Pekin Daily Times
As the sound of hoof beats and the baying of hounds on the rural road heralds the approach of a posse, the farmer urgently ushers the group of fugitives through a trap door. When the fleeing family is safely sequestered, the farmer’s wife covers the trap door with a buffalo-skin rug and places their infant son’s crib atop the rug. The farmer lights a cigar to befuddle the hounds while his wife scolds the arriving posse for waking the baby.
The event described above holds a personal significance for Pamela Senkler, who has been working to preserve her family’s history.
Tim Shelley / Peoria Public Radio
Originally published on March 11, 2021 6:36 pm
One of Tazewell County s documented Underground Railroad conductors was recognized Tuesday with a new marker heralding his secret work freeing people from slavery.
Uriah Crosby was honored Tuesday at his grave site in Morton Township s Hirstein Cemetery on what would have been his 210th birthday. He was a very outspoken abolitionist, said Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman, who researched Crosby and other Underground Railroad conductors.
Pam Senkler is Crosby s great-great-granddaughter. She flew to Morton from Naples, Florida on short notice to be present for the ceremony. I think it s an important thing for history to remember people who weren t able to be known at the time because their lives were at risk, she said. They also, if they didn t lose their lives, they were charged $1,000 and a minimum of six months in jail if they were captured.
Tory Dahlhoff / WCBU
In the basement of the Legacy Building in El Paso, Illinois is a small corner room with a wall of cinderblocks filling a doorway that once led to the street above. Around 125 years ago locals entered here for a shave and a chat with their barber, David Strother.
Now just a dim light from a single bulb reveals the remaining frame and narrow countertop of Strother’s barber station, just enough to imagine how it once looked.
When it comes to Central Illinois historical figures, El Paso, a small city just off Interstate 39 in Woodford County, is most often celebrated as the birthplace of Fulton Sheen, the Catholic archbishop on a contentious road toward sainthood. But more than 20 years before Sheen’s birth, Strother, the town’s humble and beloved barber and a veteran of the Civil War, had already made history here as the first Black American in Illinois, and one of the first in the nation, to exercise his right to vote.
Woodford County Man Was 1st In Illinois To Fulfill Promise Of 15th Amendment peoriapublicradio.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from peoriapublicradio.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Peoria, IL, USA 104.9 The Wolf
PEORIA, Ill. After the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex
said in a statement Friday they were not hosting Morgan Wallen’s concert at their venue as part of Tailgate N’ Tallboys, the owner of the music festival has told WMBD News Wallen is still planned to be in Peoria, even if its not at Louisville Slugger.
“The venue is not allowing us to have Morgan Wallen at their facility at the moment,” said owner Wayne Klein. “I’m working with Morgan’s camp every single day to make sure he’s following the correct steps.”
Klein said they obviously don’t condone the actions taken by Wallen, but he does deserve forgiveness if he takes the correct steps.