One avid history researcher has been collecting anything of note concerning Jefferson County’s schools for years.

Marge Samuelson, the mind behind “Schools of Jefferson County Washington 1853-1951,” has accumulated information to fill more than 400 pages from a variety of sources. 

Throughout the process, Samuelson collected snippets about teachers and schools, and she combed through superintendents’ books to learn when each district was founded and consolidated. 

Samuelson noted how Port Townsend School District was at one point No. 1 but switched to No. 43 and eventually No. 50, as it stands now. There were a lot of smaller school districts on the west end of the county, including Clearwater, Quinault and Queets, she said. The superintendent of the schools urged them to consolidate, and they eventually combined with Hoquiam and Forks.

There were 53 school districts at one time in the county, but now there are only three. 

“There were little schools everywhere,” Samuelson said.

One major resource included superintendent books that Jefferson County Historical Society has on hand, but past editions of The Leader also helped her research, Samuelson said.

“They give the real story of these people,” she said, adding the superintendents tended to get “carried away” in their descriptions.

During her consolidations, Samuelson said she often would use obituaries, oral histories and local history books.

The state Legislature provided funds to many organizations for oral history projects for the 1989 state centennial, Samuelson said. 

She also learned about a Coyle School District teacher who would row to school in a boat and stay with a family throughout the week before she rowed back home for the weekend.

Samuelson said one of her goals was to bring “women back into history.” Her next book will be “Jefferson County Women: the First 100 Years.”

“It’s really hard to find information on women,” she said.

Samuelson has been collecting information for the past 20 years about women such as Lucinda Hastings, who was credited as the first white woman in the county. She also learned about issues such as divorce, necessitating trips to the Jefferson County Courthouse to view records on microfilm. That book is due to be published in March 2019 to coincide with Women’s History Month. 

“These women only had eighth-grade education, but they were the only ones available, so they taught as far along as they could,” said Samuelson.

That was primarily the case on the west end of the county, she said, and the women taught students with myriad ages and ability levels.

“You have to be a special kind of person to be able to do that,” Samuelson said with a laugh. 

“Schools of Jefferson County Washington 1853-1951” comes with a comprehensive name index for easy research. 

“It’s nice to have it all in one place,” Samuelson said. 

Samuelson began with the Jefferson County Historical Society in 1991 as a volunteer coordinator and fill-in for librarian and director. She was promoted to librarian and eventually as an archivist. 

“Marge is a volunteer extraordinaire,” said fellow Jefferson County Research Center volunteer Pam Stinson. “She spends a great deal of time volunteering.” 

Stinson said Samuelson upkeeps the vertical files, clipping anything of interest from The Leader and similar newspapers for easy access, whether they are about schools or specific locations around the county. Before Samuelson’s work on the school volume, there wasn’t anything that could provide the single resource about the schools, Stinson said. 

Samuelson’s family has roots stretch back to the 1920s, although she moved to eastern Washington when she was in the third grade. She moved when she was 19 and hasn’t left since. 

Samuelson has gotten to know the collection, and the process has given her the skills and knowledge to provide information for others when they visit. 

“Marge now has all in one place every mention of schools that the historical society has had,” Stinson said, adding that the project is an aside from Samuelson’s large undertaking of compiling resources about the women of Jefferson County. 

“I think it’s quite exciting,” Stinson said.