Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society
“…increasing and enriching public knowledge of our heritage”
A Historical Tidbit is generally a short Tazewell County related historical article. It could be up to 5 or 6 page story but could be as simple as a family photo, letter, or document. Almost anything Tazewell County related is eligible (see all the Tidbits listed below).
If you have a Tazewell County related article, photo, letter, or document you’d like to share, here’s how to make a submission.
If you have questions or comments, please contact us.
The first Tazewell County legal document was recorded on 6 July 1827, authorizing John L. Bogardus to operate a ferry across the Illinois River opposite Peoria.
Our thanks to Robert Lutz, Tazewell County Recorder, for supplying us with a copy of the document back in May 2000.
In 2015, archivist Rindi Shannon purchased an old postcard with a black & white photograph on it. It was a rural scene with a dirt road, a fence and an old mill. It was labeled “Old Horshor Mill 1844, Tazewell Co., Ill.” She decided to try and find the location of the old mill. Rindi would eventually find the Horshor Mill was actually the Hoshor Mill but was it located in Tazewell County? See how Rindi solved the mystery!
William Hodgson (15 Aug 1816 – 23 Nov 1906) first came to Tazewell County about 1832 with his father Amos.
These photos were contributed by Deborah Huffman, Seattle, Washington (William & Phebe’s third great-granddaughter).
James Anson Williams of Lilly served in Company I of the 94th Regiment of the Illinois Infantry during the Civil War.
This 1862 photo of James in his Civil War uniform was submitted by his great-grandson Ralph Brooks of Vancouver, Washington.
Members of the Busy Bee Sewing Circle during the Civil War. One of these young girls, Josephine Goodheart, would grow up to become one of the first principals of Pekin High School.
The photo was submitted about 2002 by Ellen Rowan Taylor, Sierra Vista, Arizona. who is the great-grandniece of Josephine Goodheart.
This is the only known photo of three members of the infamous Berry Gang, who terrorized Tazewell County in the late 1860’s.
The tintype was found in the floorboards during a 2000 remodeling of a home owned by the Berry family until the 1940’s.
Besides the six members of the 1873 class, we show photos of the high school building and the commencement program. One of these young ladies, Josephine Goodheart, would later become principal of Pekin High School.
Photo was submitted about 2002 by Ellen Rowan Taylor, Sierra Vista, Arizona. who is the great-grandniece of graduate Josephine Goodheart.
Aerial views of Delavan in 1878 and 1975.
Circa 1879 photo of sisters Daisy & Grace Reed
The photo of the two sisters was contributed in 2000 by Richard & Elizabeth Saunders of California. (Grace is Richard’s grandmother)
Pioneering photographer H.H. Cole created a historical picture gallery of notable Tazewell County residents—displayed at one time on the hallway walls of the Tazewell County Courthouse. Many of these photographs are of early Tazewell County notable men. Our archivists scanned over 1500 of the 5″x7″ photos that had been stored in the basement of the Tazewell County Courthouse for decades. Here’s your chance to own a photograph of your Tazewell County ancestor taken by the same man who photographed Abraham Lincoln.
A freight train wreck occurred near Delavan, Illinois in 1886 on the Chicago, Alton, & St. Louis railroad. Notes on the back indicate E. D. Shaw took the photo in May of 1886.
Jacob & Elizabeth Fischer’s wedding photograph taken by H.H. Cole in his Pekin studio in February 1891 as well as a 1919 family photo.
The photos were submitted by their granddaughter Louise Rollings of Salem, Oregon.
