The old county jail at 105 S. Van Buren Street in Marion was built in 1913 and served 16 sheriff’s terms and housed most of their families. When a new county jail was built and occupied in the early 1970’s the old jail was handed over to the Williamson County Historical Society for safe keeping. It has since been converted into a county museum and genealogical/historical research library. The following link will bring up a description of the museum with some photos. If you haven’t been to the museum, you should make it a point to take your family, most of the possessions on display came from old Williamson County pioneer families.
Monthly Archives: March 2014
Marion, Illinois became an incorporated city in 1874 with a mayoral system of government. Joseph W. Hartwell became the first mayor elected to the town in 1874. Later he served in several positions in the city and county government: County Treasurer, 1865; Circuit Clerk 1868-1872; and States Attorney 1875-1880. In a special election for states attorney in June 1875, he was “an able young lawyer and a man of courage.” He was elected to the vacancy left by State’ Attorney, J. D. F. Jennings, who had left the county after embezzling $927 from the school fund and was the father of Al Jennings, Joseph W. was then elected to a full term. He also served on the state Board of Equalization in Springfield and U. S. Special Pension Examiner in Fulton, Kentucky. Continue reading
McNett Photo Studio of Marion, Illinois is a business that does not appear to have been around very long. The owner James Gardiner McNett was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on February 5, 1893. When the 1910 census was taken he was 17 years old and still living with his family in Nebraska.
An Iowa state census located him in Osage, Iowa in 1915, but by the time he registered for the WWI draft in 1917, he and his mother were living here in Marion, Illinois and he was listed as a self-employed photographer. He was 23 and living at 104 N. Vicksburg St. Continue reading
Charles Herbert “Herb” Whitcomb, mayor of Marion from 1931-1935 during the heart of the depression and two term County Commissioner, was born April 22, 1890 in Paducah, Kentucky to Charles Herbert Whitcomb, Sr. (1860-1896) and Mary Elizabeth Stanley (1863-1932). Continue reading
This photograph taken in front of the old Marion Township High School on West Main Street in 1914 is a bit of a mystery. It was donated by one of the descendants of Earl Blankenship Sr., founder of E. Blankenship Auto Supplies, to the Williamson County Historical Society. Continue reading