Robert Donald Bradley was born August 4, 1924, in Effingham, Illinois, to Esther and Arnold Bradley. While in school, he took the last name of his stepfather, Earl Burnett, and used his own middle name Donald and was known as Don Burnett.
After his high school graduation, he joined the US Navy and served on the tanker ship US Platt in the South Pacific until World War II ended. Continue reading
The following article was published in the Marion Daily Republican in 1916 and recounts the recollections of William S. Morris who matured while living near Marion and joined the Union Army in Marion in 1861. Continue reading
Denton “Dent” Ferrell was born in Crainville on November 11, 1889, the son of Hosea V. Ferrell and Mildred Cassandra Davis. His father, Hosea, was a physician and prominent citizen in Carterville. Of his many siblings, a brother named after his father, Hosea V. Ferrell, became a leading attorney and prominent citizen of Marion for decades. Continue reading
Dr. Theodore Hudson was born August 12, 1850 in Pennsylvania, the son of Dr. and Mrs. John Atchinson Hudson. He was the oldest of three children, his brother, Dr. George Hudson of Canton, Iowa having died at the home of Dr. Theodore Hudson of Marion, and his older brother, Joseph Hudson, a farmer who lived south of Marion, the father of Georgia and Ruth Hudson. Continue reading
Willis Aikman was born near Washington, Davies County, Indiana, on March 14, 1833. He was a son of Samuel Aikman and Henrietta Coleman and came with his parents to Edgar County, Illinois, in 1835, and to Marion in 1837 with a family of six boys and three girls.
His father, Samuel, invested his money in Marion real estate until he owned a strip one-half mile wide by a mile and a half long, consisting of 640 acres, which he bought off the Government at $1.25 an acre. Continue reading