Category Archives: County

Williamson County Related

Shannon, William C. 1888-1976, Marion Mayor 1951-55

Posted on by January 30, 2014

William Shannon 1888-1976William Clark Shannon, who held public office in Williamson County for more than a quarter of a century, including those of Marion Mayor, City Magistrate, County Sheriff and County Treasurer, was born in Cannon City, Colorado to Abraham and Mary Shannon on March 13, 1888.

William’s father, Abraham was a full blooded Irish coal miner who was born in Northern Ireland in 1861 and immigrated in 1876, at the age of 15 to America to work the mines. He became a citizen in 1884. William’s mother, Mary, was full blooded English, but was naturalized by the process of her parents becoming citizens. Continue reading →

Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge

Posted on by January 24, 2014

Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge
Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge
Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge
Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge
Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge

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Little is known of the first inhabitants of the region. Indications of their presence appear in artifacts of stone, bone, and clay. Some of the Kaskaskia and Shawnee Indians may have lived in the Crab Orchard area, but it is more likely they used it as part of their hunting grounds.

The earliest frontiersmen came into the area in the late 1700’s. By the 1840’s, homesteaders had established farms throughout the area that now makes up the Refuge. Utilizing the abundances of game, homesteaders dined on buffalo, deer, quail and passenger pigeons. Continue reading →

1897-1904 Williamson County Mining Deaths

Posted on by January 23, 2014

It should go without saying that coal mining, even today, is a hazardous occupation. Needless to say, it was even more so in the early days when miners dealt with mules, hazardous gas, open flame lamps and sticks of dynamite on a daily basis. Because so many early mining deaths went unreported except for footnotes in the local papers, many of the stories of miners dying doing their job remain a blank in genealogical family trees. The following list is a compilation of accidents occurring in Williamson County between 1897 and 1904 inclusive taken from the 1905 Souvenir History of the county. Continue reading →

Edwards, Charles “Yobbie” 1915-1968

Posted on by January 19, 2014

Charles Edwards 1953
Charles Edwards ca 1955
Charles Edwards 1955-56
Charles Edwards 1950\'s
Charles Edwards May 1958

Charles “Yobbie” Edwards was a WWII veteran, deputy sheriff under two Sheriff terms and served as Marion Chief of Police from 1954 to 1967. He was born in Galatia on October 1, 1915, a son of Delmon Lee Edwards (1887-1923) and Myrtle Miller. Four years after Charles was born, his father, Delmon, filled out his WW I registration card and noted that he was 27, he was married, had four children and lived on E. DeYoung in Marion working as a self-employed teamster which probably meant he had his own truck. Continue reading →