Preserving Williamson County History – A 501(C)3 Organization
Charles Robert “Bob” Jackson age 89, of Marion a teacher, coach, artist and historian, passed away at 8:47 am on Friday, December 20, 2024, at his home with his family on the same small farm where he grew up.
Bob was born in Williamson County on April 14th, 1935, the son of Guy and Birdie Cowsert Jackson. He married Phyllis Sue Kobler on August 20, 1960. They were married for 58 years until her death on May 30, 2019.
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Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois, Troop 8077 visited the Williamson County Historical Society museum/library for a tour on Sunday, November 2, 2024. The tour was conducted by our society curator/coordinator Sharon Vansaghi.
680 new references have been added to our Master Local History Index. The references were pulled from Sneed’s “Ghost Towns of Southern Illinois” and contain only references to Williamson County ghost towns and locations. Within the index are references to people, places, events, churches, schools, businesses, government, and indigenous natives.
The Williamson County Historical Society Museum and Library will be changing it hours of operation for the winter months after Thanksgiving to Saturdays only. Our normal hours of operation of Wed thru Saturday from 9:30 to 3 PM will shift to Saturdays only from 9:30 till 3 PM. until early next March. Our staff will however, still be available through phone messages and email for research or questions.
The museum/library will be open on November 30th, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Sharon Vansaghi, WCHS curator/coordinator set up a nice Veteran’s Day display stocked with military uniforms and objects from the museum on November 11th, 2024, at the Behavioral Arts building inside the grounds of the Marion Veteran’s Administration grounds. The society was asked to participate and if possible set up a display at the celebration. Coincidentally, the weekend prior was the 249th birthday for the U.S. Marine Corps and they held a press conference on local TV televising the event. Some of the museums’ uniforms on display were seen in the broadcast. The historical society was awarded a certificate of recognition for helping out with the event.
On November 7, 2024, WCHS President Sam Lattuca gave a program to the Delta Kappa Gamma- Alpha Kappa Chapter Sorority at Bennies Italian Foods in Marion. Lattuca spoke to the group about early Southern Illinois settlement, previous ownership of Southern Illinois and pioneer life in the early days of this part of the state. He explained some of the techniques and procedures that early pioneers used to survive in everyday life such as food, fire, housing and property ownership.
“Graveyard Granny” published 450 page guide to Lakeview Cemetery
Folks with ties to Johnston City owe a tip of the hat to Helen Lind, an 85 year old city resident who spent more than seven years collecting and publishing publicly available facts about individuals buried in Lakeview Cemetery. Located east of Arrowhead Lake, Lakeview is the city’s largest cemetery with approximately 6,000 graves.
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The Williamson County Historical Society held a membership meeting on October 27th, 2024 at their museum/library at 105 S. Van Buren Street. Society President Sam Lattuca informed the membership and guests about the societies activities since the last meeting including tours and public programs that had been given and attended and upcoming events and projects on the agenda. Members were also made aware of recent gifts and accessions made to the museum such as photographs, ephemera and family heirlooms donated by visitors to the museum. Lattuca also announced that the society has taken on the project of digitally scanning thousands of original court documents that range in age from 1839 at the beginning of Marion and the county up to the 1960’s to insure their preservation.
The guest speaker for the meeting was Roger Peach who spoke about his latest published book entitled “Jockey Queen”. The book was a biographical piece about a young woman named Lillian Jenkinson Holder who was born on a ranch in Nebraska in 1909. Lillian devoted her life to horse racing and the life of trying to be a female jockey in a male dominated occupation, often racing in Southern Illinois and particularly at the Williamson County Fair tracks and Duquoin Fair grounds.
The museum/library is open to the public for genealogy/history research or tours through the building Wednesday through Saturday from 9:30 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. till Thanksgiving and will then go to a Saturday only schedule through the winter till March.
The Williamson County Historical Society will be holding a membership meeting on Sunday, October 27th, 2024 here at the museum/library at 2:00 P.M.
During the meeting we will be going over projects undertaken at the museum & library since the last meeting, accessions taken in, upcoming projects and the state of the museum. Our guest speaker will be Roger Peach who will be speaking about his latest book, entitled “Jockey Queen” about Lillian Jenkinson Holder, a prominent female jockey legend in horse racing here in Southern Illinois.
During the meeting, elections will be held for the 2025 WCHS board of directors. Any regular member who is local enough to attend occasional board meetings is qualified to run for a position. If interested in serving on the board, please contact us at the society prior to the meeting.
