Williamson County obituaries for the period of January 2019 through April 2019 have been added to our files and indexed. The index is available through our Records tab on the Main Menu or directly through this link: Master Obituaries Link
Marion V.F.W Post 1301 and the Williamson County Historical Society would like to invite you to attend the Memorial Day Ceremony and Centennial Celebration of Goddard Chapel.
Ceremonies will be held on Monday, May 27th 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in Rosehill Cemetery, at the flag poles south of the chapel at the intersection of Route 37 North and DeYoung Street, Marion, IL.
The services will include honoring our fallen soldiers and history of the Goddard Memorial Chapel.
The chapel will be open for tours on Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m..
Please bring your lawn chairs.
The weather cleared up just long enough for over forty people to attend the dedication of an historical marker dedicated to Creal Springs College on Saturday, May 11th , 2019 at 2 P.M. The marker was dedicated at 206 Line Street in Creal Springs which is now property owned by the Methodist Church of Creal Springs.
The college was opened on September 22, 1884 by Gertrude Brown Murrah and her husband Henry Clay Murrah and operated until its closing on December 24, 1916. The college was originally intended to be female only but, after so many boys applied became co-educational. The school was originally a 50 x 30 foot wooden structure with three floors, a basement and attic but had large wings added to it in 1890 and 1895.
In January 1884, the school became a Baptist institution and the name was changed to Creal Springs College and Conservatory of Music where both bachelors and master’s degrees were provided. The faculty at one point numbered 15 and had 100 students enrolled. Since the college wasn’t large enough to house all of the female students, many of the female and boy students rented space in residential homes throughout Creal Springs. The college became an important part of community life with its many activities and social functions.
During the Saturday dedication service, Williamson County Historical Society President, Sam Lattuca recounted the college’s history and lives of its founders while, Micah Morrow, Mayor of Creal Springs gave welcoming remarks. James Hulett and Becky Bowling, great grandchildren of the college’s founder, Gertrude Murrah, were present and James Hulett spoke about how his family was grateful that the college and its impact on Creal Springs was finally being credited. Mark Motsinger of the Illinois State Historical Society gave closing remarks about how important it is to mark historical locations and how easy it is to allow important places and people to fade away from memory as generations pass.
The marker is the first historical marker to be placed in the county that is sanctioned by the Illinois State Historical Society.
Creal Springs College 1884-1916
The very first historical marker in Williamson County sanctioned by the Illinois State Historical Society will be dedicated on May 11th at 2 P.M. in Creal Springs at 206 Line Street (a.k.a. Sarahville Road).
The marker is dedicated to the Creal Springs College and Seminary. The college was built on a 5 acre tract purchased from Edward Creal by Gertrude Brown Murrah and her husband Henry Clay Murrah in March 1884. The school was built as a three-story frame building with a basement and attic and was chartered in August 1888 by the State of Illinois.
The school was headed by Principal Gertrude Brown Murrah, a graduate of the Mount Carroll Seminary in Mount Carroll, Illinois and was originally planned to be for female students only. Due to high demand from male students, it opened as co-educational. There were 59 students enrolled in the first 12 week term. The faculty had six members including the Murrahs. The program was divided into primary, preparatory, college-level and music departments.
In January 1894, the school became a Baptist institution and the chartered name was changed to Creal Springs College and Conservatory of Music where both bachelors and master’s degrees were provided. The faculty at this point numbered 15, with approximately 100 students enrolled. The college became an important part of community life with its many activities and social functions.
Gertrude Murrah served as teacher and principal of the school for 32 years until the school closed on December 24, 1916. Mrs. Murrah continually struggled to reopen the school until her death in 1929. The building was eventually demolished in 1943.
The marker was installed and will be dedicated by the Williamson County Historical Society in cooperation with descendants of Gertrude Murrah, founder of the college. Speakers will be Creal Springs Mayor, Micah Morrow; Sam Lattuca, President of the Williamson County Historical Society; Mark Motsinger, representative of the Illinois State Historical Society and James Hulett, great grandson of Gertrude Murrah.
The Williamson County Historical Society Museum and Library will close at noon on that day to attend the event and the public is invited to attend.
Our next membership meeting will be held at 2:00 P.M. Sunday, April 28th, 2019 at the museum. We will be discussing society business as well as past, completed and upcoming projects. As always, we will have a “Show and Tell” in which members are encouraged to bring in and talk about historical items or artifacts that they may have in their possession. Our guest speakers will be Ms. Mary Stoner, current Director of the Ann West Lindsay Library at Carterville and Ms. Jane Robertson, past Director of the library. Topics will include a biography of Ann West Lindsay and a current update on the library and its genealogical library room.
Members are encouraged to attend and rediscover our new updated museum exhibits. We could use some periodic help at the museum for any members who live in the area and have some free time. Dues are still $20 and we want to thank everyone for their recent 2019 dues renewals.
The new Spring 2019 quarterly will go out in the next two weeks.