Preserving Williamson County History – A 501(C)3 Organization
The Genealogy Department was recently blessed with a large donation of books and information. After adding to our shelves and inventory, we will be selling some of the duplicated books. These books do have some marks and hi-lighting in them but are in very good condition. We have priced them reasonably. They can be picked up at the museum or we could mail them to you for $5.00 shipping plus cost of book unless noted otherwise.
Williamson County Books for Sale: (more…)
We have recently received quilt blocks that have a connection to Williamson Co., IL. They were made in a style used in the 1940’s called Sail Away and was meant to be a Friendship quilt. It has 25 names embroidered on each block however we or the donor do not know the connection between the women. Hopefully someone can help us. Whether it be a church group, organization or family we have hit a dead end. If anyone sees a connection please contact us at wchsmail@yahoo.com call at 618-997-5863 or contact us thru our facebook page.
We do know Maude Lingle Norman was the 3rd wife of Henry B. Norman, and they are the donor’s grandparents
Names listed are Ruia Batts, Berdie Christ, Lizzie Davis, Bertie Gallion, Mary Jackson, Pauline Lawrence, Peral Linck, Eva Livingston, Mammie Lowe, Clara Marks, Fannie Newton, Maude Norman, Dorothy Norman, Mary Pasco, Josephine Ridlen, Ida Russell, Lola Sanders, Clara Saunders, Mary Travelstead, Anna Travelstead, Margaret Turner, Lena Weisbrodt, Lela Wheeler, Zella White, and Reta Yearack.
Mortgage record books M-N-O and P have been indexed and added to our Master Mortgage Record Books index. They can be accessed by clicking on our Records tab at the top of any screen or directly here. Mortgage Record Books Index
A recent quest to index 74 large Mortgage record books is moving along. So far we haven’t really discovered a rhyme or reason for the books as far as content goes. One would think they would only contain mortgage records but so far they include the following. Real estate and chattel (property) mortgages, marriage and business agreements, lease agreements, mineral rights, retail contracts, powers of attorney, last will and testaments and more. So far they appear to range in date from the 1850’s to about 1891. The last block indexed were record books I,J,K & L.
The Mortgage record books can be found under the Records tab and then Library resource indexes or here at this link. Mortgage Record Books Index.
As previously announced, we are in the process of indexing 74 Williamson County mortgage record books. These books contain a hodge podge of legal documents including mortgage records, promissory notes, retail contracts, marital & business agreements and apparently even a few last will and testaments. So far the books appear to range from about 1860 through 1890. The books, as they are indexed, will be made available in blocks of four. The last to be added were record books E, F, G, and H. The indexing can be found in our Master Mortgage Record Books index.
We have just recently set about indexing a set of Mortgage Record books that are here at the museum. There are 74 of these very large county mortgage record books and each book contains approximately 1,000 to 1,200 references. These records document a number of transactions, the purchase of property, promissory notes using property as collateral, the transfer of ownership of property and even some unusual agreements like an early form of marriage agreements and partnerships. These records might possibly give a person some insight into their early family by finding out when property was purchased or transferred and perhaps what kind of property they owned and a lot more. It takes about 20 hours to index each book and the indexes will be released after the completion of every four books. The first set of four book indexes can be viewed in the Master Mortgage Books index and will be stored under the Records tab, then Library Resource Indexes.
The Genealogy Department was recently blessed with a large donation of books and information covering Franklin, Saline and Williamson Counties. After adding to our shelves and inventory, we will be selling some of the duplicated books. These books do have some marks and hi-lighting in them but are in good condition. We have priced them accordingly. They can be picked up at the museum or we could mail them to you for $5.00 shipping, plus cost of book. They are on a first come first serve basis. The other counties will be listed in the future.
Franklin County Books for Sale (more…)
729 digital obituaries covering deaths that occurred in our county during 2021 along with 216 paper obits and funeral cards donated to us over the last year that were put in our Card Catalog obit files have been added to our Master Obituary Index on our website. Most of the funeral cards were donated to us by one individual and they are mostly all Italian individuals buried in San Carlo Cemetery in Herrin over the period of 1930 through the 1960’s.
