Category: WCHS

The Williamson County Historical Society has just published the book, ”Old Marion Cemetery, a.k.a . Aikman Cemetery.” The book was just released by author Helen Lind and contains the names of 590 people. The first burial in the cemetery was John A. Aikman, son of Samuel and Henrietta Aikman in 1845. As time moved on, more members of the Aikman family were buried there and eventually all sorts of burials occurred there, including cholera victims of Marion from 1866. The cemetery became a city Cemetery, but that all changed in 1883 when the new city cemetery we know today was created at Rosehill. Many of the burials in the old cemetery were moved to the new cemetery after its creation.

The book if fully indexed, spiral bound, sells for $10 and is available at the historical society.

The Williamson County Historical Society held a membership meeting on Sunday, July 27^th, 2025 at their museum/library at 2:00 P.M. During the meeting society president, Sam Lattuca, went over projects undertaken at the museum & library since the last meeting, accessions taken in, upcoming projects and the state of the museum. The program was given by retired history teacher and local historian, Darrel Dexter. The program topic was,” George L. Burroughs:  Using the Illinois Central Railroad as an Underground Railroad.” He explained that the I.C. Railroad system was periodically used by runaway slaves to reach the north. At one time, the railroad was attempted to be sued on such an occasion.

Six members of the Gallatin County Historical Society were present and Cindy Decker and Janet Householder presented a quilt put together by one of their members in commemoration of the underground railroad.

The Williamson County Historical Society will be holding a membership meeting on Sunday, July 27, 2025 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. The program will be by historian, Darrel Dexter, and the topic will be,” George L. Burroughs:  Using the Illinois Central Railroad as an Underground Railroad.”

With the Miss Illinois Pageant taking place in Marion this week, it has attracted a lot of visitors to Marion and a portion of them have filtered through the museum. On Friday, June 27th, 2025, junior police officer, Declan Tobin from St. Charles, Illinois got a chance to check out our old cell block in the jail. Declan also spent some time with the Marion Police Department and by the time he arrived here he was sporting a utility belt complete with hand cuffs and Marion PD patches.

Our museum and library will be closed Friday, July 4th, 2025 in observance of our nation’s independence. We will be open the following day, Saturday, July 5th.

On June 20th, 2025, members of the Mazzara family came into the museum to donate a plaque dedicated to the memory of Bennie Mazzara, original owner of Bennie’s Italian food restaurant in Marion. Members of the family presenting the plaque to the museum were Bennie Mazzara’s 99 year old daughter in law, Faye (White) Mazzara, her daughter, Julitta Mazzara Zolghadr, and Bennie’s grandson, Bennie Harlan along with his wife, Sheila Harlan.

The WCHS participated in another Third Thursday event held in downtown Marion and sponsored by the Marion Connect’s organization on June 19, 2025. Our organization took part by offering photos taken in the old county Jail by professional photographer, Autumn Vinyard. In addition, the local Masonic Lodge participated by offering a free Family ID package to children and their families.

On June 20th, 2025, Sharon Vansaghi, WCHS Curator/Coordinator donates historic photos to Autumn Vinyard of the Saline County Historical Society. Occasionally we are gifted items that relate to other counties, and we try to repatriate these items to their corresponding county historical societies.

WCHS is helping to locate possible family members of the Oscar Stephen Cole family that lived previously in Goreville, Johnson Co. then in Marion from before 1920-1955. They had 2 columns mounted in front of the home at 1305 W. Main in Marion with COLE inserted, and they have recently been taken down, the owners wondered if family would be interested in them. The family lineage we have found is Oscar Stephen Cole b 1872- d 1943 & Clara Belle Foster d 1904, (sister to Clara, his second wife Celia Ann Foster died in 1955.  The two sons by Clara, Dausa Webster Cole b 1896 Goreville- d 1939, wife Mary, and Cline Merwin Cole b 1902 Goreville–died 1973. Cline M married Claudia Thomas, they had 2 children; Kay Cole Hopkins of Madison, Wisconsin and Charles M. “Tommy” Cole of Knoxville, Tennessee. Cline and Claudia were living in his mother in 1950, after which they were in Madison, Wisconsin. They had 3 children; Craig Cole Hopkins, Kelly Kay Hopkins, Edie Roceen Hopkins. Any contact information would be appreciated. We can be contacted at 618-997-5863 or emailed at wchsmail@yahoo.com