Category Archives: County

Williamson County Related

The Legacy of Coal

Posted on by January 31, 2014

Coal Mining
Coal Mining
Clifford Coal Mine
Early scratch back mine
Chicago and Big Muddy Mine

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The black diamond — bituminous coal — provided the economic fuel for Williamson County’s dramatic early growth.

Since the day a pioneer found coal near the present-day village of Spillertown north of Marion, coal has shaped the economic landscape of Williamson County.

The very name of Williamson County towns bespeak their mining history: Carterville, Herrin, Colp, Stiritz, and other towns were named for mines or the men who created them. Continue reading →

Rodd, Harry R. 1912-1987, Marion Mayor 1947-1951

Posted on by January 30, 2014

Harry R. Rodd 1912-1987
Harry R. Rodd 1912-1987

Harry R. Rodd was born August 15, 1912 in DuQuoin to Roy Edgar Rodd (1880-1968) and Lela May Calvert (1886-1974). Harry’s father, Roy, was born on a farm in Williamson County in 1880 in the now defunct Western precinct that we know today as Blairsville Township in the northwest corner of the county. He spent most of his life living in Marion and worked as an insurance salesman. Continue reading →

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

Posted on by April 22, 2014

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 →