Marshall, Clark County, Illinois Genealogy

The Slave Grave & Zachariah Archer

2008-06-13T13:46:00.001-07:00

Here's a story I'm proud to tell. It was shared by a delightful distant cousin, Jack Huffington. He took us to Walnut Prairie cemetery to see all our Cork ancestors. Walnut Prairie is situated alongside the Wabash River which runs through both Illinois and Indiana. Back in the day there were a number of ferries taking people back and forth across that river as a lot of folks lived on one side of it and worked on the other. Well...one of my grandfathers (actually, great grandfathers by about 5 greats) was traveling on the ferry one day and a "colored" man took sick. The legend is unclear whether this man died on the ferry or from being thrown off it and drowning but what is clear is that this great grandfather of mine, ZACHARIAH ARCHER, pulled this man out of the water and since no one knew who he was he took the body home and buried him in the family plot in the Walnut Priairie cemetery. There is a handsome marker with nothing on it at all right with the rest of the Archer family. I am proud to be related to Zachariah Archer! His son is the co-founder of Marshall, the "Star" of this little blog.

The Fine Line

2008-06-12T16:04:00.001-07:00

I'm really a novice at blogging! All that I know I learned from my friend Ben and from reading his wife, Diana's blog. What I do know is that Diana is a tough act to follow! I aspire to be as entertaining and well written as she is but it's a hopeless goal, I think she was born to it and I will always struggle with it.

Part of the problem is that this blog is about other people, not me! These people are my family, living and dead, whom I love and cherish. I walk a fine line here, between trying to keep this interesting and share short stories of my family but not wanting to share things that might be considered private or embarrassing.

Most of my family are open books, one of my family is very private and conservative. Most live in small towns where they know and are known by many! This blog is for my family but it's in the public domain, however unlikely anyone is to notice it. Some might read this and think I've not said much at all, my hope is that no one in my family will read it and think I said too much.

Although my original goal was to share what I learned of the family while on my genealogy trip to Marshall I've discovered that there are still some stories that might be better left unsaid, at least by me. I don't personally find anything in our family tree that I am ashamed or embarrassed by, but some things are very personal.

As I delve into the family history in Marshall, I hope my family will jot down their memories and either send them to me to post or post a comment, I'd rather post it in the main blog though so it's more likely to be noticed. Happy reading folks!

The Begats - Clarks

2008-06-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

TWF Clark married Ethel Abbie Creal...they begat Creal, Wilbur, Jane

Creal Clark married Mary Belle, they begat Tom

Wilbur Ellis Clark married Margaret Jane Cork, they begat Nikki Lynn & Peggy Jane (my mom)

Jane Clark, never married

Tom Clark married Mary Ann, they begat Kimberly, Sally, Bill

Nikki Lynn married James Barnhart, they begat Tracey, Kelly, Darby, Holly

Peggy Clark married and divorced Richard Wehage, they begat Karen Louise (me!) and Kathleen

Karen Clark married David D. Phelps, no begats
Kathy Clark married Lee Craig, they begat Andy, Daniel, Scott, Amy, Matthew, Joel

Mary Belle Clark

2008-06-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Mary Belle Clark, 1910-1947, Marshall Cemetery, Marshall, Illinois

Mary Belle was married to my moms fathers brother, Creal Clark with whom she had one child, my cousin Tom. She died when he was very small. I don't know if Tom knows much about his mom, or if he even knew she was buried with his grandparents. I don't know Tom and his family as well as I'd like but I am very fond of them and hope this discovery and the photos gives them the warm fuzzies, it certainly does me. I may discover when I meet the family on the other side of the veil that they don't particularly care where their mortal remains end up but for me it's important that families be together and I was tickled to find Mary Belle with my great-granparents and my Aunt Jane. We almost didn't find her grave, it was hidden behind these flower bushes and I had to do some extensive pruning, but it was worth it! It was a labor of love!

Jane M. Clark

2008-06-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Jane M. Clark, my aunt! Her brother Wilbur is my mothers father. We didn't know her as well as I might have liked but she was none the less special to me. She never married and once when she visited us during my high school years I had the teenage temerity to ask why. Apparently she had a beau that died in WWII, I guess she never felt that way about anyone again. She was a Chrisian Scientist and I believe was a nurse in one of their hospitals. She lived with a distant cousin that everyone called crazy though I don't actually know why! I gather it was deserved because they were both made wards of the state of Indiana when it was discovered that Aunt Jane had Alzhiemers. It broke my heart, they took her away and never told anyone where she was. We weren't allowed to visit or anything. When she died we weren't notified then either. A distant cousin saw a generic obit in the Terre Haute paper and clipped it out. About a year later she sent it to mom assuming that we knew and would like a copy. I was so upset! We didn't know if she'd had a decent funeral, where she was buried, nothing! I was afraid she'd been buried in some unmarked paupers grave somewhere we'd never find. Imagine my surprise and joy when we discovered her next to her parents in the Marshall Cemetery! With a proper headstone even! Oh how my heart had ached when I didn't know where she was and how sweet was this discovery!

