Author: Sam

The Williamson County Historical Society Museum and Library has switched over to its winter hours of operation. From Thanksgiving till March 1 the museum goes down to being open on Saturdays only from 9:30 till 3:00 P.M. The building runs on a gas fired boiler for radiator heat and costs about $400 a month just to keep it at 55 degrees so this saves on heat costs. In addition, this time of the year is when volunteers get an opportunity to rework displays and do maintenance work on the building which we normally wouldn’t have time for the rest of the year.

Everyone is encouraged to visit the museum on Saturdays through the holiday season and learn about local history and how early families had to live their lives. Perhaps, this may also be the time to start doing some family genealogy which we are very geared for in our library. Even if you haven’t started researching your family yet, we can help you with that as well.

For the experienced family researchers, don’t forget that we have an extensive book indexing system on our website with about three quarters of a million references relating back to our library research material or early court records. If you find something of interest in our indexes, just email us the book source and page number and we can scan the page and email it back to you.

The newly created index to the book “Personal Memoirs of James W. Turner” have been added to our Master Local History Index. The index contains over a thousand references to people, places, schools and events. Turner was instrumental in the development of our counties early school system, taught in several of its schools and was also instrumental in the founding of Crab Orchard Academy located in Crab Orchard Illinois. The index can be viewed separately below.

Personal Memoirs of James W. Turner 

On October 8, 2019 Carol M. Highsmith graced the Williamson County Historical Society Museum. As a renowned photographer she has been donating her images to the Library of Congress since 1992.

Her series of images called, Carol M. Highsmith’s America, contains images across America documenting our history while it is still around. (more…)

The index to the book “The Herrin Conspiracy” has been created and added to our Master Local History Index viewable from our Records tab. The book is a brief recount of events surrounding the infamous Herrin Massacre event of 1922 and is only 36 pages long. The index to the book
can be viewed by itself in the link below:

The Herrin Conspiracy

 

The index to the book “Williamson County Schools” written by Lee Booth with his daughter Betty Green Rademacher in 1989 has been added to our Master Local History index under our Records tab. The index to the book can be viewed by itself in the link below.

Williamson County Schools: From a Personal and Professional Perspective

We recently added indexing to select township tax lists for the years 1891 and 1894 in addition to two books in our library related to deeds, mortgages and chattels. The latter book covers years from the 1840’s to around 1902. The indexes have been added to our Master Misc. County Records Index but may be viewed separately in the links below.

1891 Grassy Township, T10 R1 Tax List   

1891 Southern Township, T10 R2 Tax List

1894 Blairsville Township, T8 R1 Tax List

1894 Herrin Township, T8 R2 Tax List

1894 Southern Township, T10 R2 Tax List

Deeds, Mortgages, Chattels Book 1  

Deeds, Mortgages, Chattels, Book 2  

The 1905 Historical Souvenir by J.F. Wilcox has always been one of my favorites for county history. It was put together in 1904 and published in 1905. Our historical society  first reprinted it in 1979. After being out of print for a few years now it is back in a softbound version and heavily indexed for people, places, businesses, churches, schools, events, crime and more. The volume contains early history of the county and its people up to its publication and contains many biographical features of local businessmen and prominent citizens. A real must have book for local historians. (more…)

The Williamson County Historical Society recently received permissions to reproduce the book “The History of the Village of Crainville” which was no longer in print and was only originally available in very limited quantities. The book has been reproduced and thanks to one of the original contributors a number of photographs have been added as well as an exhaustive index. The book is available through the museum book store and sells for $15.

An index was also created for the book “1965 Johnston City Homecoming Souvenir Program.” This book contains a history of Johnston City from its beginning up through 1965. The index contains over 1,500 references to places and peoples names. Both the Crainville and Johnston City book indexes have been added to our  Master Local History Index.

We have recently added indexing from two sources. The first source is the History of the Village of Crainville which contains a concise early history of the Village and some lineage of the Crain family responsible for its beginnings. This indexing was added to our Master Local History Index.

The second source added is a partial accounting of Williamson County Birth Record Book 15 covering births that occurred from June 1923 through May 1924. This indexing was added to our Misc. County Records Index.

Both indexes can be found under the Records tab from our main menu.

After having been closed to the public since March 2020, the Williamson County Historical Society Museum and Library at 105 S. Van Buren St. in Marion will reopen to the public on Wednesday, June 23^rd, 2021. Before the pandemic the museum/library was able to be open six days a week but due to a loss of volunteers over the pandemic, the museum will begin by being open four days a week from Wednesday through Saturday, 9:30 A.M. till 3:00 P.M. Masks will only be required for those who are not fully vaccinated and groups will be held temporarily to a maximum of six people. (more…)