County Poor Farm Cemetery

The County Poor Farm Cemetery was located in the SW1/4 of NE 1/4, Section 12, West Marion Township. When funeral home director and former sheriff G.J. Frick purchased the Poor Farm in 1946, the county held out the part containing the graves, selling 34.29 acres out of the 40 acre tract.

All records are from the Williamson County Death Records unless otherwise noted. It is possible the ones that say buried in Potter’s Field are actually buried in the potter’s field section of Rose Hill, but I have included them here because they died at the county farm, which was across the road from the cemetery, and it is possible they were buried in County Farm Cemetery. This is by no means meant to be a complete list of burials that were in this cemetery. It is a collection of items found during several years of research. Continue reading

1925, “Over the Hill”, Life on the County Poor Farm

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2013, I decided to post this series of articles about the Williamson County Poor Farm that were originally published in the Marion Daily Republican newspaper in December of 1925 and later republished in the Williamson County quarterly “Footprints”. It serves as a reminder to all of us that fairness isn’t always disseminated equally and we all have reasons to be thankful for what we have, how much or little that it may be. Continue reading