Ralph Norman was born January 28, 1884, in Crab Orchard, Illinois. He served on the school board in Marion for 40 years and was a former city commissioner.
Norman was the son of the late Leroy Norman and Clementine Hastings. He was married in Marion December 2, 1905, to Sarah T. Jordan which appears to be about the time he and his wife started living in Marion. Continue reading
Robert O. Clarida was of Irish, Scotch, English parentage, born near Crab Orchard in Williamson County, Illinois, on July 19, 1868. His father was a native of Virginia and his mother of Tennessee. He was reared and educated in Crab Orchard Township of Williamson County and lived on the farm until 1902. Continue reading
Bill L. Bainbridge was born July 8, 1922, in Marion, to Lawrence and Lottie Mae (Eyre) Bainbridge. Having been born into a family of merchants, Bill was a WWII veteran who spent his life in the family jewelry business and was the great-grand-son of J.B. Bainbridge, an early pioneering Marion merchant. Continue reading
Leonard “Leon” Allen Colp was born on a farm in Eight Mile Prairie near Carterville, on January 18, 1881, the son of John H. Colp and Isadora North. His father was a farmer and later a prominent miller.
Educated in the country schools and Carterville grade schools, he passed into the Northern Indiana Normal University at Valparaiso, Indiana, where he prepared himself for the University of Illinois which he entered later and was graduated from in 1904 with the degree of LL.B (Bachelor of Laws Degree). Continue reading
The first Official Record pertaining to the public schools of Williamson County dates from the year A.D. 1840 when William F. Tanner, school commissioner of the new county of Williamson, receipted Scion H. Mitchell, then school commissioner of Franklin County, for Williamson County’s share of the school funds. Continue reading