The following article is an extract taken from the 1905 Souvenir History of Williamson County detailing the life of Judge James M. Washburn and is followed by collected data. Washburn was a Marion merchant, State Representative, Assistant Secretary of State, Master In Chancery, Attorney, member of the State Agriculture Board and one of the founders of the Egyptian Press newspaper. Continue reading
Category Archives: People
There are probably not many, if any, who remember the Hosea Wilson family of Marion and their contributions to the war effort during WW II.
Hosea Wilson was born in Marion in 1878, graduated from Marion High School and Southern Illinois Normal University. Hosea’s father, Allen Wilson served in the Civil War in the 31st Illinois Infantry. It should he added that O.M. Wilson of Marion was a brother of Hosea. O.M. Wilson had a son, Virgil, who later became the noted athletic coach at Marion High School. Continue reading
Leslie Otto Caplinger was born February 2, 1879, on a farm seven miles southeast of Marion, the son of Theodore Perry Caplinger and Mary L. McDonald. Leslie was the great grandson of Solomon Caplinger, blacksmith and early settler to the Caplinger Pond area, just on the southeast outskirts of Marion.
The family was captured in the 1880 census, when Leslie was 1 year old and the family was living on a farm in the New Denison area. Later plat maps indicate the family’s 66 acre farm was just east of Route 166, near New Denison. Continue reading
Raymond Reynolds was born on October 4, 1923 in Benton, Illinois to Austin Reynolds and Rachel West. He attended primary and secondary schools in Benton, graduating Benton High school in 1942. Continue reading
