Dr. Harlie V. Lewis, the oldest physician in Lawrence County in 1939, died at his home at 809 13th St at 3:25 pm Saturday February 1. He suffered a stroke at 8:30 that morning and his condition was considered serious from the first. Dr. Lewis had been in his usual health the last month except for a slight cold that had confined him to his home in the latter part of that week. Dr. Lewis was born in Bridgeport, Illinois, the son o f William M. Lewis and Katherine Eaton Lewis

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

Vital Statistics for the Year 1940 Lawrence County   Total Births in the County: 803 Total Deaths: 193 (two stillborn and 7 cases recorded as miscellaneous) (Not sure how a death could be classified as "miscellaneous" . . .you were either dead or you weren't. . . )   By Township Allison: 34 births, 5 deaths, 1 stillborn and 4 miscellaneous Bond: 56 births, 13 deaths Bridgeport: 12 births, 28 deaths Christy: 94 births, 23 deaths Denison: 133 births, 22 deaths Lawrence: 176 bir

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

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

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

January 7 1881 ‘Ye tax gatherer is abroad in the land with his big book; Don't sic the dog on him.’  The tax collector counted 1,430 dogs in the county and hopefully was not bitten by any of them. The 17 th  snowstorm of the year occurred the day before the paper was published. Notwithstanding the extreme cold weather, a little Seed came to the surface in Lawrenceville last week. (The researchers haven’t learned who the parents were yet.) Reverend John Hennessy delivered qui

A few weeks ago a reader rquested an article that had appeared on the old blog ( before Google deided that blog was spam and deleted it from the web, and yes we are still mad about that but moving on.....) Anway here is the post again.    July 23, 1909 The Oil City Derrick (Oil City, Pennsylvania) The record of the Diver farm is wonderful and has never been equaled in production nor in longevity of the wells. The John Dive r farm of 35 acres located a mile south of Bridgeport

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