“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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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.
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.
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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