Lawrence County Circuit Court 1889   Ella Richardville alias Ella Mullins on August 1, 1888 in the County of Lawrence and at other times between that time and the present time Feb 1889 unlawfully and wickedly did, and still does, keep and maintain, a boat on the Wabash River within the jurisdiction of the County, for the purposes of prostitution, to the encouragement of idleness, fornication and other misbehavior, and did then and there permit evil persons, men as well as w

The history of the Edward Dobbins Lodge Building can be found in the Abstract of Title of Lot 69 in Valentine J. Bradley’s Addition to the Town of Lawrenceville. The building may be the oldest in the city. The first entry is the land patent from the United States to Toussaint DuBois that was granted on August 28, 1788. The land Patent covered a group of seven locations comprising what was known as ‘the Schoals’, a part of the Northwest Territory France ceded to the colony of

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

The weather lately has everyone talking—though in 1816, folks didn’t just talk, they shivered and complained with a purpose. That year has gone down in history as “the year without a summer,” but the old-timers in New England, never ones to sugarcoat, just called it “1800 and starved to death.” January and February were suspiciously mild, like the weather was lulling everyone into a false sense of security. Then came March, which decided to make up for lost time by being as c

NO Program Tonight In the fall of 1875, the quiet town of Sumner, found itself repeatedly in the pages of regional newspapers. What began as a brief crime report soon became a months‑long public story marked by contradiction, uncertainty, and unresolved questions—revealed not through modern investigation, but through the shifting voices of 19th‑century journalism. The Night of the Shooting On a Monday evening in early November 1875, a local “colored” barber named John Branna

The first "Farmers’ Institute," was a three-day event held in December,1902 at the County Courthouse. This event was like the county fair, but without rides or ‘fried anything’. Attendance was limited to county exhibitors, admission was free, and enthusiasm was apparently unlimited. The Lawrenceville Republican ran several front-page articles leading up to the event, and the December 11 issue proudly published the winners in the various classes. Conservative estimates (which

March 18 1881 Notices:  The M.E. Church of Lawrenceville had preaching every alternate Sabbath with Sunday school at 3:00. The Lawrenceville Christian Church had preaching every 3rd Lord's Day in each month with Sunday school every Sunday at 3:00. The Edwards Dobbins Lodge #164 A. F. & A. M. met in their hall every second and fourth Saturday nights monthly according to A. Lewis and WC Gilbert. As the weather was liable to be some better, the editor asked why it would not be

This photograph was donated to the us with only the name scribbled on the back (spelled incorrectly, I might add) and that he may have taught in the Sumner area. To properly file the photo we needed to know more about him. Google said the uniform was Civil War but Google was wrong. John King said it was Spanish American.  We gave it to Marilyn W. with the instructions to learn more about the man. She began by doing a genealogical search and in the process learned that Anc

Despite 53 family trees on Ancestry.com confidently insisting otherwise, Moses Seeds (born about 1773 or 1776 in Orange County, New York) is officially a genealogical ghost.  He never existed. Poof. Gone. So if you’re connected to the Seeds family in Lawrence County, you might want to grab a cup of coffee and read on before inviting this guy to another reunion. Genealogist Dann Norton has just dropped a new blog post untangling the legendary mix‑up of two men named Moses Seed

U of I Professor of Zoology, Maurice C Tanquary, born and raised in Lawrence County, was a member of the American Arctic Crocker Land expedition that sailed from New York July 2, 1913, with the main object of reaching and mapping the northern land which Rear Admiral Robert E Peary reported sighting in 1906 and which he named Crocker Land. Led by ethnologist Donald B MacMillan the 1913 expedition was funded by the Natural History Museum in New York, the American (National) G