Sentimental Sunday - Holiday from the Past

Merry Christmas!  I like to imagine these are my ancestors hanging their stockings on Christmas Eve!

Those Places Thursday - Methodist Orphanage - Mt. Vernon, IL

This picture postcard postmarked 1946 is the Methodist Children's Home in my hometown, Mt. Vernon, IL.  I remember as a young girl while in grades three and four having a friend from the orphanage; I couldn't really grasp why she lived there, why she couldn't come to my house for sleepovers, etc.  Looking back as an adult I see  this picture and realize how lucky I was to have two parents and a real home.

The orphanage was relocated to this building in 1921 from Creal Springs.

Sunday's Obituary - Daniel W. McGuire - Murfreesboro, TN

Daniel Washington McGuire 

Born: 15 Aug 1869

Died: 9 Jan 1953

Father:  William Henry McGuire

Mother:  Amanda Jane Martin

I have written previously of my 3X great-grandmother, Amanda Martin Sewell McGuire Clifton who has fascinated me for over twenty years.  I have spent much time documenting her life.  One detail I had trouble with was finding the death date and place for her son Daniel W. McGuire from her second marriage to William Henry McGuire.  Several months ago, my distant cousin, Mike Clemmons who writes, Clemmons Family History and is also descended from Amanda contacted me to let me know he was going to the Nashville, TN area and would look for the obituary.  Aren't genealogy cousins great?!?  He was successful and several mysteries were solved.  I had always assumed Daniel's middle name was William after his father, but according to the obituary it is Washington.

According to the 1910 Wilson County, Tn and 1930 Rutherford County, TN he listed his occupation as Chief Engineer Ice Factory.  According to the obituary he worked for the Christy and Huggins Company, and ice company and Coca Cola bottlers for forty-two years.

He was survived by his wife Lucy and two daughters, Mrs. Josephine Patterson and Mrs. Margaret Price.  There was no mention of a son Howard Jefferson McGuire who was born in 1892.

Thanks again Mike!

Egyptian Hospital - Mt. Vernon, IL

This postcard depicts a short-lived hospital from Mt.Vernon from nearly one hundred years ago.  According to Dr. Charles K. Wells, M.D. in his book, "A. History of Hospitals in Jefferson County, Illinois" the Egyptian Hospital was only in operation between the years of 1909 - 1919.¹ It was located in a brick building erected by Mrs. Walter Fly at 106-108 North Eleventh Street.²

It was originally run by Dr. J. W. Hamilton, then eventually taken over by Dr. J. T. Whitlock until 1917 upon the onset of WWI when a number of doctors from Mt. Vernon volunteered to serve with the Armed Forces.  With the failing health of Dr. Whitlock, the hospital was for a short time taken over by Dr. S.A. Thompson until it was turned into the Illinois Hotel sometime before 1920.  It was later torn down and the site became a parking lot.

Sources: 

¹ A History of Hospitals in Jefferson County, Illinois.  Dr. Charles K. Wells, M.D.  1993 Azusa Printing, Mt. Vernon, 62864.

² Mt. Vernon A Pictorial History by Thomas A. Puckett, 1991 G. Bradley Publishing, Inc. United States.

International Shoe Factory - Mt. Vernon, Illinois

I have been shamefully absent from my blogs the past month for a myriad of excuses, first vacation, then a death in the family, stresses at work and finally just plain laziness.  I was going through a number of old postcards I have purchased and this particular one struck me as I remember my Grandmother, Doris Wade Smith, telling me how she went to work at the Shoe Factory when she was just fifteen years old.  This would have been around 1928, I believe when her father, Joseph Wade, lost his job with the "Car Shops" in Mt. Vernon and she had to leave school and get a job to help out her family.  It appears, however, by the 1930 Census of Madison County, Illinois that Joseph had moved his family to the Village of Madison and secured a job as a machinist at the Car & Foundry Co. and my grandmother was back in school.

