HCHS File Photo
The Holt County Historical Society & the Mound City
Museum Association honor these two special ladies!
Forty years ago in 1973, Erma
Smith Hinkle and Marguerite Smith Griffith, attired in early
day clothing, were found on the 4th of July in the Mound City
park offering information about the newly formed Holt County
Historical Society with an opportunity to purchase a membership. Both
of these ladies were extremely dedicated to history preservation.
Marguerite, pictured on the
left, was the membership chairman of the newly formed Society and she
and her committee excluded no one when soliciting new members. She
also transferred her energy to the Mound City Museum Assn. when it
organized and contacted every area resident to become a member of it,
as well. Phone calls, knocking on doors, visiting on the street.
Marguerite carried her notebook and membership cards everywhere and
was always ready to collect dues and donations! She was proud of
her heritage and many items in both the Mound City Museum and the Holt
County Historical Society Museums now contain artifacts given by her
and her family. Clothing, military artifacts and uniforms, along with
photos all preserve her Smith and Griffith family history.
Erma was the first president of the Holt County Historical Society and
worked endlessly gathering information and generating interest
throughout the county. She loved history and was a 44 year career
school teacher. Having taught in the Cottonwood school west of
Bigelow, she collected country school memorabilia her entire life and
much of the school information the Society came from her. Having grown
up in the Big Lake/Bigelow area, she compiled Big Lake
scrapbooks beginning in 1804 when Lewis and Clark noted the area in
their journal and continued throughout the years with clippings,
stories, and photographs. Her sixth grade students at Mound City
school interviewed and researched Big Lake history and those notes are
now stored with the Society's archives. Many photos, slides, and
histories now in the HCHS files are as a result Erma's never ending
love to learn and preserve the past.
We owe these two woman much for their tireless
efforts to preserve Holt County History!!!
