1951, Black Liquor License Practice Under Fire

Marion Charges No License for Negro Tavern

Springfield, Ill., Oct. 5, 1951 – The Illinois Liquor Control Commission fired criticism today at the practice of the city of Marion which permits one Negro to operate a tavern without paying a license fee so Negroes would stay out of other taverns.

The Commission voiced its disapproval in an order directing the Marion Liquor Control Commission, Mayor William Shannon, to rescind the local license granted to John Willie Jones, a Negro. Continue reading

Dunaway, Mabel 1885-1963

Miss Mabel Dunaway, a Marion school teacher for 44 years, was born on April 26, 1885, at Marion. She was the daughter of Thomas Dunaway and Emma Benson. Mabel grew up and lived her entire life in the family home at 306 S. Market Street. Her father, Thomas, was a prominent Marion merchant and her grandfather, Samuel Dunaway, was a pioneer merchant and businessman, responsible for the first railroad spur into Marion in 1872. Continue reading

Dunaway, Samuel L. 1895-1976, Dunaway Insurance Agency

Samuel L Dunaway 1895-1976Samuel Lum Dunaway, Marion businessman, civic leader, WWI veteran and grandson of early county pioneer Sam Dunaway, was born on April 12, 1895, in Marion to Thomas Dunaway and Emma Benson.

Sam descended from one of the families that lived at Old Bainbridge, the village that served as the seat of county government, west of Marion, prior to creation of the county seat in Marion.

His father, Thomas Dunaway, retired Marion merchant, who died in 1921, was the son of Samuel Dunaway, one of the settlers of Bainbridge. Thomas Dunaway was born near that pioneer village in 1848, the last of 15 children in the family. Continue reading