Thomas Jefferson Youngblood, Marion Mayor, was born in Osage, Laclede County, Missouri, March 8, 1857. His father was Solomon B. Youngblood, who was born on the old Jacob Sanders place, about seven miles northeast of Marion, on February 18, 1827. His father moved to Missouri in his youth and on January 5, 1854, married Lucinda Tyree, a native of Southwestern Missouri, where she was born in 1827. During the Civil War Solomon enlisted in the Union army serving with Company D, 24th Regiment of the Missouri Infantry. Solomon received an injury which his third wife would claim after his death at age 63 on October 6, 1891 in Hardin County, Illinois. Continue reading
1875, was a rough year for this county. There was an influx in the first phase of the Ku Klux Klan formed in the post-Civil War reconstruction period which saw notices being served on numerous locals telling them they must leave the county or face consequences. This year also saw the murders and resulting trials of a number of county citizens related to the culmination of the “Bloody Vendetta” era. Continue reading
1875, was a rough year for this county. There was an influx in the first phase of the Ku Klux Klan formed in the post-Civil War reconstruction period which saw notices being served on numerous locals telling them they must leave the county or face consequences. This year also saw the murders and resulting trials of a number of county citizens related to the culmination of the “Bloody Vendetta” era. Continue reading
Although few people have any knowledge of this Marion company anymore, the American Creosote Company, also known as American Creosoting Co., appears to have thrived in Marion for about five decades. The company preserved railroad ties with creosote, a thriving business in the day when rail was still king. According to an article published in the Carbondale Egyptian Press in February of 1907, a Mr. E.P. Garrett who, for the previous three years, had been superintendent of the Ayer & Lord Tie Co. of that city had taken a similar position with American Creosote in Marion. The Marion plant was said to have been under construction and was expected to be completed and operating in several months, probably by the middle of summer. Continue reading
Raymond L. McCormick, former Marion City Commissioner, WWII veteran and civic leader, was born on Tuesday, August 2, 1921, in Marion, the son of Ray and Ora (Cothran) McCormick, being one of five children. A Marion directory places the family in a home at 1204 E. Parham Street in 1928. Continue reading
