An article in the April 1881 Rural Republican that sets forth the history of St Francisville as written by a correspondent named “Clodhopper”. Credible people tell us that this village known as St Francisville was settled by the French and Indians at a very early period of its existence. …The first entrepreneur was very popular with his neighbors for he sold whiskey at a nickel a drink while at Allendale and other places they charged a dime. The inhabitants emulate the saloo

Friday, March 11, 1881 Happenings around the County The old Odd Fellows building in Lawrenceville was sold to Barton and Curry for $500. A C. Clippinger took control of the Lawrence County Press published at Sumner. Jim Ryan was going into the rafting business. Mrs. Lib McCleave, 3 miles west of town, was seriously sick with spotted fever. James N Blevins was suffering from an attack of fever and the meat market he operated was closed that week. Sheriff Ryan had been q

March 4th, 1881 Spring has yet to come. The editor wanted to know how he was expected to give his readers a weather forecast each week when he published that it was warm and pleasant but by the time the paper was published it was snowing and cold. It reminded him of the story of the boy counting the little pigs. He said he counted nine of them well enough but the other little fellow ran around so fast he couldn't count him. And the editor was about to come to the same conclus

Th e Rural Republican, published in Lawrenceville, Illinois on Friday, February 11th, 1881 The editor said that while the new bell on the Christian Church rang in soft tones, the weather was still bad. “The Groundhog did it--saw his shadow and now we have cold weather for six more weeks.” Having had three months of regular old- style winter, the streets were muddy, and there were about a dozen cases of measles in town that had already resulted in one death. Will M Garr

The readers of the Rural Republican were shocked to read the headline on Friday August 13 1880 when they opened their newspapers. “One...

Vincennes Capital November 28, 1903: George Os­wald, a mussel digger, was arrested on a charge of intox­ication and along with him were...