Williamson County Illinois Historical Society

The Williamson County Historical Society will be holding a short historical marker dedication ceremony on Sunday, June 25^th at 2:00 P.M. The marker will be located at 11060 Song Bird Rd. in a location also known as Khoury League Ball Park NE of Marion.

The historical marker will be dedicated to Cross Roads School, a one room schoolhouse that operated from 1862 until 1952 located near the intersection of two early pioneer trails, thus its name. The rural schoolhouse educated local children from the first through the eighth grade and was eventually absorbed by the Community Unit School District system we have today. In 1972, a Khoury League baseball league was formed on this site. The public is invited to attend this event.

The local history book, “Reflections of our Memories,” a book about memories of Crab Orchard and surrounding areas published in 1994 has been indexed and added to our Master Local History Index.

The book was put together in 1994 by a history committee and the book was available through the Crab Orchard Library. Contents include brief histories of many of the local school districts, cemeteries, churches and villages around and including Crab Orchard. The majority of the book is based on interviews conducted by the committee with older Crab Orchard area citizens.

The Williamson County Historical Society has just published two more cemetery audit volumes created by Helen Sutt Lind. The books are called “Those in God’s Green Acres” volume one and volume two.

Volume one contains the audits of 15 cemeteries from 4 townships. The cemeteries include: Cundiff, Dewmaine, Duncan, Boyd, Perry, Hendrickson, Strunk, Becker, White Ash, Shiloh, Dillingham Shed, Zion, Bethel, Locust Grove and Liberty Number 8.

Volume two contains the audits of 32 cemeteries from 6 townships. The cemeteries include: Hinchcliff, Russell, County Poor Farm, Stroud, Worley, Motsinger, Susan Allen, Crossroads, Krieger, Hanks, Bethlehem, Norman, Pritchett, Newton, Perry, Trout, Creal Springs, Moses Atwood, Willis Bridges, Goddard, Herring, Cocke, Drake, Ann Burns, Bolton-Trammell, Till Parks, Croslin, Simmons, Spring Hill and Ferrell.

The books are now available through the Williamson County Historical Society in softback for $25. The indexes to these books have been added to our Master Cemetery Index.