Category: WCHS

A list of Williamson County Death Records filed with the Illinois Dept. of Health from 1916-1950 has been added to our Records tab. The complete file for county death certificates filed between 1916 and 1950 was extracted from Illinois state records and reflect last and first name, sex/race (N/S means not stated), age if given, death certificate number, death date, location of death, and the date the death was filed with the county. The file is under the Records tab or can be accessed at this link, 1916-50 WC Deaths.     

Another index added is the 1868 Tax Assessor’s Book for Williamson County. This interesting book reflects real estate taxes, values of city lots located in towns and personal property assessment sheets reflecting the net worth of persons on the tax list. The personal property assessments reflect the quantity and value of livestock, wagons, watches/clocks, pianos, acreage, goods, manufactured items, money and credit, bonds and stocks and more. The index has been added to the Master Misc. County Records Index and can be found under the Records tab on our website. The newly added file can be viewed by its self at this link, 1868 Tax Assessor’s Book.

Every month since January 2015 we have had a volunteer scour the county funeral home websites and accumulate the current months obituaries so that we can store them in a cumulative file at the historical society. This move was due to the fact that newspapers started charging for obits quite some while back and it was found that many families would forego a printed obit in the paper in order to save money. Since we started this project we have accumulated 3,354 obituaries which accrue at an average rate of about 53 deaths per month in the county.

The months of January through March 2020 have just been added to our Master Obituaries Index which can be found by selecting the Records tab on our website and then selecting  Library Resource Indexes.

The Williamson County Historical Society was recently awarded a $2,500 grant from the Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief. This program was made possible in part by a grant from Illinois Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly. The grant is designed to cover general operating expenses to smaller organizations with the exception of those in Chicago. The grant helps offset a lack of donations during barred direct access to the society’s museum and library.

The historical society’s museum/genealogy library located at 105 S. Van Buren St. in Marion had just returned on March 2^nd back to its 6 day a week schedule after the winter only to have to close to the public on March 16^th due to the Covid pandemic. All events and programs have been placed on hold until it looks like things are going to be safe to proceed. (more…)

The indexes to the Williamson County Circuit Clerk’s Probate Book C covering the years 1840 through 1873 and the County Clerk’s Administrator’s Book A covering the years 1849 through 1860 are now available online. The books are notations on cases that were held in Circuit and County Court for the specific periods noted that were primarily related to probate cases, appointments of administrators to estates, guardianships, dowers and monetary claims to estate cases. Typical estate claims would include mortgages, outstanding notes, guardian expenses, final medical bills, funeral costs, coffins and funeral shrouds, etc. The individual indexes are available through links below and both indexes have been added to our Master Misc. County Records Index file. All of our indexes are available by clicking on the Records Tab at the top of each page. (more…)

The Williamson County Historical Society has been compiling and recently published two books containing the funeral home records of Cosby Funeral Home in Creal Springs covering funerals conducted during the period of July 1962 through December 2000. The books are available through the society for $30 each. The indexes to both books have been added to our Master Funeral Home Index or can be viewed separately in the file 1962-2000 Cosby Funeral Home Records Books 1 and 2.

Since we are closed due to the Corona Virus pandemic, feel free to peruse the indexes and contact us if you wish to view particular pages. We can be reached at wcsmail@yahoo.com or leave a message at 618-997-6853.

The museum and library will be closing its doors to the public until further notice due to the Corona Virus. All scheduled events through April are canceled and will be rescheduled at a later date. Sorry for the inconvenience it may cause but most of our patrons are senior.

Digital Obituaries that fell in the time period of September 2019 through December 2019 have been added to our Master Obituaries index list.

The Williamson County Historical Society held its first quarterly meeting on January 26^th, 2020 at 2 P.M. at the society’s museum and library located at 105 S. Van Buren St. in Marion. President, Sam Lattuca, reported recent and ongoing projects to the membership and revealed a number of recently restored historical objects that have now been placed on display at the museum. An historical marker for the Creal Springs turn of the century resort business is planned in March with a date yet to be announced and a military marker placed at the grave of revolutionary war veteran John Ellis will be dedicated in June. Lattuca presented a number of historical artifacts that belong to the museum and some details about their use and origins.

   The speaker for the event was Brian L. Alvis and his photographer wife, Robbie Edwards. Brian and Robbie operate a Mt. Vernon photography business and recently completed publication of a book entitled, “Bootlegger.” The book weaves local Southern Illinois bootlegging history and gang activity into a fictional account inspired by stories based on local lore. Brian and Robbie spent considerable time rounding up musicians, enactors and genuine artifacts from the 1920’s to visually portray the events that unfold in the book.

WCHS Members,

We will be holding a membership meeting here at the museum on Sunday, January 26^th, 2020, 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 and tell us about it. The program will be presented by author, Brian Alvis and will be talking about bootleggers during prohibition.

Membership dues for 2020 are currently due and are still $20 per year. If you look at the mailing label on the front of this card there will be a year date that reflects the year you are paid up to. The date should read 2020 or higher. Any questions can be addressed by calling 618-997-5863 on Saturdays or emailing us at wchsmail@yahoo.com.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Two Items have been added to our master indexes, church records from St. Paul’s UCC Church in Johnston City that existed from 1898 till 1990 and newspaper clippings from the Johnston City Progress newspaper from 1924 to 1937 which consists primarily of marriage announcements. The church records were added under the Master Misc. County Records Index as 1898-1990 St. Pauls UCC Records and the Johnston City Progress clippings were added under the Master Newspapers Index under 1924-37 JCP Clippings.