Mom at rest...no time soon!

2008-06-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

My mom hasn't lived in Marshall since she was a tiny girl but it's the home where her heart is. She has lived in South Carolina for decades but doesn't feel at home enough to be buried there, her parents were buried in Hanover, PA but she doesn't feel like that's home either, she wants to be buried in Marshall and apparently we will be allowed to bury her cremated remains in the plot with her beloved grandmother, assuming no one else in the family objects. We can have a placard mounted onto the back of grannys stone with moms information on it. This pleases her! Although we don't dwell on the topic of death in our family neither do we shy away from it. We spoke with the caretakes at the cemetary while we were there and settled a years long question in her mind as to what she wants us to do when the time comes. So now that's settled! That does not mean we are ready to put this plan in action!!!!!

Gravestones

2008-06-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

Just an aside, we discovered during our little foray into the cemeteries that some materials used for grave markers just DO NOT stand the test of time. The elements will erase them in just a generation or 2. That being said I CAN NOT REMEMBER which ones were the bad ones! So, when in the course of human events you find it necessary to pick out a headstone for your loved one go to the cemetary first and talk to the caretakers ask them which material, marble, granite, concrete, metal, whatever is going to stand the test of time and the hazzards of mother nature. Or go find the oldest still legible stone in the cemetary and find out what it's made of. And even if it's more expensive get the good one. Someday your posterity is going to be looking for you and yours in that cemetary and are going to be heartbroken that they can't find you because the words on the stone are washed away. Oh, and another thing, they carve them to different depths, make sure they carve the letters deep, that makes them last longer as well. I know many people don't do the cemetary thing, my aunt is one. That's ok! You have to let people be who they are, but I, on the other hand and my mom as well, feel a kinship with our ancestors when we visit their graves. A connection, a bond. Oh, I know that body is just a shell to house their spirit and that their spirit is soaring all over the place! But the last tangible part of their physical being is just a few feet away and that comforts me. I like kneeling down at someones grave, cleaning their stone and talking to them. There is a peaceful communion in those moments. I need that.

Elsie Janet Corey Cork Grave

2007-06-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

When I was a small girl I discovered a big family tree that my great-grandmother, Louise Cork, had put together. I loved that thing! I lent it to my mom who won't give it back now, hint hint. Ever since then I've felt so close to Elsie Cork, my great-great grandmother, Louise Cork's former mother-in-law. I don't really know why although my friend Chrisandra Peterson thinks she may be my guardian angel, that's not the term she used but I can't remember exactly what she called her. Essentially she's the person who probably escorted me to this world and will meet me when I leave it and watch out for me in between. I don't know about that but it sounds good to me! I do know that although she died in 1923, 42 years before I was born, I felt her presence very strongly in the cemetery beckoning me over to their side of the family. I felt like she'd been waiting somewhat impatiently for me. It was a neat feeling. While my own religous belief is that after one dies ones spirit resides in the spirit world I also feel that they get around! The spirit world must be very close and for that reason they hang out with us a little bit, probably more than any of us knows.

I know that my grandma Elsie was waiting for me that day, as was her daughter Gertrude and her son, my great grandfather, Walter aka "Pete" Cork. And I feel really excited about that. I loved being there with them and I really hated leaving. I am positive the veil that separates us from those on the other side is very thin indeed and if we are very lucky we get to see or feel through it just a little bit. And when that happens it is very sweet indeed.

I can't wait to see them again! Face to face!

The Marshall Genealogy Library

2007-05-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

This is the Marshall Genealogy Library, it's actually quite large and has amazing information in it. People just donate all kinds of things, the funeral home gives them copies of all of their death records, people have donated old scrapbooks, journals and family Bibles to name a few things. The library is run by volunteers and so isn't open often but the ladies that work their are absolutely incredible! They are sweet, helpful, knowledgeable, encouraging and a pleasure to associate with. We were given the most attentive help from Miss Betty but everyone was lovely. They accept and very much need donations although they did not solicite any ever. They also have a newsletter that anyone can sign up for. One of the best things about small towns is that everyone knows everyone and Marshall is no exception. They were able to point us in all kinds of directions because of their personal knowledge of the town and it's people. I was really tickled to find that Miss Betty had her wedding reception at my aunt Doty's house probably 50 years ago. At the Stars and Stripes store I discovered that the owner knew my aunt Doty as well, she had helped her pick out her wedding dress! Doty knew EVERYONE!

Elsie Janet Corey Cork Home

2007-05-22T15:48:00.001-07:00

Elsie Janet Corey Cork was my great-great grandmother. When I was very young I got my hands on a genealogy chart my great-grandmother, Nancy Louise Randall Cork, Elsie's daughter-in-law, had made and was drawn to Elsie. I have been all of my life. When Jack Huffington took us to this house I felt so drawn to it that despite the no trespassing signs I found an open back door and warily went in. It was in sad shape, ceilings falling in, a dead bird in the doorstep and it was lonely! I think houses have a personality and this one wants someone to live in it and be happy again! I wish I'd been brave enough to go deeper than the kitchen and dining room but I wasn't sure of the condition of the floors considering the ceilings were falling in. Of course they were cheap asbestos tile drop ceilings so that doesn't mean that the house was that unstable. I have this thing about family homes. I want to buy up all the family homes and restore them and make them happy again. But I've no money for that and besides how many houses does one person need! It's a fools dream, but I like it!

