Tag Archives: Willis Spaulding

Duncan McDonald

Duncan McDonald (1873-1965), while not as well-known as John L. Lewis, was almost certainly more principled as both a United Mine Workers leader and a politician. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Chronicling Illinois collection characterizes McDonald’s labor career this way: … Continue reading

Posted in Arts and letters, Business, Coal mines and mining, Lincoln, Abraham, Politics, Presidential candidates, Prominent figures, Springfield Survey | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Maydie Spaulding Lee

Mary Thankful Spaulding Lee — known universally as “Maydie” — has been overshadowed in history by her dynamic brothers, Willis and Charles Spaulding. But some of those involved in Springfield’s early 1900s’ progressive movement, including poet Vachel Lindsay, suggested that … Continue reading

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Spaulding Orchard

The Spaulding family, starting with J. B. Spaulding, grandfather of Willis and Charles Spaulding and Maydie Spaulding Lee, at various times owned several orchards around Springfield. The village of Spaulding, next to Riverton, “got its railroad station because of the … Continue reading

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Susan Wilcox

Susan Wilcox (1866-1943) taught English and other subjects at Springfield High School for 46 years, nurturing such budding talents as Vachel Lindsay and Robert Fitzgerald. Lindsay later called Wilcox his “noblest and most faithful friend of my life.” Wilcox was … Continue reading

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Vachel Lindsay

Hear Vachel Lindsay declaim A Dirge for a Righteous Kitten, 1931 (Pennsound) Sangamon County has produced its share of poets, but taken together they do not rival Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931) for celebrity, achievement, and tragedy. The novelist Mark Harris summarized … Continue reading

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