If it weren't for Ida....

Local history is recorded by amateurs. I will fully admit that I am a local history amateur myself. All it takes is a love of history and a desire to write it down. It is a fact of life that cities generate more people who record local history than unincorporated areas. Our area, Jurupa Valley, suffered from that problem. One notable exception is a slim volume in a navy blue cover, "Jurupa: Peace and Friendship." Written by Ida Parks Condit, it was self published in 1984 when Ida was 73 years old. Ida worked very hard on this book and I am sure spent many many hours doing research in the days before the Internet. She was so sure of her research that she put the following statement at the bottom of her dedication page: "All the material in this book has been researched and is factual."  Oh, if only I could feel so sure of the research and writing that I do!

However, as with all local history wrting, you have to read Ida's book with a bit of skeptisim in your heart. Any given piece of local history information is factual until you find a new fact that puts it in doubt! The title of Ida's book is a fine example. Someone wrote back in the day that "Jurupa" was the greeting that an Indian chief used to greet Juan Bautista DeAnza which meant "peace and friendship." If only it were so! Ida thought it was true and used it for her book title. I discussed the meaning of Jurupa in a previous blog post so I won't repeat it here, but it does not mean peace and friendship!!!

So, keeping in mind that new nuggets of history have been discovered since 1984, Ida's book is full of old stories, names and dates that we would not have if she had not written them down. Her hard work is the starting point for so much that I do in my own research and writing.  It was through her book that I received my first introduction to Arthur and Mary Ann Parks. Their story is just as facinating as that of Louis Robidoux and Cornelius and Mercedes Jensen, but no one knows about it because they don't have a place named after them or a park devoted to their history. I have written about the Parks' for The Record. I will post more about them here in the future.

Meanwhile, I want to give a tip of the hat to Ida Parks Condit. Absolute perfection, while preferable,  is not required in local history. Someone who will write history down is.