Elsie lived in this house at the time of her death, August 7, 1923. As was the custom of the time, she died in the house, was laid out in the house and the funeral was held in the house.

The Marshall Cemetery

2007-05-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

The Marshall Cemetery, Marshall, Clark County, Illinois on Clarksville Road right off of Highway 40.

The Patterson brothers, Larry and Neal, are the caretakers and are the only reason we found my great-grandparents graves. They were thoughtful and helpful and we appreciated their efforts in our behalf a great deal!

They also do a brilliant job of keeping the cemetery up. They mow nearly everyday! We cleaned some grass shavings off of some graves and cut back some floweredy things that might be rhodendrons and which had overgrown several graves but nothing major, the Patterson's do a great job out there.

I wish there was money to replace or repair the older stones that are being eroded by time and the elements. Marshall has a very small population, about 3,500, and not a great deal of wealth, I think. I guess "in the old days" the families always went out and did the detailed grave cleaning and such but from our own families experience everyone is either dead or moved away and there isn't anyone around to take care of them. That's so sad!

The Archer House est 1841

2007-05-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

The Archer House was established in 1841 by Col William B. Arhcer. His father, Zechariah Archer is a grandfather of mine several generations back. In that era there wasn't a sitting judge or a regular court, the lawyers and judges traveled from city to city in a circuit. Abraham Lincoln was a regular in this circuit and stayed at the Archer House each time they were in Marshall. There is in fact a room dedicated to him the "Lincoln Room". There are a lot of rooms! Tucked in all over the place. This inn is packed with charm. While we were there the owner was in the hospital and her 90 year old friend was managing the place for her. She's rather elderly. It needs a lot of tlc but it's a wonderful old place! I'd love to see a bright, energetic couple take over that place and infuse it with money, energy and tlc. I wish I could do it but there's no way. And by the way, the bed was sooo comfortable! I can't say enough how much I loved this place. My grandparents grew up in Marshall and apparently when they were first married they worked as the desk clerk and lived there at the inn. I just found this out about a week ago. I can't wait for our next trip to the inn!

Moonshine, Illinois 300 Rd & 600 St

2007-05-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

This is the Moonshine Store in Moonshine, Ill. Clark County is laid out on a grid and is nearly impossible to get lost in even for me who could get lost in a paper sack.

It is in the middle of cornfields at the intersection of 300 Road and 600 Street. And bar none has the BEST cheeseburger I have ever eaten in all of my 42 years, and I've eaten quite a few!

You probably can't tell it but the sign on the right front of the porch says "Moonshine, Population 2". It looks like something out of the Walton's and that's part of it's appeal. I drove 20 miles out of the way to get there for that burger and I'd do it again in a skinny minute! Be aware though, it's only open a few hours a day. The grill shuts off at 12:30 and the store closes at 1:00 pm and they mean it! I watched one gentlemen walk in and then quickly out at about 12:40 checking his watch and empty handed. Having just consumed the best bacon cheeseburger in my life I could appreciate his disappointment!

Cork, Clark, Randall/Randal families in Clark County, Illinois

2007-05-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

My friend and sometime boss, Ben Edgell, being a great deal more computer literate than I created this for me to record the genealogical information my mother, Peggy Clark, and I gathered on our recent trip to Marshall, Clark County, Illinois. I live in Burke, Virginia a suburb of Washington, D.C. and mom lives in Columbia, S.C. We flew out and met in the airport at Indianapolis, which I must say has the LONGEST taxi way of any airport I've ever flown into or out of. It wasn't so bad leaving but going it seriously felt like we landed in Terre Haute and drove the airpplane to Indie.

We got there Saturday, May 5th and left Saturday, May 12th, 2007. We rented a car and drove just under 90 miles to Marshall where we stayed in the historic Archer House, a stagecoach inn built about 1841 by Col. William B. Archer, another ancestor of mine. Abraham Lincoln stayed there many times traveling the circuit as a lawyer.

We were there to go through the cemeteries in Marshall, Livingston, West Union, Walnut Prairie and Martinsville. It was a fabulous experience! Mom was looking for the graves of specific people and I was just looking for anyone I was related to in any way, to find out who I belonged to.

This site, if possible, will contain the photos of every grave we know or think belongs to an ancestor of ours, mostly Corks, Clarks, Randalls/Randals, Archers, Kempers and the various collateral lines that break off from the main.

We hope this helps someone else out there! If we can help at all let us know!

Karen Clark Phelps

Karen's New Blog

2007-05-18T12:28:00.001-07:00

Karen has a blog to share photos with everyone.