Lexington as viewed thru it’s newspapers 1885 – 1938

The Scrapbooks of the Lewis H. Smith Family

Each New Year’s Day Rozilla Ralston (Mrs. Lewis H.) Smith and her daughter, Miss Bessie, started pasting into scrapbooks the happenings of the year past.  Mrs. Smith died October 11, 1925, but the project was continued by her daughter for the next 50 years.  Miss Bessie died October 3, 1983 at the age of 97.

The clippings are important items of the time from The Lexington Review, The Lexington Unit, and The Lexington Unit-Journal.

Marian Elson preserved these memories by having the scrapbook microfilmed in 1997 and donating a copy to The McLean County Genealogical Society.  We had the microfilm digitized in 2023 and present it as five pdf files that may be accessed by clicking below.  Thanks to the women who made this presentation possible.

Take a walk thru history by leafing thru the years.  (The files are large and can take a minute to load, but they are interesting)