Friday, January 14th, 1881 The weather was thawing, and the fine sleighing of the past month was almost over. Wanted : A good lively undertaker to bury deadbeats. The editor appeared to being having a problem with ‘leeches’ reading the newspaper as long as they wanted and then leaving it at the post office to be returned with “refused” marked on it.  Wanted: to trade or sell one- horse light open buggy. Will trade for a good milk cow. Harness goes with the buggy. Notice: The

George W Glover held the record for being in the same line of business longer than anyone in Lawrenceville at the time of his death. He opened his confectionery on the West side of the square on a Sunday morning in March 1942 to begin the second half of a century in business. He had completed 50 years when he closed the store Saturday night. Fifty years in one city is a long time when one considers that he worked seven days a week, including the holidays. Arriving at noon M

Benjamin Sumner, a native of North Carolina (or possibly South Carolina, researchers differ), was one of the first permanent settlers in Christy township, Lawrence County, Illinois. He came to this area in 1817 and built a small round-log cabin. He was married three times. According to family legend when the Sumner family left the Carolinas, The first Mrs. Sumner placed a setting of eggs inside a slab of bacon and covered them over with a pillow to keep them warm. The eggs ha

First call of 113 Lawrence County men appeared for physical inspection for the selective service draft for WWI.   Headquarters of the local board had been moved from the courthouse to the basement of the Lawrenceville Township High School building, and the first quota of men for the new army were being examined. Doctor BF Hockman of the local board was being assisted by Doctors CP Gore, RL Gordon and JE Cornett. The physical examination was held in the gymnasium. On enterin

The Redman General Merchandise Store in Sumner was owned by Albert Lloyd Redman. Albert Lloyd Redman was born In Mount Carmel Illinois on June 8, 1861, to William and Jenny Redman . He was nine years old when the 1870 census was taken; he and his family lived in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana. Ten years later the family had moved to Mount Carmel, Wabash County, Illinois. Albert was working as a clerk in the dry goods store. He had managed to get an 8 th  grade educat

There was no on-line copy of the January 1, 1881, Rural Republican so Lawrence County news printed in the Western Sun  was used for this blog.    News: The previous Tuesday Matt Harvey had four horses killed and one crippled by the O&M railroad between Lawrenceville and Vincennes. A baby boy of Sheriff Ed Ryan died Friday and was buried on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, the only other ‘news’ item published was by a special correspondent to the Western Sun  who criticized La

The Research Library and History Center will be closed the week of December 21-27. Flatboats were used for trips down to New Orleans to sell excess farm products. These trips generally lasted about 90 days, not including the walk back north because the lumber in the flatboats was sold as well. These rectangular flat- bottomed boats had no keels making them more difficult to steer than an ordinary boat. In essence, they were just floating shoeboxes. About 1827, the Dubois Brot

The Research Library and History Center will be closed the week of December 21-27. December 24 1880 Mr. Day, the editor, advised people to save their loose dimes for the big oyster supper for the benefit of a City Hall to be given in the old Presbyterian Church December 30, 1880.  Lawrenceville schools would have a one-week vacation during the holidays. The post office would be closed from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Christmas Day. ( implying that they would be open earlier?) There

December 17 1880 The new editor Sam B Day noted that the Rural Republican had the largest circulation of any paper in the county. “Lawrenceville”, he said, “was located one mile north of the crossing of the Ohio and Mississippi and Danville and Southwestern railroads. It was a beautiful little village of about 1000 inhabitants surrounded by some of the finest farms and farming land in the state. It was a strong temperance town and was inhabited by a thrifty and enterprising

The on- line copy of the Rural Republican, Lawrence County’s  newspaper, derived from old, microfilmed copies, is too degraded to read easily for Friday, December 10 , 1880.   The news in this blog for this time period was reported by the Vincennes Weekly Western Sun.  Bridgeport Brevities: John A Bard was officiating in the post office. HK Lanterman was crippled up with rheumatism. Several of the young folks met at the residence of Charles Vanausdel and partook of a most b