Special Thanks

Posted on by April 5, 2015

We want to give a special THANK YOU to three of our new volunteers who have been helping at the museum. Rhonda  Bean has been indexing a history book and working with county record indexes for us. Scott Pierce has been coming in on Saturdays and providing much needed muscle in moving things around for us. Betty Millard has taken on the task of accumulating Williamson County obituary records to be added to our index at the museum.

An organization can’t survive without volunteers, we can’t thank you guys enough for the service you provide.

Extremely Limited Edition Books Available

Posted on by March 29, 2015

Thanks to a recently received gift from WCHS member, Nora Parker Davis, six volumes of two books bound together and written by Daisy Roberts Malone are now available. These are extremely limited edition and will likely never be reprinted. For anyone who had ancestors living in the Corinth Township area of Williamson County prior to, during and after the Civil War, these books would be invaluable.

These books are titled, “Thy People Shall be My People or Elizabeth Ann and the Roberts Clan.”

The first book contains firsthand memories of Elizabeth Ann Shepherd who was born 1825 in Sangamon County, Illinois and died April 13, 1916 in Magazine, Arkansas and details the Corinth settlement and its people in Williamson County in the early days surrounding the Civil War and her memories continue for many years, including the account of her first husbands demise when he mounted his horse to go hunt deer in 1840 and accidently shot and killed himself with his own weapon. The book also contains an early reading of Zion Cemetery and captures slices of life in Civil War times and after.

The second book is entitled, “Our Families: A Group of Family Trees of the Early Settlers of Corinth Township, Williamson County and Allied Families” and was published in 1939.

This book contains family sketches and charts of the families: Beers, Burns, Caughey, Chadwell, Caplinger, Corder, Duty, Doughty, Dillingham, DeWoody, Hearne, Holland, Johnson, Jones, Malone, McCreery, Mitchell, Moser, Moulton, Pease, Roberts, Shepherd, Stewart, Strike, Swan, Tidwell, Winchester, Worthen, Wright, Ray, Yost and more.

This is a fully indexed two volume, soft bound book set that is encased in a durable hard binder. Since there are only six for sale at the price of $50 (First Class shipping included) anyone interested should express an interest quickly by contacting me through the Contact Us tab on our website. Payment can be made through our PayPal tab or other arrangements can be made.

 

Attention Chamness Descendants

Posted on by March 16, 2015

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Literally thousands of Chamness family descendants might be interested to find out that a book is available called “Celebrating Chamness Roots (from 1750 to Present).”

The book begins with the kidnapping of a young boy off the London Bridge (Anthony Chamness), his indenture time in Maryland to gain his freedom in America, the marriage to the “love of his life,” the birth of their children in Maryland, Virginia, and later Cane Creek, North Carolina.  The book discusses Quaker beginnings and the descendants’ movement to Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Texas and westward.  The book recalls the story of the branch of family, John Chamness and Sally Berry, which was lost for more than a hundred years, its hardships, celebrations and pioneer life.

The book was compiled by former Marion native Sue Grisham Hardwig who now resides in Bloomington, Illinois and is available in a deluxe hardbound edition for $65 plus shipping and handling through the author.

For more information about the book, contact the author by clicking here.

WCHS Board Member Change

Posted on by March 9, 2023

A board member change occurred at the February 29th board meeting of the Williamson County Historical Society. Local author, Harry Boyd was replaced as a board director by Dr. Colleen Norman.

Boyd has published three books over the years related to local history. One book was about the Second Baptist Church in Marion, one contained news clippings published in the Marion Daily Republican related to county servicemen during WWII and the last was an exhaustive three volume set listing every veteran of any American war who is buried in Williamson County.

Dr. Norman is a lifelong Marion resident and a graduate from SIU. She holds a Masters Degree in anthropology and a doctoral in Health Services. Norman has also taught beginning and advanced level genealogy courses at J.A. Logan College and has been active in the historical society for years.