Local History - Pinckneyville Public Library

Click to open links in new tab!

The Community of Pinckneyville, Illinois (Social and Cultural Analysis) by Wayne Guy

Saturday Night Live: Mid 40s in Pinckneyville

Perry County Centennial Fair (1856 – 1956): Includes Histories of the Perry County Fair, Pinckneyville and Perry County, Illinois

Perry County: A New Geography by Lowell A. Dearinger

A History of Southern Illinois: Perry County (1912) by George Washington Smith, M.A.

‘Our Towns’: History of Perry County Towns (contains articles on Cutler, Du Quoin, Pinckneyville, St. Johns, Tamaroa, Willisville)

Fire!: A History of Pinckneyville Area Fire and Rescue by Captain Frederick Thomas Bardle

Tamaroa Times – Tales and Tattletales by The Pioneer 4-H Club of the Tamaroa Area

Early Settlers of the Old DuQuoin Area by Mamie Reheis

Petition for Locating County Seat

Townseed by Cliff Stanley

Student’s History of Perry County by J. Wesley Neville

The Lynching of Alonzo Bell by Elizabeth Eiker Spurgeon

Essays and Proceedings of the Perry County Historical Society 1955-1956

History of the town of Denmark and Denmark Baptist Church in Perry County, Illinois by Rev. Paul Holder (included is a critique of Rev. Holder’s thesis by Elizabeth E. Spurgeon)

Revolutionary Soldiers of Perry County by Elizabeth E. Spurgeon

Perry County Bits and Pieces No. 1 by Inez Eisenhauer

Perry County Bits and Pieces (includes Bits & Pieces #1, Bits & Pieces #2: The Silver Plaque and Sebastian Epplin, Bits and Pieces #3: Entertainment) by Inez Eisenhauer

Du Quoin Phone Book (Bits and Pieces No. 4) by Inez Eisenhauer

“Number Please” (Bits and Pieces No. 5) by Inez Eisenhauer

Historical Firsts of Pinckneyville and Perry County, Illinois by Robert M. Spurgeon

First White Settlers and First White Child Born in Perry County (includes information on the Legend of Cox Treasure)

Oldest Marked Graves and Earliest Recorded Deaths in Perry County, IL

Reference & Year Book For Perry County, Illinois 1988

Reference & Year Book For Perry County, Illinois 1993

1995 Perry County Historical Calendar (Includes important anniversary dates in Perry County’s History)

1998 Historical Calendar Perry County, Illinois (includes history of St. Bruno’s Catholic Church and Other Historical Photographs)

Early Industries in Perry County by Paul Rich

Report: Illinois Coal Mines Fifth Inspection District (1883 – 1884)

Directory of Coal Mines in Illinois: Perry County (May 2000)

Soil Survey of Perry County, Illinois (2009)

Death of Joseph Niesing

Cheyenne or Bust by Enos “Nuck” Hawkins

Chief Du Quoin by Inez Eisenhauer

An Historical Account of Mitchell Lodge No. 85, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (1850 – 1950) by George E. Ulrich, P.M., 32nd Degree and Chas. B. R., R. A. M.

Some Masonic Lodges in Southern Illinois 1850 and Earlier (Ancient Free and Accepted Masons) [ Includes information on Mitchell Lodge No. 85 ]

Bringing Blacks In To the State (Accusations made in Perry County, Ill. Court) by Elizabeth Eiker Spurgeon

Perry County: Knights of the Golden Circle by Elizabeth Eiker Spurgeon

Knights of the Golden Circle (Du Quoin)

Norton William Campbell Letter (picture and transcription)

The Heberer Disappearance by John H. Croessman

Engel – Yost Murders

1914 Shooting Took 4 Willisville Lives

Du Quoin: Gateway to Egypt (Du Quoin Community Study and Development)

Du Quoin: A Family History by Kathryn Pope Olsen

Historic Du Quoin: Images From the Past

Historic Du Quoin: A Window to the Past

Century of Progress: The First One Hundred Years Du Quoin, Illinois (1853 – 1953) by I. B. Dunaway, editor

Historical Events of Du Quoin by Charles H. Hatfield (1934)

Letter from Du Quoin Female Seminary

Letters From The Past: By or To the Family of Miles Peck (1837 – 1907)

Letters of the Roe, Jones, and Dobyns Families

Memories: A Family History by Zelma Dempsay Jones

The Scotch-Irish Come to Egypt by John I. Wright

A Ticket to America (Mathias Schneider)

Perry County and City of Pinckneyville by John D. Roe & Virginia Bartle

History of Mueller Hill Cemetery (1859 – 1989)

History of the Eight-First Illinois Infantry Volunteers

Perry County Iron Casket Burial (Sgt. Thomas Hinds) [Includes article on Grave Dowsing (Grave Witching) by Judith Joy]

Perry County: World War II Veterans

Pinckneyville Community High School: “The Class of ’42 Reminiscing With You!” (1942 – 1992)

