James V. Grider is a native of Franklin County. He was born November 3, 1840, and moved with his father’s family into Williamson County in 1844 and into Marion in 1849.
In the 1850 census, James was 10 and living with his father and siblings. His father’s name was William M. Grider and listed himself as a house carpenter. Continue reading
Hugh Milo Parks was born in Rock Creek precinct near Crab Orchard December 4, 1845. He was the son of Lewis Corder Parks and Isabelle Jean Deason, and a member of a family that dates its residence in Illinois back to the early pioneer days. Continue reading
Marion’s bloody history has been the subject of numerous books, articles and documentaries. “Bloody Williamson,” Paul M. Angle’s widely read story of our county, is still in publication after more than half a century. Perhaps one of the reasons for the intense curiosity about our past is the baffling contrast between the genuine warmth and friendliness of the people you meet today and the violent heartlessness of some who lived here just one or two generations ago. No story better illustrates this paradox than the tragedy of Lory and Ethel Price. Continue reading
The handwriting must have been on the wall for U.S. involvement in World War II prior to 1939 when war broke out in Europe. News articles from 1938 noted our vulnerability in placing our air corps bases and armament stockpiles in coastal locations. In those times, Southern Illinois had 61 percent of the population on welfare, one of the highest in the nation and more people in this end of the state were out of work than those working. Continue reading
In 1915, the Ku Klux Klan, “a movement dedicated to organized intolerance,” was revived near Atlanta, Georgia, after a dormancy of forty-five years. The Klan appeared to be a small and harmless order, predicated on southern sentimentalism and mild patriotism, until 1920-21, when its organization and national officers were changed. From then on, its spread was rapid. Continue reading
