OXFORD – When beloved Oxford Historian Charlotte Stafford passed away in 2010, she left behind a vast array records she had compiled over the course of her thirty odd years in service to the town and village. It has been left to Stafford’s chosen prodigy, Vicky House, to manage the assortment of documents as well as tend to the responsibilities of the village/town historian.
“At first I didn’t want to do it, but she had a way of getting you to do what she wanted,” laughed House. “She taught me her way of doing things and I thought I would never remember it all because she had a mind like a computer.” But House has been able to remember much of Stafford’s tutelage and since taking over as Oxford’s historian she has gone about following her predecessor’s (at times very specific) instructions as well as branching out to find historical projects of her own.
“She is doing a really good job, I am impressed with her, and fully endorse her work,” said Fred Lanfear, president of the Oxford Historical Society. Lanfear noted how House’s computer literacy, genealogical adeptness and unwavering enthusiasm have strongly contributed to her ability to skillfully fill the role of Oxford historian. “She does have high expectations to meet though because as many people would say, Charlotte was a little woman with big shoes,” he
chuckled.
“Vicky is a devotee of Charlotte and I think that is a big motivator for her; she wants to live up to Charlotte’s expectations and she lives and breathes the job,” said Lanfear.
House does a lot of work researching ancestors at the bequest of their descendants, with a lot of recent interesting gravitating towards the Civil War due to the 150th anniversary. “She serves more people than people realize,” said Lanfear. At the moment House is in the middle of working on research for about 35 separate requests.
Sometimes House has to give people bad news about their ancestors. “People can get quite irate, like if I have to tell them their ancestor was married more than once, that one really can get people going,” House said. Recently House was forced to tell a women her ancestor was murdered by his wife’s lover, which she found particularly difficult to do.
House has also had to work to preserve many of the decomposing documents she inherited from her predecessor through scanning and digitalization. One of House’s major focuses of interest has been the Civil War and a lot of her project have stemmed from that, but she has also been hard at work digitally mapping the Riverview Cemetery, where a good deal of the information on the ancient headstones is becoming indiscernible.
“Charlotte told me we are the grassroots, people come to us for information,” said House. “I am not a rookie anymore, but I do still have a lot to learn, though I have had a lot of great help from the rest of the county historians, and I just hope I can do everything Charlotte wanted.”