Pearls of the Mississippi
by Linda Stanley
(Reno Nevada)
Mississippi River Pearls
As a child my brother and I would visit our Great Aunts who lived in Le Claire, Iowa right along the Mississippi. We would go down to the river and look for pearls on the advice of our Aunts. At the time I did not know the whole story behind the search until I started doing our family tree.
It seems my Great Uncle Waldo Lee Gardner was known as the Pearl Wizard in or about the late 1800's. In 1999, when his son Waldo William Gardner, was moved to a rest home my father and I were left with the task of cleaning out his house. In the bottom of a drawer were loose pearls. I scooped them up and took them home not giving it much thought until I came across them today.
In total there are over 100 of various sizes and shapes. Here are just a few.
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