Author: Sam

A volunteer appreciation lunch was held at Bennie’s Restaurant on December 7^th, 2016 by the Williamson County Historical Society. The lunch was held as a show of appreciation for the efforts of all of the volunteers who work at the Williamson County Museum and genealogy library. The society enjoys over 5,000 volunteer hours each year at the museum that are put into indexing, assisting in genealogy and history research, maintenance, museum tours and more. Special recognition was given to volunteers Colleen Norman, Ursula Richey, Helen Sutt Lind and Sharon Vansaghi for their outstanding devotion to the society in the form of a President’s Award and gift cards by President Sam Lattuca. Past President Bob Jackson and current President Sam Lattuca were also cited for their work and devotion to the organization by the membership.

Due to heating issues with the museum, we will be changing to our winter hours of operation. On Thanksgiving the museum will be closed and will reopen on a Saturday only schedule starting December 3rd. The winter schedule will be in effect until the beginning of March next spring when we will resume our 6 day a week schedule.

We wish all a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

In the first couple of weeks of October, a four month long project reached completion. The old side porch at the museum which used to house the book store was converted into two small rooms. One is a 4 x 6 utility room with cabinets, shelving and a deep sink to enable maintenance on the building and the other room is a 6 x 6.5 first floor restroom which is long overdue.

Another project reaching completion is the editing and proofing of additional Storme funeral home records from Herrin. The records will be printed up when finished and likely will be added to the existing Storme funeral records already on the website.

We also gained access to Ozment funeral home records this year and have been compiling those into digital form. Ozment operated in Marion from ca 1916 up into the 1950’s or so, I believe. When complete, the records will be made accessible as well. (more…)

The Williamson County Historical Society held a membership meeting on Sunday, October30th, 2016 at the Williamson County Museum at 105 S. Van Buren Street in Marion. The society elected board members for 2017, society projects were discussed and a program was given by society president Sam Lattuca on the Public Land Survey System. 2017 board members elected were President Sam Lattuca, 1^st Vice President Colleen Norman, 2^nd Vice President Helen Lind, Secretary Ursula Richey, Treasurer Dolores Thetford, and Director Andrew McRoy. Bob Jackson and George Mavigliano serve as directors but their positions were not up this election.

Bob Jackson was honored at the meeting for his decades of service to the museum and society. Jackson has served on the board for over 20 years with 12 as president. He has contributed innumerable hours of service in the form of public programs, guided tours of the museum and Goddard Chapel, artwork of historical buildings and creating historical reference books for the county.

A membership meeting will be held for active members of the Williamson County Historical Society on Sunday, October 30th, 2016 at 1:00 PM at the museum. Elections for the 2017 board of directors will be held. Nominations for the board can be made ahead of time or on the day of the election. Your dues must be paid up to vote. We will discuss the latest and future activities of the society and a program will be given on the United States Public Land Survey System. Be sure to mark you calendar and attend.

The Marion Cultural and Civic Center will be hosting the Moscow Ballet’s “Nutcracker” on December 5, 2016. If you are planning on attending, be sure to use promo code “Historical” when purchasing tickets and the WCHS will get a portion of the ticket sales. Help support our museum.

The Williamson County Historical Society held a membership meeting on Sunday, July 31^st, 2016 at the Williamson County Museum located at 105 S. Van Buren Street in Marion. Current society and museum projects and business were discussed and a “show and tell” program was held in which members brought in various historical objects and family heirlooms and discussed their significance with the group. Items presented ranged from civil war era tintype photos to Native American artifacts.

A highlight of the meeting was the induction of current Vice President Helen Sutt Lind into the societies honor roll. Lind, a citizen of Johnston City, has been an active society member for well over 2 decades. She has served in most all board positions from President to Director and has been editor of the societies quarterly since its inception in 1994. Lind has contributed heavily to county history by authoring 22 books alone and has coauthored 17 more. She is also active in the Franklin County Historical Society and in her spare time likes to paint, crochet & read books. Society President Sam Lattuca was quoted as saying, “Helen is a dream member who is always willing to help and we are honored to have her as a member and a friend.”

The Williamson County Historical Society will be holding a membership meeting at 1:00 P.M. on Sunday, July 31, 2016. at the museum. All active members are invited to attend. We will be discussing society activities and museum business as well as hosting a “show and tell” program. If you have an historical artifact or document or an interesting family heirloom with a story, bring it along and tell us about it. If the object is too large to bring, take a photo and bring that. Refreshments will be served.