Willis Aikman was born near Washington, Davies County, Indiana, on March 14, 1833. He was a son of Samuel Aikman and Henrietta Coleman and came with his parents to Edgar County, Illinois, in 1835, and to Marion in 1837 with a family of six boys and three girls.
His father, Samuel, invested his money in Marion real estate until he owned a strip one-half mile wide by a mile and a half long, consisting of 640 acres, which he bought off the Government at $1.25 an acre. Continue reading
The following is taken from “Thy People Shall Be My People or Elizabeth Ann and the Roberts Clan” by Daisy Roberts Malone. These excerpts were written by Elizabeth Ann Chadwell who was born 10 May 1825, the daughter of John Shepherd and Sarah Clark. She married William Rufus Roberts 18 Aug 1841 and after his death married Charles W. Chadwell 9 Nov 1849, both marriages in Williamson Co., Illinois. Elizabeth Ann died 13 May 1916 and is buried in Zion Cemetery, Corinth, Illinois. Continue reading
William Aikman was born April 2, 1825 in Davies County, Indiana. He was the fourth son of Samuel Aikman and Henrietta Coleman who were originally natives of North Carolina and came to Marion in 1837 with a family of six boys and three girls.
The family settled on the west side of Marion before the town was platted or built, while this County was still a part of Franklin and entered a strip of land from the government, half a mile wide and a mile and a half long, lying along where the C. & E. I. railroad (now Missouri Pacific) runs. It is known to have extended as far west as the VA hospital ground and as far east as Court Street. 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
Ethel Ashby was born on Sunday, March 7, 1920, at Creal Springs, Illinois, to Walter Tanner and Ethel Davenport. Her mother died the day Ethel was born. Due to a fear that the baby would also be lost, Belle and Roy McGowan, aunt and uncle of the child, volunteered to love and care for the little girl at their home in Carterville. Continue reading