Hebron Church - Then and Now

Hebron Methodist Church, one of our many rural churchs that has disbanded over the years due to lack of support  and membership.  

This church was established in the mid 1890's.  It was well attended in the earlier days, as people were not as mobile as they are today, and they attended the churches close to where they lived.  

There was also many more families that lived in the rural areas than there are today.  People moved away and no new families filled the vacant farms.  Also, used to be that everyone just expected to attended Sunday School and Church come Sunday morning.  My family attended this church in the 1970's and my children went to Bible School here.  We also had social activities such as hay rides, hot dog roasts, and Sunday School picnics at Dam 50 park.   Other local families that attended were the Tom Carter families, the Virgil Cook families, and the Frank Belt families .  The picture above is the way the church looked when we attended it.

Hebron Church was closed in the early 1980's and the building was eventually sold. 

Today is it a family dwelling and has a somewhat different appearance than it did several years ago, with it's brightly colored trim of red, yellow and green.

Hubbard's History at Shady Grove

This is the old J. D. Hubbard General Store building that has been greeting passers by at the entrance to Shady Grove for over a 100 years.  It is now being torn down. 

There is a couple in the county that buy old barns and buildings, take them down and resell them.  Sometimes new floors and other home items are rebuild with the old wood.  Many times the wood and logs are sold to people out of state.

Many people had hoped that one day someone would buy the old store and restore it to be used again and be a part of the community.  But times are hard and money for these projects are hard to come by.  So we keep loosing are old history, piece by piece.

  With the removal of this building, even though worn looking, it will leave an empty spot in the community.  My article in the Crittenden Press this week is about this store and several more old rural general stores that was in the area.

This is the Hubbard home right across the highway from the store.  A lovely old home and well cared for.  It has been lived in all the time.  Mrs. Mary Hubbard died in April of 2009 and it has only been empty since that time.  A local Shady Grove family has bought it and hopefully will be it's new caretaker.

One never thought of Shady Grove history unless the Hubbard name was also thought of.

Crittenden's Quilt Trail

Crittenden County's latest quilt block.  The Mariner's Compass design.

This colorful painted quilt panel is located on the outbuilding of Virginia McDowell who lives at Mattoon about 5 miles from Marion.  Virginia is responsibly for sponsoring this panel.

It is Crittenden's third such painted quilt panel.  The panel was placed just this past month.  It is very colorful to see as you drive by.  It was placed by Neil Decker, a representative of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service.  They are the ones that first sponsored the idea of this colorful and historical  project throughout Kentucky.

I had the other two on a Blog in March of 2010 under the title "Marion on Quilter's Trail."

February Genealogy Meeting

The Crittenden County Genealogy Society meet Sat. Feb. 12.  Once again the group braved the cold and spotty snow covered areas to come to the meeting.

Standing: Anna Rae Porter, Fay Carol Crider, Steve Eskew, Rita Travis, Dot Kunnecke, Connie Gould.

Seated: Doyle Polk and Betty Croft.  (Yours truly made the picture)

This month's progarm was "Reading Old Handwriting."   Reading the old handwriting is always a challenge, even for the most experienced genealogist.  So many of the letters of the alphabet resembled each other as the old scribes wrote the old documents.  Many times when you read an original document and get the person's name, which a lot of times was only initials, and then find out later, you had misread the initials and the name would be incorrect.  Especially on the middle initials.  

We had some sample copies of original documents from our Court House, which included, marriage license and county court records, and the group was able to see if they could read what it said, and decipher the letters.   Some members told of their experiences with first learning to read the old handwriting and how they got some of the lettering confused.  We had a good time and a good meeting.

Our next meeting will be March 12th and the program will be the importance of using a family group sheet.

Old Pictures of Marion

This great old picture is of the old Marion Coal and Transfer Co. located near the Illinois Central Railroad tracks in 1916.

In the picture from left to right.  Seldon Driver in the wagon, Hayse and Reid Easley on the porch and Otis Burr in the wagon on the right.

Crittenden Press, March 11, 1911.

Al Easley had taken charge of the black shop on North College Street.





He will be ready for all kinds of repair work, blacksmithing and horse shoeing.  He is a good workman and guarantees satisfaction in all departments. 

Elbert Guess, shoeing horse on left, Hugh Driver holding horse, Al Easley on right shoeing the horse.

February Snow

Although we were only suppose to get 1-2 inches of snow today, we got caught in the middle of some kind of weather pattern along the Ohio River and we have received 4-5 inches of snow, and it's still snowing hard.  With colder temperatures coming, this will probably be around for a few days.  I'm sure the road departments are having a really hard time of trying to keep the roads clear of this heavy wet stuff.

One of my bird feeders covered in the stuff.

Mike Wheelers house during one of the heaviest periods of snow this morning.

The snow on our deck railing showing almost 5 inches.

Puckett Spring

PUCKETT SPRING

Crittenden County has many natural springs located all through the county.  Some are more well- known than others.   Many years ago these springs seems to be a favorite place for gatherings and picnics.  There is something special and mysterious about the springs.  Many of these springs are hidden from the normal passers-by and if you don't know they are there you will drive right by them and never know their hidden beauty.  Puckett Spring is one of these.  It is located  close to the inter-section of Claylick Creek Road and Emmaus Road in a field behind an old barn.  Passing by it just looks like a normal flat farm field.  So when you walk up to the spring it is a beautiful sight.

From an article in an old Crittenden Press, dated Sept. 2, 1932 we read of plans being made for a special picnic at the Puckett Spring.

4-H Clubs plan to meet Sept. 10th.  Plans are being developed by Crittenden and Livingston County 4-H Clubs for a picnic and gathering to be held at Puckett Spring located near the old Salem Road.  Puckett Spring is one of the loveliest areas in this section of the county.  Parents and friends of members of the clubs are urged to attend and enjoy the basket dinner which will be served.   There will be seven clubs from Livingston County and clubs from Crittenden will include Mattoon, Piney and Union.