Category Archives: County

Williamson County Related

1831, How Southern Illinois Became Egypt

Posted on by January 4, 2014

Egyptian Key MagazineFor one hundred and fifteen years, that portion of Illinois that lies south of the old Vincennes-St. Louis Trace has been known affectionately as Egypt. The old road is no more. Travel today rolls along on U.S. Highway 50 or the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, both of which practically follow the old Trace. Twenty-eight counties make up Egypt, being those counties which lie south of the line of demarcation or are cut by it.

In all the history books considerable space is given to “the winter of the deep snow.” That was the winter of 1830-31. Continue reading →

1787, The Old Soldiers’ Reservation

Posted on by January 4, 2014

Soldiers Reservation Map 1787At the close of the Revolutionary War, a great many soldiers were discharged and sent home without their pay. To remedy this, the Continental Congress passed an act granting to every such discharged soldier one hundred acres of land, to be selected by him within a prescribed territory; and on October 22nd, 1787, that congress set off as a reservation for that purpose, a portion of land in the Northwest Territory, described and bounded as follows: Continue reading →

1924, Troops Called in “Coal Belt Booze War”

Posted on by February 20, 2014

On January 8th, 1924, Williamson County Sheriff George Galligan requested of then Governor Len Small to send in the Illinois Nation Guard troops to ensure order. Galligan stated that the raids performed by S. Glenn Young and his Ku Klux Klan counterparts had assumed the proportions of mob violence and was afraid the raiders’ actions would create another mob. Young had recently been raiding personal homes and businesses and was said to be beating up people and officials and stealing money and property. Continue reading →

County Poor Farm Cemetery

Posted on by December 31, 2013

The County Poor Farm Cemetery was located in the SW1/4 of NE 1/4, Section 12, West Marion Township. When funeral home director and former sheriff G.J. Frick purchased the Poor Farm in 1946, the county held out the part containing the graves, selling 34.29 acres out of the 40 acre tract.

All records are from the Williamson County Death Records unless otherwise noted. It is possible the ones that say buried in Potter’s Field are actually buried in the potter’s field section of Rose Hill, but I have included them here because they died at the county farm, which was across the road from the cemetery, and it is possible they were buried in County Farm Cemetery. This is by no means meant to be a complete list of burials that were in this cemetery. It is a collection of items found during several years of research. Continue reading →

Kirby, Dennis L. 1892-1918, First Vet’s Body Returned from Foreign Soil

Posted on by January 1, 2014

This newspaper clipping from 1918 captures the first time that the body of a Williamson County soldier had been returned from foreign soil. It, unfortunately, would not be the last.

Body of Soldier Arrives From England

Dennis L. Kirby, former private in the 113 Sanitary Train, is to be buried with military honors in Marion on Tuesday afternoon. The body was returned from England on Sunday and is held at the Cash Undertaking Parlor pending the funeral. Continue reading →