Lucille Cheatham Moseley, Chesterfield historian, dies

BY JENIFER V. BUCKMAN

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Friday, January 30, 2004

A funeral for Lucille Cheatham Moseley, a retired executive director and the principal founder of the Chesterfield County Historical Society, will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at Bethel Baptist Church in Chesterfield. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Mrs. Moseley, 80, died Tuesday at her home in Moseley.

Among her duties as executive director, she headed the Chesterfield County Museum and oversaw the renovation of Magnolia Grange.

The former teacher was working in the reference department of the county library when she spearheaded the creation of a county historical society. Soon after, she was offered a position as director of the county museum, and the society was later given oversight of the county's museum properties.

Mrs. Moseley was named the society's executive director in 1984, the year the group became the custodian of Magnolia Grange. Under her supervision, the 19th-century plantation home was opened to visitors the following year.

"She handled the building's restoration and was also responsible for finding accurate furnishings from the period, which was no easy task," said Mary Arline McGuire, a former county treasurer and a society board member. "She had such a strong passion for teaching others about their heritage. I've never known anyone with as much energy."

Within five years of its inception, the society was honored by the American Association for State and Local History for its rapid development of a local history program.

"Her background was in education, so she really held an interest in developing programs for schoolchildren," said Lori Horner, a former assistant director of the society. "But she also worked to acquire items and build exhibits that would educate adults as well. She never stopped learning herself."

Mrs. Moseley had authored a history of her family, "Descendants of Thomas Cheatham of Chesterfield County, Virginia," and had also co-authored "The 1917 Courthouse of Chesterfield County: Its History and Portraits."

The society published two other books under her direction, "Chesterfield, An Old Virginia County Vol II, 1954-1989" and "A Time to Remember, A Pictorial History of Chesterfield County, Virginia, 1860-1960."

In addition to gathering and preserving items for the museum collection, Mrs. Moseley began amassing the volumes and documents that would make up the core of the society's historical and genealogical research library. That library was named in her honor at her 1994 retirement. Mrs. Moseley continued to volunteer at the research library until her death.

"She did so much and took credit for so little," said Pattie Grady, a charter member of the society. "She never wanted to draw attention to herself."

A longtime member of Bethel Baptist Church, she served as the church historian and assisted in researching and writing several volumes of the church's history.

She had also served as a librarian for the state and national chapters of the Huguenot Society. Mrs. Moseley was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Jamestowne Society.

Her husband of 57 years, Edward A. Moseley Jr., died in 2001. Survivors include three children, Bruce Moseley, Anne Brandon and Bob Moseley; a brother, Milton Cheatham; and seven grandchildren, all of Chesterfield.

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