Jon, Thanks for the response. I'm interested in blacks in Southern Illinois although my focus is Eldorado. So far, I've found little. Apparently, terrible things occurred there in the early 1900s, including the "Bloody Williamson" "Herrin Massacre" in the '30s. Not too far away in Missouri in 1906 there was a mob lynching dismemberment incident in the Springfield public square. Some towns just have not had blacks living in them while others have. This can't be accidents. And, that old saw about "Anyone who knew anything is gone" just won't work anymore. There must be some honest, fairly accurate written accounts out there. But this query is only incidental to my research on the Morris side of my family who lived in Eldorado since about the 1840s. Three Morris sons served in the Civil War with Saline County volunteers, with one , John F. Morris, dying of disease or illness contracted in the war. I'm just looking for a fuller picture than I knew when I lived there in the '40s and '50s. Shawneetown, as I recall, always had a few black residents there, as did Harrisburg, Carrier Mills, Marion, Herrin, and others. What happened in Union County, Ky., across the river? Ernie Heltsley

Scott Hines wrote an article for the Harrisburg Daily Register early in 1992, that dealt with the incident that drove the blacks out of Eldorado earlier in the 20th Century. There is another story about the massacre of blacks at Grayson (better known by its other name N----- Hill). I've never heard the story first hand and don't know the details. There's one old guy that I know who does know the story, but I've never asked him about that one. His body is doing its best to die on him, but his mind is still sharp. Interviewing him about that incident is on my To Do list. The Union County reference is not to a particularly incident, just to the blatantly racist language and attitude in the 1886 history. It really is striking when compared with 1887 history of Gallatin County just across the river. The general attitudes were not that different among the people, the were certainly different among the two authors. Jon Musgrave www.IllinoisHistory.com ----- Original Message ----- From: <HELTSLEY@aol.com> To: <ILSALINE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 3:21 PM Subject: Re: [ILSALINE-L] History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williams... > Jon, > Thanks for the response. I'm interested in blacks in Southern Illinois > although my focus is Eldorado. So far, I've found little. Apparently, > terrible things occurred there in the early 1900s, including the "Bloody > Williamson" "Herrin Massacre" in the '30s. Not too far away in Missouri in > 1906 there was a mob lynching dismemberment incident in the Springfield > public square. > Some towns just have not had blacks living in them while others have. This > can't be accidents. > And, that old saw about "Anyone who knew anything is gone" just won't work > anymore. There must be some honest, fairly accurate written accounts out > there. > But this query is only incidental to my research on the Morris side of my > family who lived in Eldorado since about the 1840s. Three Morris sons served > in the Civil War with Saline County volunteers, with one , John F. Morris, > dying of disease or illness contracted in the war. I'm just looking for a > fuller picture than I knew when I lived there in the '40s and '50s. > Shawneetown, as I recall, always had a few black residents there, as did > Harrisburg, Carrier Mills, Marion, Herrin, and others. What happened in > Union County, Ky., across the river? > > Ernie Heltsley > >

Check out the early census records for info on the number of slaves and probably their surnames in what is now Saline County. (Some Browns, probably my relatives, owned slaves in Illinois in 1820. My Browns came into the Illinois Territory from Kentucky, which clearly was a slave state, as was Illinois, before the Civil War. We all know slavery was widespread in this country from about 1619 until 1865.) The early census records don't give names of the slaves, only numbers, but since slaves usually took the surnames of their masters, it's a good place to start researching, especially for African Americans who have the most difficult job of trying to trace their ancestry. They also have to deal with identity crises: Most have no idea what their real surnames are or should be. on 9/5/2000 3:21 PM, HELTSLEY@aol.com at HELTSLEY@aol.com wrote: > I'm interested in blacks in Southern Illinois > although my focus is Eldorado. So far, I've found little.