Angela, I spent my teen years in Effingham. I knew a a lot of people, my age, who were killed or severly injured by trains. It was not an unusual occurance in the 1980s, although then the ppl were in automobiles. Effingham has always been a dangerous place regarding trains. Joel At 10:01 PM 1/19/2002, ALoy106018@aol.com wrote: >Hello cousins >I have a family mystery It seems my Grandfather Robert Lorenzo Loy's (of >Effingham Ill.) brother Voris Loy was killed by a freight train. All the info >I can find in writing is from this web site listed below. > >Any ideas on where to find how I can find out more? It just seems strange to >be killed by a freight train. Maybe it is the times we live in now and it was >just more common then >Thanks >Angela > >http://earpconnections.tripod.com/adm/popup/roadmap.shtml?member_name=earpconn > >ections&path=1902necrology.htm&client_ip=205.188.209.102&ts=1011484588& >ad_type=POPUP&category=travel&id=3edfe1108cb6bfd008005deb36e30a5c > > > >The following was found in >The Moultrie County Heritage >Published By: >Moultrie County Historical & Genealogical Society >Vol. X No. 4, November, 1982 – page 114 > > THE LOVINGTON REPORTER, Lovington, IL 1902 > >1902-NECROLOGY-1902 > > The majority of obituaries are on the front page; others are from locals >found on an inside page. These extracts were copied by Barbara Hawyer from >the REPORTER 1902. NOTE: Parenthicals – information from Cemetery >records. > > > >LOY, Voris M. > > Of Effingham, mangled by freight train at Lanton Thurs., d. 24 July > @ ae >18 years; s/o R. L. & Clara Smith Loy. > > > > > > > >==== LOY Mailing List ==== >*** Roxanne Munns, ListHostess *** >To subscribe to Digest Mode, please UNSUBSCRIBE from LOY-L and >send "Subscribe" to LOY-D-request@rootsweb.com > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, >go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

Angela, What Joel says is really right on. Since it was known as the Crossroads of America, Illinois probably has the most railroad lines of any of the states. I remember when I lived there, it was always a rush by my mom to get me to school before the train would come to delay us. My classmate's father and brother were killed when a train hit their car. Even today, a lot of people try to beat the trains by crossing right in front of them! But there are some that are killed just from improper warnings, such as was in my friend's father's case. In 1944, near Jacksonville, IL, my maternal grandfather was killed and my grandmother nearly fatally injured when their truck was hit by a train. The crossing was known to cause a lot of accidents prior to this, as there were no light signals, just the wooden crossing signs, and it was on a curve where it was hard to see the train. (After his death, it affected the community so much because he was so well liked by them, that they finally got the crossing lights in.) In Effingham, I know of three family members that were killed by trains there, including Voris. It was probably about the time Voris was killed that my paternal grandfather's teenage (or just pre-teen) cousin was selling newspapers. As the train was pulling out, a man called from the window that he wanted a paper. The boy went to give the man a paper, when he lost his footing and slid under the train, which killed him. Then there are the cases where people used to cross the train bridge. (I forgot how to spell tressle, so I'm saying bridge.) Voris is listed in the Johnson Funeral Home records, Effingham, IL, as a boy of R.L. Loy. The date the arrangements began was 26 July 1902. Previously that year, Voris had just graduated from Chapman College. His obituary would probably be in the Effingham paper, which is on microfilm at the Effingham library. If they haven't gotten their new microfilm readers yet, you might want to wait until they do. When I was there, the copies were very blurry and the only way to read anything somewhat clear was to hold the film handle a certain way. When I visited there in 1995, it seemed about every street my aunt drove down, we had to cross train tracks, so there are a lot of them. Delores