This is only a small part of Lucas County's fascinating story. There was much more as families left their homes in the east to confront the elements and hazards as they made their quest in the westward movement during that century of hitherto unparalleled adventure.
As we approach the Bicentennial of our nation, we offer this collection of vignettes as typical of life throughout the middle west during those y ears while its sinews and strengths were being forged on the anvils of hard work and high resolve in the grey dawn of a new era.
These slices of life had their counterparts in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas - indeed throughout mid-America where families came to settle. It is only that these have been written out, gathered from fragmentary records of those who though their experiences worthy of preserving for their children and grandchildren, either on pages of diaries, in scrapbooks, or by word of mouth. These were they from whom we have come. They laid the foundation upon which we have built.
May you enjoy while reading, as I have felt while writing, the jolt of the covered wagon as it made its toilsome way over uncharted terrain, risking life and limb of both man and beast,. One grateful diarist wrote: "Don't forget the patient, struggling oxen. Without them we could never have made it".
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Acknowledgements:
I sincerely thank the many persons who have so kindly assisted me during the seven years spent in compiling these stories. First of all, to my husband who has driven many miles with me over the county to interview people and to research cemeteries. I am grateful to those who have accompanied me into the cemeteries and who have given me much information about the lives and achievements of those who rest there. I thank those who have loaned photographs, scrapbooks, diaries, newspaper clippings and whose names are included in various ways in the book. I thank the Chariton Librarians, Mrs Nila Nicke and Mrs. Yvonne Taylor, for their excellent help in research and finally, I am grateful to the Chariton Newspapers who have been helpful in publishing the stories,. To one and all, my sincere appreciation.
I sincerely thank the many persons who have so kindly assisted me during the seven years spent in compiling these stories. First of all, to my husband who has driven many miles with me over the county to interview people and to research cemeteries. I am grateful to those who have accompanied me into the cemeteries and who have given me much information about the lives and achievements of those who rest there. I thank those who have loaned photographs, scrapbooks, diaries, newspaper clippings and whose names are included in various ways in the book. I thank the Chariton Librarians, Mrs Nila Nicke and Mrs. Yvonne Taylor, for their excellent help in research and finally, I am grateful to the Chariton Newspapers who have been helpful in publishing the stories,. To one and all, my sincere appreciation.
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