Memories from the Homestead: Lunda Palmer, Taney County teacher remembered

     Going back and digging into Taney County school records, especially here at Garber, has been quite fun and often leads down a number of rabbit holes. Today, I'd like to introduce another well-known Taney County resident. Quite a few of you long-time natives (especially Walnut Shade area) will remember Lunda Palmer.

Born in Walnut Shade on July 8, 1887, Lunda was the daughter of Taney County Western District Judge John Palmer and his wife Arminta. Lunda along with her brother, Deward, would go on to become well known Taney County teachers. Both of them enrolled in the Lead Hill Normal School (Lead Hill, Arkansas) in the spring of 1905. Lunda was seventeen. At this particular time, the Lead Hill Normal School was the go-to place for those interested in teaching careers. At the time, 20 percent of their students were from Taney County!

Charles and Lunda Ingenthron, long-time Walnut Shade area residents. (Photo courtesy of Leslie Wyman, White River Valley Historical Society)

While pursuing her education, Lunda accepted the teaching position at Garber in July 1905, with classes starting in September for a four-month term. The information I've discovered while reading the weekly columns of J.K. Ross (often shared here) show that she returned to complete her schooling at Lead Hill, and Miss May King that I introduced to y'all in this column on March 12, 2026, replaced her finishing the Garber school year.

Lunda would return to Garber and teach September 1906 through May 1907, a nine-month run, which was typically the length of a school year in the rural county schools. Her salary was around $30 per month.  

During this run at Garber, Lunda married Mincy resident James T. Wilson on Sunday, November 4, 1906. Here's one of those rabbit holes that went nowhere for me. I find no records of their life together, no mention of Wilson. Their marriage license is in the records at Forsyth and can be viewed online. All accounts that I went through show her as Lunda Palmer after this marriage, and she would return to Garber and do the five-month term, January to May 1909. If anyone has any info on James T. Wilson, please contact me!

Newspaper columns in the Taney County Republican reveal that Lunda would teach at Oasis for a two-month summer term in July 1910, then to Flint Hill in September 1911, and then near her home area, the Meadows School near Bull Creek, in the spring of 1912.

Lunda married Charles Ingenthron on July 30, 1912. Ingenthron was also remembered as a long-time Taney County resident. They would have three daughters between 1913 and 1921, Katherine, Josephine and Magdelene.

A couple of years after Katherine was born, Lunda was commissioned as the new postmaster at Walnut Shade, and she would hold that position for 15 months. Charles would be the postmaster there from November 1919 through January 1925. Lunda would never return to teaching, and she and Charles spent the remainder of their years farming at their Walnut Shade property.

Married for sixty-two years, Charles passed away on August 14, 1974, at the age of 91. Lunda passed on May 14, 1975 exactly ten months later, at the age of 87. They were loved and celebrated by many. They are laid to rest in the Walnut Shade cemetery. 

It's also neat to discover that Lunda's brother Morgan married Elsie Ingenthron in 1922. Elsie was the sister of our beloved Taney County historian and long-time county school teacher Elmo Ingenthron. I'll have to give y'all a write-up on Elmo here sometime. His three books on Taney County and area Civil War history are a must have for you area history enthusiasts!

If anyone has any memories to share of Charles and Lunda, please contact me! I'm curious if any photos exist from her time as a Taney County teacher, 1905 to 1912.

Happy trails, everyone!