrin Massacre. Paisley collected all of his news clippings related to these events and grouped them. The historical society put these into book form to make them available to the public.

The entire series is as follows:

  • Volume 1, 1922-24, Before & After Herrin Massacre
  • Volume 2 & 3, 1922-23, First & Second Herrin Massacre Trials
  • Volume 1A & 1B, 1922, Herrin Massacre
  • Volume 4A & 4B, 1923-24, Ku Klux Klan
  • Volume 5 & 6, 1924-26, Klan, Glenn Young, Charles Birger
  • Volume 7 & 8, 1927-28, Charles Birger & Trial
  • Volume 9, 1928-29, Birger, Boswell, Ritter