Friday, April 15th, 1881 The editor hoped the groundhog would never live to see his shadow again! Sunday was Easter and every little boy and girl in the land wanted to celebrate the time-honored event by having eggs colored in divers pretty colors. They would make it a point to celebrate the event by eating all the eggs they could. The editor remembered when he was a boy how fondly he looked forward to Easter as a day of rare sport and pleasure, and a hearty feast of eggs whi

For the Ladies: At our infamous lingerie program, Nancy King revealed that the Ladies of Lawrence bravely squeezed into these “engineering marvels”—risking a little health for a lot of va-va-voom. As the April 1881 edition of the Rural Republican reported: “The Robinson Brothers moved into the rooms formerly occupied by Barnes and Abernathy ." The editor could hardly contain his excitement when he discovered Bortrees’s Adjustable Duplex Corset —'undeniably the best on the m

On Friday, March 25th, 1881 The editor noted that the monotony of the season was relieved somewhat last Sunday and also on Tuesday morning by a nice little fall of snow. “There was hardly enough, however, for a successful snowballing party.” The sun was shining and the snow was falling. Jay Leonard of Allison offered his celebrated stallion, English Draft, for sale. Mrs. Booker of Duncanville Illinois rented the residence formerly occupied by M E Barnes in Lawrenceville an

Some of the genealogists and researchers, all female I might add, were discussing the fact that men in the 1800s and 1900s didn’t grieve long over a dead wife because they needed a woman to do all the work around the house and raise their children, so they remarried rather quickly after the burial of the first wife. The wives of the time must have watched this happen to their friends and realized that it might happen in her marriage as well if she were to die young. One woma

The Research Library and History Center will be closed the week of December 21-27. The Kelsey Family of the Bethel Community in Lukin William Stinson Kelsey and Harriet Blanchard Chamberlain were married in Norwich, Vermont. Eight children were born to this marriage: William Henry, George Thomas, Charles Dexter, Francis, Albert Curtis, Harriet Elizabeth, James Edward and John. William Stinson died on August 3, 1849, leaving his widow with eight children between four and e

Our newest exhibit at the History Center features dresses from 1850-1950, the last being the army uniform of Magdalene Angle Fleckenstein known as Madge. Madge was born in 1920 in the Klondike area near Chauncey. She attended grade school at the nearby one-room school, going on to graduate from Bridgeport High School in 1940. After graduation Madge enrolled in the Olney School of Nursing and after three years graduated from there as well. She enlisted in the Army Nurse Cor

One of the dresses on display at the Historical Society's newest exhibit belonged to Lucinda Porter. Lucinda Melton Porter was born in 1837 in Denison Township to a family with deep local pioneer roots. Her father Benjamin Melton had fought in the Revolutionary War so when she was born, he was between 70 and 80 years old. His daughter Lucinda was married for the first time at age 16 but widowed at age 23 with a young 5-year-old boy. In 1862 Lucinda married David Porter. Luc

Not many people iron clothes anymore, never mind whether it is Tuesday or not. It would be interesting to know just how many households...

In 1941, the location of George Field (Army Air Force Field) was a sparsely settled stretch of Illinois Prairie in Lawrence County where...

June 1880: A runaway occurred three miles west of Lawrenceville in which three persons were pretty badly bruised. They were L Gosnell,...