EDITOR’S NOTE – This photo and synopsis was provided by Dan Fishel of Roscommon.
ST. HELEN – A photo of famous movie actor Charlton Heston that I found recently in one of my boxes of pixs. Heston was born in Illinois in 1923, but his birth announcement was limited to a few words in the gossip column of the Roscommon Herald News for he would not become famous for many years later.
He was the grandson of John and Kate B. Carter of St. Helen, who came to St Helen about 1903. John and Kate were in the publishing business in Chicago before obtaining many square miles of land around St. Helen for back taxes. It was cut over timber land abandoned by the Henry Stephens Lumber Co.
When Heston’s parents divorced his last name was changed to Heston, the same as his step father. Charlton was his mother’s maiden name. It was not in good taste at that time for a child to have a different last name than his mother and father. This photo appears to have been taken in the St. Helen area.
— Courtesy of Dan Fishel
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