William M. Below was born in Clay County Kentucky on September 16, 1898 to Joseph B. Below and Lucy Williams. His father passed away 2 years later in February of 1900. When the census was taken later that year his widowed 48 year old mother, Lucy, was holding down a farm with six children including 6 year old William. The family was living near Sturgis, Kentucky and living with them was Lucy’s 46 year old brother Samuel S. Dial. Lucy indicated that she had birthed 7 children and 7 were still living.
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Although, Lee Roy Blackburn’s origins are a bit fuzzy, I believe it can be said with some certainty that he was born on June 9, 1879 in the area of Galatia, Illinois in Saline County. His father was Archibald Blackburn and his second wife, and most likely his mother, was Julia Ann Wicks. Roy’s father, Archibald, remarried a third time to Ida Ferrell in 1881 and then passed away in 1898 with burial at Brushy Creek Cemetery in Saline County.
Continue readingAnderson Macklin “Mack” Garrison was born in Saline County to Thomas Wilkerson Garrison and Sarah Jane Miller on February 10, 1862. In the 1870 federal census, the family was living in Saline County and using the Bankston Post Office. Thomas 39 and his wife Sarah 33 then had five children, William J. 18, Lemuel J. 12, Anderson M. 9, Eliza E. 4 and Lucella aged 4 months. The farming family lived on a farm that they valued at $800 and claimed $300 in personal estate.
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Lee Roy Hudgens was born on December 19, 1885 in Hudgens, Illinois to Zachariah Hudgens and Mary J. Cooksey. Nothing remains of Hudgens, Illinois today but it is located app. 5 miles south of Marion on Hudgens Road where railroad tracks cross the road. Lee attended the rural district schools in his area and later attended school in Creal Springs. At the early age of 17 he began working in the clothing business and worked for 9 years in the employ of Manheim Cantor, a Marion clothing merchant. In September of 1902, Lee’s father Zachariah was hit by a train in Marion and killed. His father had established the village of Hudgens, was a banker, active business man and served as Williamson County Sheriff from 1872 to 1874.
Continue readingLawrence Boswell, was likely born in or near Carterville, Illinois on June 2, 1887 to John B.P. Boswell and Lydia A.J. Trull. This is where his parents were living when the 1900 federal census was taken. His father worked as a carpenter and the couple were living in a rental home in Carterville. By the time the 1910 census was taken, his parents had made the move to Marion and were living in their permanent home at 305 S. Bentley St. In this census, 22 year-old Lawrence had already begun his career as a carpenter.
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