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.
In her early 20s, Adeline and her husband lived some four miles southwest of Macomb in the "wilderness of woods and prairies" that overcame the area then. She wrote that she lived in "continuous dread" every time Wilson would left home. She was afraid, living in isolation where only smoke from far-off chimneys and rooster coos were signs of life, that stray bands of Native Americans would threaten her. "So we moved to Macomb, which even then didn't have over 50 houses in it, and this has been my home ever since," Adeline wrote. To give his crowd more of a historical setting, Nemec drew its attention to the lot's property tax value. "I only wish our taxes on our block remained at this level," he joked. For the 39 block in Original Town Macomb from 1862 to 1869, John Wilson paid between $800 and $1,500 for the entirety of the southern half of his block, and in 1870 the taxes dropped to $480. Nemec showed, as his presentation continued, that property taxes of that time were in constant flux. Just as 329 S. Lafayette St. was marked with a red star, which Nemec indicated as "Today's pre-1870 Homes," so was 341 S. Lafayette St., a home that was built for Elizatbeth Clark, the Wilson's daughter. Born in Macomb in 1834, Nemec called Lizzie a true early pioneer. In 1852, Mayor Wilson had the home built for his daughter and her husband Otto Frederick Clark. "Her husband is a mystery to me, " Nemec said, "because 'Otto Frederick' I could not find anywhere in my research where he was born, and all I can find is that he died prior to her in 1900." Strangely enough, Lizzie was listed as head of household at the age of 25 in 1860. Nemec also showed a census from 1870 showing Lizzie still in the home on the corner of South Lafayette and Piper Street. "Keep in mind they married in '52, so there is only an eight-year span when he is gone and out of the picture," he added. Reach Jacqueline Covey via email at jcovey@McDonoughVoice.com, or follow her on Twitter @jacquelinecovey.
FROM THE MCDONOUGH COUNTY VOICE
by Jacqueline Covey, Staff Reporter May 20. 2015 7:00AM
Macomb, college communities brace to support Amtrak rail service PHOTO/ VOICE FILE PHOTO
MACOMB/SPRINGFIELD – A former Macomb mayor and current member of the Amtrak board of directors detailed the constraints that'd be placed on college communities like Macomb to a joint club meeting this week if proposed passenger rail funding cuts were to come into fruition. Under new leadership, niche services within the state of Illinois continue to be threatened until Gov. Bruce Rauner stamps his John Hancock on a proposed budget. Amtrak, which features a stop in Macomb on its Quincy-Chicago route, is currently anticipating its $42 million dollar budget to be slashed nearly in half. Tom Carper, a well-known Macomb official who also once served as Amtrak board chairman, said what this poses for Macomb, and other rural college communities such as Southern Illinois University and Eastern Illinois University, is a probable elimination of a second route to and from Chicago. When the state doubled its service in 2006, it'd reportedly opened a threshold of opportunities for Macomb and the Western Illinois University students. "We can't run the same service for $26 million," Carper told members of the McDonough County Genealogical and Historical societies on Monday. "There is no guarantee we'd get back on the freight railroad." Carper said that this is a game of winners and losers, which he has no intention of quitting – at least just yet. On Tuesday, he and Go West Director Jude Kiah, and WIU Admissions Director Andy Borst, as well as other regional leaders, addressed the Illinois Senate committee for higher education on the importance of passenger rail service. The railroad defenders attempted to answer any questions presented, according to Carper, and to ease any budget whiplash Amtrak may face. Cuts to the service, however, are still expected.
"Passenger rail does not make any money," Carper said Monday. "It relies on federal subsidy, not only for the operations but also, for the infrastructures on the northeast quarter." Carper said on Tuesday the conversation in Springfield went well, and that he believes the committee has more clarification on the repercussions rail faces. "They were listening more than anything else," he said. "They have tough decisions to make, and I think they are better equipped now." The dialogue with the state and Amtrak communities will continue until it cannot – until the budget is authorized. Reach Jacqueline Covey via email at jcovey@McDonoughVoice.com, or follow her on Twitter @jacquelinecovey.