Longtime Jefferson County historian Norma Fuchs, formerly of Imperial, died April 4 at age 95 at her home in North Carolina, where she had lived for 13 years.
Mrs. Fuchs spent countless hours doing research into the history of the extended Harrington/Herrington family in Jefferson County, and was instrumental in locating and refurbishing family cemeteries in Cedar Hill and Pevely.
“We always had our family reunions at the Pevely City Park, and we’d take care of the cemetery,” said Mrs. Fuchs’ daughter, Becky Budd, 60, of High Ridge.”
Budd said her mother developed an interest in history at an early age, partly because of family lore.
“That was her passion,” Budd said. “Ever since I could remember, she talked about the bad guys in the family, the bank robbers and such, and how President Buchanan and Edgar Allen Poe were related to us. She loved all the stories handed down, and she wanted to find out how all these people were connected. It fascinated her.”
Mrs. Fuchs’ great-grandfather, Samuel Herrington, was the first Jefferson County law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty. She recounted the tale of his death in 1871 during the numerous history talks she gave throughout the county.
“She started doing (presentations) in the early 1990s,” Budd said. “She would go to schools and talk about county history, dressed in period clothing she had made.
“When I’d go home to visit, she’d talk about how much fun she had talking with the kids.”
Budd said her mother was ahead of her time when it came to research.
“For years, she would go to libraries and search public records,” she said. “When home computers first started being a thing in the 1980s, she bought one and taught herself how to use it so she could search all over the country.”
Mrs. Fuchs ran an antique shop in Imperial, which doubled as her art studio, and she was involved with craft and needlework projects. “She was always busy,” her daughter said. “She never sat still.”
Mrs. Fuchs never slowed down in her genealogy work, either. “Up until last August, when she got sick, she was still doing research at 95 years old,” Budd said. “When she went to an assisted living facility in the fall, she donated all her research – cabinet after cabinet full of files – to the Jefferson County Heritage and Historical Society. They came and picked it all up in North Carolina, and they’re storing it until it can be digitized.”
Budd said the extended family will gather once the quarantine is lifted to celebrate her mother’s life.
“I think her legacy is her knowledge, and the curiosity and the way she helped people,” Budd said. “All that knowledge, all that passion for exploring her roots, all that research – it benefits us all.”