Preserving Williamson County History – A 501(C)3 Organization
The Jefferson School fifth grade classes of Kelly Williamson and Wendy Goodman toured the Williamson County Museum this morning, Tuesday, May 22, 2018. The students watched a 25 min video about our Southern Illinois Native American Past and then looked around the museum to discover how things were done in earlier days.
Two new indexes have been added to our website. The first is “Soldiers Buried in Williamson County” that was added to the Master Military Index.
The second book is Letters from the Past, published by Mary Jo Moore in 1999. This book is a set of correspondence generated mostly by Barbara Barr Hubbs from 1936 to locals seeking information in preparation for her then unpublished book, “Pioneer Folks and Place.” The book contains many references to local people and places in the county. The index was added to our Master Local History index.
Joseph L. Cacibauda, author of the recently published book, “Not for Self: A Sicilian Life and Death in Marion” will be in Marion for a talk and book signing at the Williamson County Historical Society Museum on the weekend of May 26th and 27th located at 105 S. Van Buren Street in Marion.
Cacibauda’s most recent book details the life of a Sicilian farmer who comes to Marion in the early 1920’s to better his family. The lead character gets involved in the bootlegging business, becoming entangled with the KKK, warring bootleggers, gangsters and dishonest politicians ultimately embedding himself in Marion history. The story is woven largely around accurate historical facts and characters of Williamson County and Marion in the early 1920’s with some names changed to protect privacy. Anyone interested in local history or early immigrant life should find the book fascinating.
This is Joe’s second book, his first book was, “After Laughing Comes Crying: Sicilian Immigrants on Louisiana Plantations.” He has written other books, “Einstein’s Formula: A Novel” and “Bass Solos: A Novel.” Joe is a retired elementary teacher and musician living in Reno, Nevada.
Cacibauda will be available for book sales and book signing on Saturday, May 26th from 1 till 3 PM at the museum. He will also be signing books at the museum starting at 1 PM on Sunday, May 27th at the museum and will then give a program at 2 PM based on Sicilian immigrants being recruited to come work in America. He will also speak about immigrants coming into Williamson County for work and how they combined to form the social environment in the county. The public is welcome and invited to attend.
Fifth Grade classes from Washington School in Marion toured the WCHS museum Monday through Thursday, May 7th-10th, 2018. The students watched a 25 minute video entitled “Our Southern Illinois Native American Past” and then toured the museum finding out that many of yesteryears tasks required much more effort than the same task performed today. Teachers bringing their classes in for the tour were Robin Ziegler, Casey Holderfield, Travis Vickery and Rosie Gribble.
WCHS tour guides were Sharon Vansaghi, Ursula Richey, George Mavigliano and Sam Lattuca
A membership meeting of the Williamson County Historical Society will be held on April 22nd, 2018 at 2:00 PM at the museum. Society business and projects completed, planned and in progress will be discussed. Our guest speaker will be Toni Garrison who will be giving a program about the history of Locust Grove in Corinth Township.
The index to the book Williamson County Grand Army of the Republic Post Records has been added to our Master Military Index.
The Pioneer Daughters of Williamson County was organized on October 24, 1935 in preparation for the then upcoming 1939 centennial celebration of the county. Applications were filled out with the primary requirement of the organization being that the applicant be a female who has a pioneer ancestor that arrived in the county before 1840. The index to those applications is a good way to connect people to early settlers in the area and perhaps glean female maiden names. The additional index contains 2,388 references and has been added to the Master Misc. County Records Index.
The Marion Daily Republican is in the process of downsizing and will be moving from Marion. They graciously gifted the Historical Society with all 154 of the archived books containing the Marion Daily Republican from 1963 through 2013. The exception is a block missing from the 1970’s through 1990. This archive of newspapers will be a great addition for research and maintaining our local history and we really appreciate the gift. All 154 of the very heavy volumes we’re schlepped out of the MDR office in Marion and moved to the museum and secured in our storage area by Sharon Vansaghi, Andrew McCoy and Sam Lattuca.
Feel free to drop by the museum and try your hand at research. We aren’t sure why there is a missing block of books, so if anyone has any idea where they might be, please contact us.
