Earnest Holman Moulton was born September 29, 1877 to Henry T. Moulton and Sarah E. Robertson in Southern Township south of Marion. He was reared in Williamson County and attended school in Creal Springs. In the 1880 census, the Moulton family was still living on a farm in Southern Township. His father was 26 and his mother was 28 and working as farmers. Earnest was 2 and had a sister named Daisy aged 1.

On December 3, 1898, 22 year old Earnest married Maude Arnold, 18 year old daughter of Charles Arnold and Isabelle S. Barger at the home of her parents.

When the 1900 federal census was taken the couple was living in a home in Creal Springs Township. Ernest was 22 and working as a schoolteacher and the couple had one child, a son named Ova L. who was 8 months old. They owned their home but had a mortgage on it. In the same year, on May 18, 1900, Earnest was appointed to be the Postmaster of Hudgens, Illinois and within a few years had moved into Marion to live.

By 1906, Earnest and Maude were living in a home at 1402 W. Cherry Street and Earnest had begun working as a manager at Stotlar-Herrin Lumber Company in Marion. In the same year, Earnest was elected as Marion city alderman under Mayor Charles H. Denison and re-elected in 1907 under Mayor J.C. Mitchell. During the 1906 term, the city council approved City Ordinance 60 which provided for the formation of a future city library, later to become the Marion Carnegie Library.

When the 1910 census was taken, the couple was still living at 1402 W. Cherry Street which they owned free of mortgage. 32 year old Earnest listed himself as a lumber salesman. 29 year old Maude indicated that the couple had birthed 3 children and 3 were still living. The children in the home were Ova L. aged 10, Opal aged 8 and Ruth aged 5.

When the WWI draft was created around 1917, Earnest’s draft card indicated that he was a lumber salesman living at 1203 W. Main Street with wife Maude. He was described as tall with a stout build, gray eyes and light colored hair.

In the 1920 federal census, Earnest aged 42 and Maude aged 38 were living at 1203 W. Main Street in a home they owned with a mortgage. Earnest listed himself as a lumber salesman and they had three children in the home, Ova L. 20, Opal 16 and Ruth aged 14.

A record was found indicating that Earnest took a trip to Havana, Cuba aboard the S.S. Cuba ship in January 1921.

A Marion street directory from 1927 indicated that the couple was then living in a home at 900 N. Market Street and that Earnest was President of the Marion Lumber & Fuel Company which then occupied the same location as Bob Stotlar Lumber at 510 W. Main Street today in 2023.

Shortly after the 1927 directory, the couple moved to Centralia, Illinois where their married daughter Mrs. Ruth Wagoner was living.

On August 20, 1929, Earnest died of a sudden heart attack while sitting in his home in Centralia. His body was returned to Marion and funeral services were held at Cash Funeral Home with burial in Rose Hill Cemetery.

Earnest was a member of the Southern Illinois Retail Lumber Dealers Association, as well as a member of the Moose Club and Marion Elks Club. Mr. Moulton was the last of a family of five children, two brothers, Fred and Harvey and two sisters, Daisy and Fanny having died previously. Earnest was survived by two daughters, Mrs. Ruth Waggoner of Centralia and Opal Moulton of Chicago. One son, Dr. Ova L. Moulton passed away in 1924 in Tucson, Arizona.

Earnest’s wife Maude was born December 13, 1886 and passed away October 27, 1966 and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery next to Earnest.

(Sources: Federal Census Records, Postmaster Assignment records, Marion Street Directories, FindaGrave.com, Bits of News Volume 5, Marion City Cemetery records. Compiled by Sam Lattuca on 10/21/2023)