Book Reviews
Glenn
County
Sketchbook
by
Thelma
B.
White,
introduction
by
Lois
McDonald
Historic
Glenn
County,
California,
stories,
geography
and
events
taken
from
the
author's
Willows
Journal
and
Wagon
Wheels
columns.
"Longtime Glenn County resident Thelma White has prepared and published the Glenn County Sketchbook as a labor of love over a period of many years. ... She began writing the Glenn County history decades ago. Manuscripts were prepared for the Colusi County Historical Society publication Wagon Wheels. These were interspersed with a series of articles that appeared weekly in the Willows Journal beginning in 1967. ...
"Much of the material for these articles was obtained by Mrs. White from interviews with 'old timers' and knowledgeable people of an earlier day. It was study and research, together with the interviews, that have qualified her to prepare the material for this publication. Primarily she has written about Glenn County people, places, work, family life, travel and events.
"Sketchbook contains chapters about the Native Americans of the area, John Bidwell's travels there, Granville Swift and his first adobe ... Descriptions of early settlements include Monroeville, Newville and Chrome and of the Sacramento River.
"Family life is best described in articles about making soap, the outhouse and washday ... A special event or two involve the building of a church, and the merry-go-round.
"Readers will find Glenn County Sketchbook to be an invaluable source of knowledge of life as it was in earlier days." --John Nopel, Chico and Butte County historian
