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Trail of Tears Association
The Illinois Trail of Tears Association meets three times a year. The purpose is to discover and share information
about the 1838-39 Trail of Tears through Southern Illinois and to encourage the development and preservation of
the Trail. The public is always invited to the meetings.
Coming up:
The next meeting of the Illinois Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association will be Sunday, May
18, 2008, at the Vienna Public Library on the square in Vienna. The Johnson County Historical Society is hosting the
meeting in their downstairs meeting room there. Gary Hacker will be our presenter.
Already happened in 2008:
The first TOTA meeting of the Illinois Chapter in 2008 was at 1600 Feazel Street in Harrisburg
on Saturday, March 29, at 1 p.m. at the Saline County Museum. The program was a continuation of the oral history
project. Area residents were encouraged to come and share their family stories if they had ancestors who dropped
off the TOT in Illinois. What a wonderful collection of stories we were able to record that day. We also were
able to copy a 1855 newspaper account by a Col. Benton reflecting the attitude of many whites of that time. The
museum itself filled with books, furniture, and artifacts is in the old poor house, but the complex includes a
former Quaker church building, the Chenault country school house, and a log cabin. It was gratifying to find out that the
complex came about because of the hard work and efforts of the late John Allen, who recorded so much history in his books
Legends and Lore of Southern Illinois and It Happened in Southern Illinois, both published and still available
at the Southern Illinois University Press.
Crabb-Abbott Farm Certified in 2008
An official site certification ceremony at the Joe and Ethel Crabb-Abbott farm in Johnson County was held Tuesday
afternoon, January 8, 2008.
Over eighty people gathered on a cold rainy day to see the unveiling of the signage on the roadside there on the farm
where Joe and Ethel Crabb live. Afterwards the Crabb family invited everyone over the the kitchen/dining room at Dixon
Springs State Park and served a bountiful meal to all of us. Their children suprised Joe with a well-lit birthday cake
in honor of his 80th birthday.
The site where Cherokee were able to ford the creek on their journey west is on private land, so you will need
to phone Joe and Ethel to make arrangements if you want to hike down to the creek.
Directions to Crabb-Abbott Farm on Hound Ridge Road: To get here from the Vienna area,
or if coming on I 24, drive approximately 12.5 miles East on IL 146 to Hound Ridge Road. Turn right on Hound Ridge and
drive 1.5 miles to the farm on the left. If coming from the other direction on IL 145, turn at the intersection at Dixon
Springs to IL 146 and drive 1.5 miles West to Hound Ridge Road and turn left on Hound Ridge Road.
Can you share a Trail of Tears story about your family?
The Illinois Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association has started an oral history project trying to save family stories
of descendants of those who dropped off the Trail of Tears in Illinois.
If you have a story, please contact a TOTA member and let us arrange to video your story. Dwight Boaz first
recorded stories of those attending the April 14, 2007, TOTA meeting. It is hoped that this first effort
produces an ongoing collection of oral history helping us to appreciate the historic legacy in our area associated with the
Trail.
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Three 2007 Meetings of the Illinois Chapter TOTA:
The first 2007 meeting of the Illinois Trail of Tears Association was
a very special event.
People were encouraged to come and share
their family stories about the Trail of Tears. At every TOTA meeting, there are people who have descended from
Cherokee that for one reason or another had to drop off from the Trail in Southern Illinois. We need to collect
and save these priceless family stories.
Our initial effort to record this oral history took place
at our April 14 TOTA meeting at Camp Ground Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Union County. That Saturday
afternoon the public was encouraged to bring letters, documentation, diaries, handed-down oral history, etc. to share
in the church sanctuary. Copy facilities were available for sharing with TOTA. (No one had to leave material
behind.) For anyone too shy to share publicly, there was the option of a private interview in a classroom. Dwight Boaz
recorded by video those who agreed, and the audience listened with fascination at the stories shared.
Harvey Henson of Southern Illinois University Carbondale
and some of his students were also at the cemetery grounds demonstrating a non-invasive way to discover burial
sites. The Camp Ground cemetery and church grounds are a certified site where many Cherokee camped on the Trail.
Oral tradition has allowed us to know of the burial there in unmarked graves of those who died in that area of the Trail.
There were displays and information to browse.
The Camp Ground Church outdid themselves with warm hospitality and delicious refreshments for those attending.
The summer TOTA meeting was held in Chicago at the
Newberry Library in the Towner's Lounge on Saturday, June 23.
The final TOTA meeting of 2007 was Saturday, October
6, at Golconda, where many of the Cherokee entered our state crossing over the Ohio River from Kentucky. Tony
Gerard presented his one-man drama about the Trail.
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