Wonderwomen

Darlene Arnold

I don't mean to be sexist about this. A few men (including me) do wander into the Lucas County Genealogical Society's rooms at the Chariton Public Library now and then to help out. But most of the heavy lifting is done by wonderwomen who work miracles for researchers from across the country on a daily basis.

If I start naming them, I'll forget a few. So here are three who happened to be there when both the camera and I were last Monday.

Darlene Arnold is a hero. She has single-handedly indexed vital records, obituaries and other genealogically-useful articles in all existing Chariton newspapers, start to finish. This tool is available at the library and makes looking up obits and other information on microfilm a breeze.

Gwen Sims (left) and Lucille Chandler.

Gwen Sims has a long history of working on the Lucas County Genealogical Society newsletter, serving on the Lucas County Pioneer Cemetery Commission and undertaking virtually any other genealogical task that needs to be done.

And Lucille Chandler is a regular and familiar face at the library, doing what needs to be done and assisting researchers.

Thanks! You've surely made my obsessive-compulsive hunt for the odd details of Lucas County history far easier.

I took off down the Mormon Trail research-wise last week, and every time that happens I can't seem to bring myself to stop. But this has been an especially rewarding week that brought very promising leads that may allow identification of the pioneering Mormons who wintered 1846-1847 at Chariton Point --- Lucas County's first settlers --- then perhaps helped established what seems increasingly to have been a way station there, a destination that allowed Saints traveling the trail to regroup briefly before continuing on to either Garden Grove or Mt. Pisgah.

So I'm excited about that, and will keep you posted.

Note (added April 2011): Sadly, Gwen Sims is now deceased.