Herrin Massacre Interpretive Bus Tour Planned

An interpretive bus tour starting at the Williamson County Jail Museum and making stops at relevant points related to the Herrin Massacre of July 1922 in which over 20 people lost their lives and for a considerable period of time changed the coal industry in the county and the county itself is planned. The tours are currently planned for the Saturdays of July 19 and 25, 2014.

The tours will commence at the Williamson County Museum parking lot at 9:30 A.M. and will conclude with a tour of the museum by 3 P.M. Stops will include the mine itself,  a miners museum, the train depot in Carbondale and numerous stops related to the incident. Jon Musgrave, Southern Illinois historian and author will serve as the guest tour guide and actors will re-enact various aspects of the Herrin Massacre. A lunch meal is included at the Vault restaurant on the square in Marion, home to the old Hotel State and the Marion State and Savings Bank which went under during the 1930 depression.

The tour will be co-sponsored by CAPS (Connecting all parents with school), the Williamson County Historical Society and others. For more information, see the link provided below:

www.herrinmassacretour.com

Harrisburg Church of God VBS Students Tour Musuem

6 24 2014

Ten students from the Harrisburg Church of God’s Vacation Bible School visited the Williamson County Museum on June 24th 2014.  The children ranged in age from several years old to 10 or 12.  The groups chaperone emailed us back and stated, “Thank you so much for having us and for the tour.  When asking the kids what their favorite parts were, the answers ranged from the prison and Native American artifacts (mostly the boys) to the one room school house, but everyone agreed they would not want to have to drink after everyone else with the dipper! “  The dipper she was referring to was the common bucket of water and dipper that was often used in the days before water coolers in school rooms and public buildings that everyone used to share in common. Yeh, I think we can all agree on that one.

Summer Quarterlies Mailed Out

All WCHS members should have received their Summer Quarterly #2 “Footprints” by now. The contents of the latest quarterly have been indexed in the Records menu tab of this website under Quarterly “Footprints” Index .

The highlights of this quarterly are biographies on Brice Holland, Confederate Soldier and Union Sailor, and Manheim Cantor, Marion merchant. Also included are extracted articles from 1914 and grave listings of the Samuel Cannedy Cemetery, and more.

If you haven’t received your quarterly, be sure to contact us and always make sure we have a current mailing address.

Williamson County Illinois Chain of Title and Act of Creation Added

The chain of title claiming ownership to the land now occupied by the County of Williamson in the State of Illinois is followed from the early French trappers and explorers of the 1600’s to the Act of creation by the Illinois legislature in 1839 has been added to the History page under the Williamson County heading.

The data was extracted from Barbara Barr Hubbs book “Pioneer Folks and Places” written in 1939 with a great deal of help from our own Nannie Gray Parks, local historian and librarian.

The article can be found on the history page or you can jump from the following link:

Williamson County, Illinois Chain of Title and Act of Creation

 

Williamson County Illinois, A Brief Pioneer History Added

An excerpted history of early Williamson County written by Nannie Gray Parks in 1939 has been added to the History Page under the Williamson County heading.

The brief history is an account of the Williamson County of 1839 which originally appeared in 1939 in the Souvenir Program of the Williamson County Centennial published by The Herrin Daily Journal and republished in the 1989 Williamson County Sesquicentennial History book.

To jump the article click on this link:

Williamson County Illinois, A Brief Pioneer History