FROM THE MCDONOUGH COUNTY VOICE
By Jacqueline Covey, Staff Reporter May 31. 2015 7:00AM
A homey history Nemec’s talk highlights corner of Macomb’s past
MACOMB — In the spring of 1830, McDonough County settlers had the numbers to separate from Schuyler County and pioneer the area. Allen Nemec, president of the McDonough County Genealogical Society, gave his organization and the Historical Society a brief history of ensuing period entitled, "Pre-1870 Homes in Original Town Macomb," during a recent joint meeting. A filled room at the Spoon River College Community Outreach Center on May 18 allotted Nemec the space for his slideshow, which the The Carpenters’ song "Yesterday Once More" played over. In addition, the crowd listened intently to stories of the well-known, antebellum homes scattered around town. Built circa 1854, the home of the first mayor of Macomb at 329 S. Lafayette St. still stands. The folk home belonged to John O'Conner Wilson. It is a two-story folk home, which has since been stuccoed and stone-veneered, covering the original wooden frame. In the recent decades of the "eyeshaped" house, according to Nemec, it's been reconstructed into a four-apartment complex. Nemec said one could easily identity the home, whilst driving down Lafayette Street, by its single window on the northern side. After Mayor Wilson's failed farming attempt, he, his wife, Adeline, and their five children moved into the American Elm-lined Block 39 on the south side. "My husband was a good hatter, and thought he would make an equally good farmer – I thought so too," a 97-year-old Adeline wrote to the local newspaper. But 18 months had proved them mistaken. During this time, Wilson's endeavor to live off the land often times left his wife home alone.