Our first quilt on exhibit was done by Missionary Babtist Church, Pittsburg, IL. It is dated April 15,1920, there are 226 names embroidered on the blocks for a total of 226 blocks. It was donated by Shirley Dallas Plumlee. These Signature Quilts were used as fund raisers by churches and organizations. Sometimes you would pay $1.00 to have your name on a block, the ladies would finish the quilt and raffle it off. We do have a complete listing and location of each name if you ever want to stop by to see if your ancestors name is included on this or other Signature sometimes called Friendship Quilt, that we have in our collection.
Mortgage record books M-N-O and P have been indexed and added to our Master Mortgage Record Books index. They can be accessed by clicking on our Records tab at the top of any screen or directly here. Mortgage Record Books Index
100th Anniversary of Herrin Massacre Program planned
A recent quest to index 74 large Mortgage record books is moving along. So far we haven’t really discovered a rhyme or reason for the books as far as content goes. One would think they would only contain mortgage records but so far they include the following. Real estate and chattel (property) mortgages, marriage and business agreements, lease agreements, mineral rights, retail contracts, powers of attorney, last will and testaments and more. So far they appear to range in date from the 1850’s to about 1891. The last block indexed were record books I,J,K & L.
The Mortgage record books can be found under the Records tab and then Library resource indexes or here at this link. Mortgage Record Books Index.
As previously announced, we are in the process of indexing 74 Williamson County mortgage record books. These books contain a hodge podge of legal documents including mortgage records, promissory notes, retail contracts, marital & business agreements and apparently even a few last will and testaments. So far the books appear to range from about 1860 through 1890. The books, as they are indexed, will be made available in blocks of four. The last to be added were record books E, F, G, and H. The indexing can be found in our Master Mortgage Record Books index.