Williamson County Illinois Historical Society

Preserving Williamson County History – A 501(C)3 Organization

What’s New

  • WCHS at Veteran’s Day Celebration

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    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.

  • WCHS Gave Pioneer Program to Sorority

    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 Cemetery Book

    “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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  • WCHS Membership Meeting, October 2024

    Roger Peach

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    Roger Peach, author of “Jockey Queen”, program speaker at WCHS October 2024 membership meeting

    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.

  • VA to hold Thank You Event Nov. 11th

  • WCHS to hold Membership Meeting October 27th

    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.

  • Jockey Queen Program at Herrin Library & WCHS

    The Herrin City Library, Herrin, Illinois, is hosting author Roger Peach at its “book talk” event on Friday, September 20 at 2 p.m. Peach will be discussing 47-year jockey veteran Lillian Jenkinson Holder who for decades competed at Southern Illinois county fairs. Lillian is the subject of his 2024 biography Jockey Queen.

    Lillian Jenkinson Holder (1909-1992) was a legend in the racing saddle and was capable of competing with any jockey, female or male, throughout the majority of her career. The fact that she fought so hard for the right to compete at recognized, pari-mutuel racetracks beginning when she was a teenager ultimately resulted in “racing powers” of the day, otherwise known as “men,” banning her from their sight.

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  • Author Visits WCHS Museum

    Longtime WCHS member and author Mary Jo Moore and her husband visited the Williamson County Historical Society. Mary Jo and her husband currently live in Paducah, Kentucky. Mary Jo authored the series of books we use in our library daily entitled “Bits of News.” The series is a collection of 9 volumes covering the years 1919 through 1928 and is based on Marion Daily Republican newspaper transcripts. Another of Mary Jo’s books is a booklet entitled the “The Potter Family Tragedy” which details the Potter family murder suicide that occurred here in Marion in 1926. Mary Joe has also published , “ The Memoirs of William Joseph Caplinger.” Mary Jo was generous enough to allow our society to republish any of her works in the future insuring that the volumes will live on to serve generations in the future.

  • DeYoung Descendant Visits Marion

    Some months ago, Sam Lattuca, president of the Williamson County Historical Society reported a story to the Marion Star newspaper about how DeYoung Street in Marion got its name. As a short recap, in 1899 a man named Teunis DeYoung came to Marion with his wife, son and daughter in law and agreed to purchase over 150 acres of Marion near the Marion Cemetery with a Bond for Deed. However, an unknown change of plans a couple of years later changed that plan and the deal never completely went through. DeYoung was a Dutch immigrant, then living in South Holland, Illinois south of Chicago.

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  • WCHS Held Membership Meeting

    Sam-Lattuca-7-2024
    Darrel-Dexter-7-2024

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    The Williamson County Historical Society held its quarterly membership meeting on Sunday, July 28, 2024 at their museum/library at 105 S. Van Buren Street in Marion

    During the meeting, Sam Lattuca, president of the historical society went over projects undertaken at the museum & library since the last meeting, discussed new items taken in, upcoming projects and the state of the museum in general.

    The guest speaker was local historian, Darrel Dexter, who spoke about the research he did in his latest book release, “Pulling off the Sheets—The Second Ku Klux Klan in Deep Southern Illinois”. The program covered the origins of the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil Ware and spoke about how it compared to the second wave of the Klan from the 1920’s and how it impacted Southern Illinois.  Dexter is an engaging speaker and has done extensive research on the topic.

    For those of you who missed the program, you can see Darrel’s program that was recorded by a D.A.R. chapter by clicking this link.