Johnston City History Book Indexing Added to Site

Posted on by August 23, 2020

The local history book “Glimpses of the Past” was published by Pearl Roberts as a project of the Johnston City Business & Professional Women’s Club in 1977. The book serves as a collection of early stories and news items of interest dating from 1894 and the movement of the city from the early settlement of Shakerag west to what is now Johnston City through the city’s development, mining days, prohibition and depression to the last days of WWII in 1945.

The new index contains 2,211 entries and has been added to our Master Local History Index under the Records Tab of our website. Like the rest of our local history indexes, it contains not only the names of people but subcategories such as Acts of God, Crime, Businesses, Churches, Events, Places, Schools and Organizations. The new index can be accessed singly at this link:                                 

                                 Glimpses of the Past, Johnston City, 1894-1945

Indexing Added to Website

Posted on by August 16, 2020

A list of Williamson County Death Records filed with the Illinois Dept. of Health from 1916-1950 has been added to our Records tab. The complete file for county death certificates filed between 1916 and 1950 was extracted from Illinois state records and reflect last and first name, sex/race (N/S means not stated), age if given, death certificate number, death date, location of death, and the date the death was filed with the county. The file is under the Records tab or can be accessed at this link, 1916-50 WC Deaths.     

Another index added is the 1868 Tax Assessor’s Book for Williamson County. This interesting book reflects real estate taxes, values of city lots located in towns and personal property assessment sheets reflecting the net worth of persons on the tax list. The personal property assessments reflect the quantity and value of livestock, wagons, watches/clocks, pianos, acreage, goods, manufactured items, money and credit, bonds and stocks and more. The index has been added to the Master Misc. County Records Index and can be found under the Records tab on our website. The newly added file can be viewed by its self at this link, 1868 Tax Assessor’s Book.

January to March County Obituaries Added to Index

Posted on by May 17, 2020

Every month since January 2015 we have had a volunteer scour the county funeral home websites and accumulate the current months obituaries so that we can store them in a cumulative file at the historical society. This move was due to the fact that newspapers started charging for obits quite some while back and it was found that many families would forego a printed obit in the paper in order to save money. Since we started this project we have accumulated 3,354 obituaries which accrue at an average rate of about 53 deaths per month in the county.

The months of January through March 2020 have just been added to our Master Obituaries Index which can be found by selecting the Records tab on our website and then selecting  Library Resource Indexes.

 

Society Recieves $2,500 Grant

Posted on by April 25, 2020

The Williamson County Historical Society was recently awarded a $2,500 grant from the Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief. This program was made possible in part by a grant from Illinois Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly. The grant is designed to cover general operating expenses to smaller organizations with the exception of those in Chicago. The grant helps offset a lack of donations during barred direct access to the society’s museum and library.

The historical society’s museum/genealogy library located at 105 S. Van Buren St. in Marion had just returned on March 2nd back to its 6 day a week schedule after the winter only to have to close to the public on March 16th due to the Covid pandemic. All events and programs have been placed on hold until it looks like things are going to be safe to proceed. Continue reading →

Two New Indexes Added to Our Site

Posted on by May 5, 2020

The indexes to the Williamson County Circuit Clerk’s Probate Book C covering the years 1840 through 1873 and the County Clerk’s Administrator’s Book A covering the years 1849 through 1860 are now available online. The books are notations on cases that were held in Circuit and County Court for the specific periods noted that were primarily related to probate cases, appointments of administrators to estates, guardianships, dowers and monetary claims to estate cases. Typical estate claims would include mortgages, outstanding notes, guardian expenses, final medical bills, funeral costs, coffins and funeral shrouds, etc. The individual indexes are available through links below and both indexes have been added to our Master Misc. County Records Index file. All of our indexes are available by clicking on the Records Tab at the top of each page. Continue reading →