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 Barry Cleveland, editor, "The Carmi Times."

Most of the country's old-timers remember 60 years ago today--where they
were when they heard the news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
I was in college and came in laughing with friends to find our house
mother putting up the Christmas tree and crying. We couldn't understand
her tears until she told us what she had just heard on the radio. The
next day the entire college enrollment gathered for chapel (yes, we
actually had chapel in those days), and we listened to our president's
"day of infamy" speech. As time went by, the campus gradually began to
look like a girls' school, as more and more of the boys went off to war.

Last week I had lunch with former Carmian Florence Dungy, who has worked
in Washington, D.C. for years. We discussed events which will be forever
etched in our memories. Her earliest recollection of a public event was
the announcement in a Carmi Township High School assembly that President
Kennedy had been assassinated.

Depending on our ages, there are several other historic events which
were shattering enough to etch the time and place on our minds--the most
recent being Sept. 11. (Contrary to what you might think, I am not old
enough to remember the signing of a peace treaty ending the Civil War!)
........

GIFT SUGGESTIONS: Have you considered buying books from our library for
some of the people on your Christmas list?

Some suggestions:

"White County's Own: A History of the 87th Illinois Volunteer Infantry"
for $10. Other $10 books are "The Scrapbook of Clara Mae Hillyard
1914-1920," photocopies of clippings from the World War I era in White
County; and "A Matter of History," newspaper accounts of pioneer times.

The biggest bargain is the Carmi 1816-1966 Sesquicentennial Book by J.
Robert Smith for $3. I was in an antique shop in New Harmony last
Christmas season and found this book priced at $30!

How about an 1871 Plat Map of White County (36 x 43) which lists names
of all land owners at that time? $10. I find this map fascinating.

There's the new volume of Cemeteries of Phillips Township for $15, if
you have a friend living in that township.

We have more than two dozen other books for your selection.
........

The Genealogy Library is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m.
........

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.