Pioneer Folks and Places, An Historic Gazetteer of Williamson County
By Barbara Barr Hubbs
This very informative book was published in commemoration of the county’s centennial on February 28, 1939. The copyright was renewed in 1966 and it was republished again in 1979 and is available in reprint through the Williamson County Historical Society’s book store. Continue reading
Ray Miller, teacher, principal, county officer, and a second generation Fair Board member, was born on April 26, 1891 in Williamson County to John Goodall Miller and Mary Ellen Krantz on a farm in Southern Township.
Nine years after Ray was born, according to the 1900 federal census, the family was living in Southern Precinct on the Miller family farm which they owned free of mortgage. Southern Township/Precinct starts just north of the Marion City Lake and included the villages of Hudgens and Chamness, extending south to Pulley’s Mill where Johnson County starts. Ray’s parents were farmers and were both in their mid-30’s. Children present in the home at the time were Ray aged 9 and daughter, Jessie M. aged 6. Ray’s mother indicated that she had birthed three children with two surviving indicating the loss of one child already in their marriage. Continue reading
Evelyn M. Patterson, a teacher for 53 years, 43 of which were in Marion, was born October 10, 1920, in Keokuk, Iowa, the only child of Thomas Chester Patterson and Bessie A. McCoy.
Her family was located in the 1930 census living in Hannibal, Missouri. They were renting a home at 1319 Mark Twain Avenue for $30 per month. Evelyn’s parents were both college educated and in this census, her mother, Bessie 36, was teaching at a business college. Her father, Thomas 39, was a drug salesman. Evelyn was nine years old. Continue reading
Mischievous boys still make sly and unannounced visits to watermelon patches. News of such a visit would not be unusual, but it would be uncommon to hear that a group of boys had raided the farmer’s apple hole. Such excursions … Continue reading
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