1925, “Over the Hill”, Life on the County Poor Farm

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2013, I decided to post this series of articles about the Williamson County Poor Farm that were originally published in the Marion Daily Republican newspaper in December of 1925 and later republished in the Williamson County quarterly “Footprints”. It serves as a reminder to all of us that fairness isn’t always disseminated equally and we all have reasons to be thankful for what we have, how much or little that it may be. Continue reading

Hudson, Dr. Theodore 1850-1931, Dr.’s Hudson and Hudson

Dr. Theodore Hudson was born August 12, 1850 in Pennsylvania, the son of Dr. and Mrs. John Atchinson Hudson. He was the oldest of three children, his brother, Dr. George Hudson of Canton, Iowa having died at the home of Dr. Theodore Hudson of Marion, and his older brother, Joseph Hudson, a farmer who lived south of Marion, the father of Georgia and Ruth Hudson. Continue reading

306 E. College St., Historic Home Razed in 1941

The following article was printed in the Marion Daily Republican on September 15, 1941, and recounts the history of the home located at 306 E. College Street on the occasion of its demolition.

Historic House Being Razed

Two Story Landmark On East College Street Yields To Wrecking Crew

One of Marion’s oldest residences began yielding to a wrecking crew Monday morning when workmen began tearing down the Mrs. Kate Sutherland home at 306 East College Street. The house, built almost ninety years ago, is one of the oldest and most interesting in Marion’s history. Continue reading

1833, The Night the Sky Fell

Leonids-1833Even though Marion wasn’t officially in existence until 1839, there were already a considerable number of pioneer families occupying various locations throughout Southern Illinois in 1833.

Events occur periodically that seem to “freeze moments in time” and ever after serve as markers for every other event in one’s life. An example, for us today, would be the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 or the events of 9/11/2001. To the very, early pioneer settlers in this section of the U.S., two of those markers would have been the New Madrid earthquake of December of 1811 through February of 1812, for those few pioneers that were around, or, for the next wave of pioneers, the memorable event was the night the sky fell in 1833. Continue reading