Even though Marion wasn’t officially in existence until 1839, there were already a considerable number of pioneer families occupying various locations throughout Southern Illinois in 1833.

Events occur periodically that seem to “freeze moments in time” and ever after serve as markers for every other event in one’s life. An example, for us today, would be the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 or the events of 9/11/2001. To the very, early pioneer settlers in this section of the U.S., two of those markers would have been the New Madrid earthquake of December of 1811 through February of 1812, for those few pioneers that were around, or, for the next wave of pioneers, the memorable event was the night the sky fell in 1833. Continue reading →