Notes from the White County Historical Society as they appear in "The Carmi Times."

Copyright ©2001 by "The Carmi Times" Permission to reprint granted to Cindy Birk Conley and the ILGenWeb by Tammy Knox, editor, "The Carmi Times."

We're having great tombstone-reading weather Volunteers, are you
working? Also, we need MORE volunteers.
........

Many people don't consider a person kin unless he or she is at least a
second cousin. However, I've noticed a tendency for genealogists to
claim relationship to anyone with whom they find a link, no matter how
far removed.

Some famous relationships: Princess Diana was seventh cousin of the late
Humphrey Bogart--they had the same

great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent. Richard Nixon was a
seventh cousin of William H. Taft and an eighth cousin of Herbert
Hoover. James Madison was a second cousin of Zachary Taylor. Ulysses S.
Grant was a sixth cousin once removed of Grover Cleveland and fourth
cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Sometimes a relationship becomes important. When movie mogul Howard
Hughes died without a will, more than 500 people claimed to be his
cousins, and tried to prove this in court in order to share in his
enormous estate.

If you are a White County native who knew your lineage back four
generations, you'd probably find you are related to half the people in
the county. I'm constantly amazed at what I come up with when I work on
my own line.
........
Probably several of you attended your high school alumni reunion
Saturday evening. I went to the one at my home school, Crossville. Being
from such a small school, the graduates are a rather close-knit group
and may be unique in the annals of high school reunions.
Perhaps our most revered alumnus is Lauretta Carr, who drives over from
Evansville every year to attend. She is a graduate of the Class of
1925. Can any other county alumni group boast an earlier graduate in
attendance? Lauretta Carr has missed approximately five banquets in
all those years. Few events get in the way of her attendance;  however,
the 1937 flood kept her away. It takes something of that magnitude to
keep her from coming to the annual alumni banquet at Crossville. Friends
were reminiscing about how they used to persuade Lauretta and her
partner to demonstrate the Charleston at the dance following the
banquet. Some fun!
........

I read it somewhere: The best antiques to collect are old friends.
........

The Genealogy Library is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through
Saturdays. Come in and look around.
........

Address letters to Genealogy, White County Historical Society, PO Box
121, Carmi, IL 62821.

Return to the White County ILGenWeb Page

The Coordinator for the White County, Illinois ILGenWeb page is Cindy Birk Conley

Copyright © 2001 by Cindy Birk Conley, all rights reserved. For personal use only. Commercial use of the information contained in these pages is strictly prohibited without prior permission. If copied, this copyright notice must appear with the information.