1880 Pioneer Families WP Justice, Wm North, & Joe Craig As Told By Bethia Jane Justice Graham

Perry County Illinois Courthouse Entry Book 1834 – 1850

County Commissioners Book A Perry County, Illinois (April 29, 1855 to January 15, 1862)

Beaucoup / Cemetery of Hutchings Family / Liberation of Negro Slaves by Pandy Hutchings

Du Bois Pioneers Past & Present by Du Bois Pioneers 4-H Club

Caroline “Mayer” Schumaier Letter

Buildings / Structures / Sites / Prairies / Maps

Early Trails through Perry County

Perry County Tour of Historic and Interesting Spots 1827 – 1976 by Clarence McCrary

Jarishury by Dorothy Moss

Ghost Towns of Southern Illinois: Perry County by Glenn J. Sneed

Ghost Towns of Perry County by Glenn J. Sneed

Six Mile Prairie by William Roseborough Harshaw

1910 Map of Pinckneyville, Illinois

The Swanwick Mansion

Shops and Businesses Down Walnut Street in Pinckneyville (1880 – 1930)

1871 Perry County Jail Specifications

One-Room Schoolhouses of Perry County (Illinois)

Creek and One Room School Maps (Pinckneyville, Todd’s Mill) / Historic Sites and Prairies of Perry County 1876

Three Mile Prairie by Inez Hutchings Dempsey

History of Murphy-Wall State Bank and Trust Company by Martha Emling; Betty L. Knapp

History of the Old Church on the Mound at Six Mile Prairie (Famous “Flagpole Corner”) by Dr. J. B. Gordon

An Historical and Archaeological Assessment of the Proposed Public Housing Project Ill-48-10 Pinckneyville, Illinois (includes biographies of Dr. Humphrey B. Jones, William K. Murphy, and others. Also included are histories of Pinckneyville, McElvain’s Ice Cream Parlor, and the Perry County Farmers Union)

Perry County Place Names

Kunz Opera House (Pinckneyville)

Octagonal Building at Perry County Fairgrounds

Souvenir for Dedication of Perry County Court House (October 19, 1939)

Abstracts of “A Gazetteer of Illinois” (Landmarks and Places of Interest in Southern Illinois) (1836)

Inventory of Historic Structures in Perry County (October 1972)

Biography / Autobiography / Persons

Biographical Record of Perry County, Illinois (1894) (list of individual biographies in description)

1950 Library of American Lives: Perry County, Illinois (includes biographies of Val Stotlar, George Woodruff Allen, Charles Wesley Hall Jr, Harry Odell Pope, Clyde A. Brown, Hon. John Charles Niesing)

Pinckneyville’s Most Illustrious Lawman: William Grayson (Billy) Gordon by Bud Romeo

Autobiography of Pioneer John Brown (1820 – 1896)

John O. Sattler

Colonel Harry Birkner (responsible for installation of airplane at Pinckneyville Park)

The David Huggins History by Dorothy Lee Huggins

Chief Du Quoin by Inez Eisenhauer

Autobiography of a Country Boy by Lee H. Schick

Biography of William Henry Smith by W. S. D. Smith

Thomas Cox

Thomas Cox by Harvey Reid (Iowa Biographical Series) [Thomas Cox, who died in Iowa, was a citizen of Perry County at the time it was still a part of Randolph County (before 1827)]

Roebuck by Pete Perona

Marmaduke at Large: Running the world from a typewriter by Virginia Marmaduke

‘The Duchess’ Looks Back by Patricia Szymczak

Carry A. Nation: “She was here”

Mardi Gras

“Pinckneyville Inside Out” (October 1996 / ‘Mardi Gras Edition’)

Pinckneyville Mardi Gras 75th Anniversary Souvenir Booklet

2001 Pinckneyville Mardi Gras Official Souvenir Program

Local Church History

Ecclesiastical History of Perry County, Illinois

Golden Sacerdotal Jubilee of Rev. Father Joseph A. Munier (1901 – 1951) [also contains history of St. Bruno’s Catholic Church and of the Catholic faith in Perry County]

Sacred Heart Catholic Church: Du Quoin, Illinois by Inez Eisenhauer and Hilda Schneider

History of the town of Denmark and Denmark Baptist Church in Perry County, Illinois by Rev. Paul Holder (included is a critique of Rev. Holder’s thesis by Elizabeth E. Spurgeon)

Denmark Baptist Church History 1848 – 1998 (150th Anniversary Celebration)

First Baptist Church Pinckneyville, Illinois (1865 -1965)

The History of St. Paul United Church of Christ (1870 – 2005) by Eric Lambert

St. Paul United Church of Christ 150th Anniversary Booklet (note: pages are out of order!)

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lost Prairie, Illinois (1867 – 1967) by Pastor Heidel

Trinity Lutheran Church, Conant, Illinois (1897 – 1972) by Pastor Bickel

Zion Lutheran Church, Pinckneyville, Illinois (1885 – 1985)

Galum Presbyterian Church (1844 – 1934)

Galum Presbyterian Church: One Hundred-Tenth Anniversary Booklet (1844 – 1954)

History of the Presbyterian Church of Du Quoin Illinois by Rev. Edward F. Fish