International Shoe Factory, Mt. Vernon, IL

I remember seeing this old building all my life, it is located at 19th Street and Perkins in Mt. Vernon, IL.  It was owned by the International Shoe Factory and produced many famous lines of shoes.  According to an article in the Mt. Vernon Register News, April 15, 1964 in the text of a speech given by M. R. Chambers, President of the International Shoe Factory, "the production of the 75,000 square foot building was finished and production started in 1920."  By 1963 the factory had made over 31,755,000 pairs of shoes and at one time employed over 800 people.  Sometime In 1968 it announced it's closure of the factory; In July 1969 in another Register News story, Florsheim Shoes stated their intention to take over the factory and keep on many of the 350 employees.

Those Places Thursday - Downtown Mt. Vernon, IL

Another postcard that I purchased of my hometown of Mt. Vernon, IL - this one is from the West side of the square.  This is the Third National Bank and it is postmarked 1909.  According to Thomas Puckett's book "Mt. Vernon, A Pictorial History, 1991 the address is 101 South Tenth.

This is what this site looks like today:

According to Wall's History of Jefferson County (thanks to cousin Jim Smith for sending me the Google search on this):

The bank was formed by a company of prominent citizens, John R. Allen, A. C. Johnson, D. H. Warren, R. J. Bond, W. C. Arthurs, I. G. Gee Morris Emmerson., L. L. Emmerson and F. E. Patton, who became the directors with others, purchased the Evans and Gee Banking Company and organized the Third National Bank, an institution of which Mount Vernon is justly proud.  John R. Allen was chosen president; A. C. Johnson, vice-president; L. L. Emmerson, cashier; F. E. Patton, assistant cashier, and Charles H. Patton, attorney.  It was organized with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars and began business February 4, 1902.

In 1903, the Banking Company purchased the Harvey T. Pace Corner, removed the “old land marks" and erected the present magnificent three-story building, in the first floor of which the Third National Bank makes its home, with all the modern improvements of banking.  The building is an ornament to the city, the bank occupying the entire first floor, except an office in the west end occupied by the Electric, Light, Gas, Heat & Water Company.  The second and third stories contain twenty handsome office, the whole outfit being lighted , heated and watered from the city light, heat and water plants.  It is by far the most prominent and commodious business house in the city, and is continuously and fully occupied by many of our best business men.  Other business houses have followed in the wake of the Third National and have taken on the light, heat and water utilities.

The lot where the bank was erected was originally settled by the Maxey family in 1823.  Mr. Maxey built a log house on the site now occupied by the Third National Bank.  Additons were later added and the house stood where it  was originally bult unitl about 1902, when the old building were wrecked to make way for the new building of the Third National Bank. 


Source:  http://www.archive.org/stream/wallshistoryofje00wall/wallshistoryofje00wall_djvu.txt

Those Places Thursday - Mt. Vernon, Illinois Town Square View from Courthouse

Another great score from eBay, this postcard was postmarked 1916 and shows the town square view facing south from the Courthouse of my hometown Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

Those Places Thursday - Appellate Court House - Abe Lincoln & Clara Barton Stopped Here

My hometown of Mt. Vernon, IL is located in Jefferson County with a population of 15,277 according to Wikipedia.  One of the jewels of this town, is the Appellate Court House, a building which I have seen all my life.  It's one of those things you just take for granted and is located at 14th and Main; a beautiful stone building with twin wrought iron stairways, the 5th District Appellate Courthouse was built around 1857 and is famous for when Abraham Lincoln came to town to try a court case for the Illinois Central Railroad. It took three weeks to bring the iron stairways for the front of the building from St. Louis to Mt. Vernon via ox-cart.

On February 19, 1888 the "Great Cyclone" of  Mt. Vernon struck and destroyed over five hundred buildings, killed thirty citizens and injured several hundred other residents of Mt. Vernon.  An appeal went out for help to relief committees and medical providers.   Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross came to town to help the citizens of Mt. Vernon and an emergency hospital was housed in the Appellate Courthouse under her supervision.  Today the courthouse looks much as it did one-hundred and fifty years ago when it was first constructed.