William A. Broad was born in England about 1829 and when he was only 14, departed Liverpool, England for the Port of New York and came to the United States on board the Adirondack arriving in New York City on October the 24th, 1844. He was listed on the ship manifest as a laborer and it appears that he was traveling alone, since there was no other person named Broad on the passenger list of that trip.
By the 1850 census, William was living in Williamson County, Illinois with the Simeon Baker family. Simeon was a tinner and William was listed as a miller.
On October 20th of 1850 he married Mariah Hooper in Williamson County and bought 40 acres of land in section 11, Township 9, Range 2 in 1853. It was located about a mile northwest of the Marion Cemeteries near the Perry and Campground Cemeteries.
In 1856 William bought all of Adolphus H. Grider’s tinner’s tools and paid for them with a mortgage for $165.
An advertisement in the Egyptian Press dated in 1859 indicated that Broad operated a business selling stoves and tin ware on West Main Street.
The 1860 census found him living in in the Marion school district (in city limits) with his wife, their two children, Elizabeth and William, and her daughter from a previous marriage, Isabella Hooper. William Hooper was living with them and is assumed to be Mariah’s father. Simeon Baker must have taught William to be a tinner because he began listing tinner as his occupation. He had a real estate value of $1,500 and personal property of $1,520.
In 1859 the Marion paper had an advertisement for William Broad’s shop. He sold tin ware and stoves from his business on West Main Street. He owned the land that is currently 300 W. Main Street today and presumably had his shop there. The building on that lot has W.A. Broad engraved on it and currently, in 2014, houses the law firm of Howerton, Dorris and Stone. William, like many others in Marion at the time, did quite a bit of buying and selling of land.
In 1867, William Broad served as trustee for the city of Marion under Mayor R. M. Hundley. The other trustees on the board were O.H. Wiley, W.W. Hall, A.T. Benson, William Cook and Samuel W. Dunaway.
William A. Broad died on November 14, 1867 at the age of 38 years leaving his term unfinished after having served only seven months. He was buried in the Old Marion Cemetery also known as the Aikman Cemetery.
After William’s death Mariah was left with four children: Elizabeth, William A., Mary J., and Thomas Edgar. She and her sons continued to buy and sell property in the Marion area, much of it having been acquired by William and left behind as a legacy. It is likely that the building located at 300 W. Main Street today bearing the name W.A. Broad was much later built by their son, also named William A. Broad, since it is unlikely that the building dates back to the 1860’s.
In the 1880 census, Mariah was working as a milliner and living in Marion with her youngest children, daughter Mary J, 19, and her son Thomas, 15.
Mrs. Mariah Broad died at her home in Marion on Jan 9, 1897. Burial was in the New Cemetery (Rose Hill).
Notes on the children:
Elizabeth Broad or, Lizzie, was born in September 1851 and married James F. Connell in 1870. He was editor of the “Our Flag” newspaper in Marion for one year in 1870. In the 1870 census, he and Elizabeth were living with Sarah Goddard, a domestic servant and James was listed as a printer. By the 1880 census they had five children: Frank, James Jr., Olive, Charles L. and Edwin. Elizabeth died on July 6, 1883 at the age of 32. When Lizzie’s mother died in 1897 her obit noted that her son-in-law was Editor J.F. Connell of Mounds City had two boys, James Jr. and David. Their son Frank was born in 1870 and died in 1912.
Mary “Jenny” Broad married Fabian A. Nance on October 5, 1881 in Mrs. Broad’s parlor. Fabian was general manager of the Marion Electric Light plant for nine years from 1893 to 1901. Then he entered the grocery trade on North Market St. He and Mary J. had seven children: William C., George H., Ed F., Vlademir B. who died in 1891, Clarence A., Warder P. and Robert D. Nance.
William Albert Broad was born in August 1855. In the 1880 census he was living in Murphysboro, working as a laborer. He married Martha Victoria Lee on June 23, 1887. Martha was born March 27, 1856 in Clinton County, Kentucky and moved to Williamson County in 1867.
In 1900 Albert and Martha were living alone and he was working as a day laborer. They had been married for 13 years. He owned his own home free and clear of mortgage. They had no children living with them but they had a son, William Richard Cline Broad who was born in 1888 and died of measles in March of 1896.
A 1907 Marion directory noted that William A. and Martha lived at and operated a pool room located at 100 N. Liberty St. Technically, 100 N. Liberty is the same lot as 300 W. Main and only a question of which way the business faces.
By the 1910 census, Albert was still running the pool room but now listed at 300 W. Main Street and also taking on boarders. He and Martha, in their early 50s, had one roomer. A directory check indicates that 300 W. Main didn’t exist in 1907 but did in 1910 which leads me to believe that this is the William A. Broad who built the building and lent his name to it. It also would imply that this building was built somewhere in the three year period of 1907-1910.
Martha died in 1912. According to her obituary one child was born to them in 1888, William Richard Cline Broad in 1888. He died Mar 17, 1896. She left a husband and daughter, Mrs. J.A Doigur of St Louis where she died Sep 9, 1912.
In 1920 there were a housekeeper and two lodgers living with William A. He lived at 302 West Main Street and had apparently semi-retired, no occupation was listed and he was 64 years old although a 1922 directory listed him at the same address and he offered rooming and wallpaper.
Although no death date was found on William Albert, there is a Willie Broad buried in 1923 next to the mother, Mariah, in Rose Hill Cemetery so this is presumably him.
Thomas E. Broad was born in April 1864 and married Annie Barham on April 29, 1885. An article in a local newspaper dated August 1894 indicated that Tom Broad had been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, but he was found not guilty.
By the 1900 census, he and his wife Annie were keeping a boarding house in Marion which they rented and also lived in. They had three children: Georgia born in Sept. 1885, William born in Dec. 1887 and Fay born in Nov. 1892. Thomas was also occupied as a shoe cobbler.
A 1907 city directory indicated that they were proprietors of the Jefferson Hotel located at 209 N. Van Buren Street where they also resided. There is a William E. Broad who works as a clerk at the hotel, quite possibly their son.
The 1910 census found the mid’40’s couple still managing the hotel but now they were owners. There was only one child, Fay, age 17, still living at home. Living next to them was their son William E. and his wife Ruth. They had a 1 ½ year old son B.F. William was working as an inspector at a tie plant, likely American Creosote Co. south of town.
In 1920, the couple now in their fifties had moved to 408 S. Van Buren Street and Tom was a self-employed shoe maker.
The 1930 census listed Tom, now in his sixties, as a cobbler working in a shoe shop. His 94 year old, mother-in-law, Harriet Barham, was living with them. No address given on the census record but they owned their own home.
Thomas Edgar Broad died Oct 6, 1931 where he lived in West Marion. His father is listed on his death certificate as William E. Broad. Anna Broad died in 1953; both are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.
Other relatives? There are two extra burials in the family plot at Rose Hill Cemtery and two unaccounted for people. According to Marion City Cemetery records, one is an “Unnamed Broad” who died in 1896 and the other a Billie Broad who also died the same year, (possibly twins?). Both graves are located in the family plot near the mother, Mariah and the son William A.
(Passenger lists into New York; Census records; Williamson County Chancery Records; Events in Egypt; Historical Souvenir of Williamson County; Williamson County Land records; History of Gallatin, Franklin, Saline, Hamilton, and Williamson Counties, Illinois; Marion City Cemetery records; Compiled by Colleen Norman)