Manuscripts

Biographies and histories on Arizona pioneers, (bulk 1945-1962)

Image not available

Description: Assortment of biographies, histories, newspaper clippings, and photographs collected by the Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society. Biographies include those of Frederic Wadsworth Loring, George Edwin Loring, J.M.W. Moore, Charles Trumbull Hayden, William Howard Switzer, Rufus Elias Farrington, Samuel Carson Miller, Henry Morgan, Ida Fitzgerald, the Raible family of Prescott, and Margaret Maria Tinsley. Histories include Reminiscences of Arizona (1903) by Virginia Pendleton Carpenter, which recalls traveling to Arizona for the sake of her mother's health, and Fort McDowell in the Eighties by Dan Huntington, which references the history of the fort, Indian conflicts, and the introduction of baseball.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1875-1962.
Call number: mssHM 74618-74636
Creator

Life sketches of Arizona pioneers [microform]:

Manuscripts

Microfilm of 17 brief typescript biographies of Mormon pioneers to Arizona. Many of the biographies were written by Belva Willis Ballard, including those of Samuel Parish (1798-1873), Frances Reed Willis (1840-1924), John Henry Willis (1835-1886), William Wesley Willis, Sr. (1811-1872), Shadrach Roundy (1789-1872), Priscilla Parish Roundy (1833-1914), and Lorenzo Wesley Roundy (b.1819). Also included are a life sketch of Lulu J. Hatch Smith (b.1876) by her daughter Alice Smith Hansen, a sketch of Samuel Francis Smith (b.1873) by his daughters Alice Smith Hansen and Emma Smith Dewey, a sketch of Lois B. Hunt (1837-1885) by May Hunt Larsen, a sketch of May Louise Hunt Larson (b.1860) by Nettie Hunt Rencher, and biographies by unnamed relatives of Alice Hansen Hatch (b.1837), Smith Doolittle Rogers (b.1852), Eliza Snow Smith (1859-1927), John Albert Freeman (b.1860), Sarah Adaline Hall Freeman (1860-1901), James Irving Youngblood (1837-1883), and Susan Hamilton Youngblood (d.1926). Included throughout the biographies are references to conversions to Mormonism, the death of Joseph Smith and the expulsion of the Mormons from Nauvoo, overland journeys to Utah, life in Toquerville, Parowan, and Beaver, Utah, life in Snowflake, Arizona, and experiences in the Mormon Battalion (see William Wesley Willis). Most of the sketches appear to have been written from 1929-1940.

MSS MFilm 00090

Image not available

Society of California Pioneers letter to Jack Berlin

Manuscripts

The letter, which is signed by the Librarian Hester Robinson, is addressed to Jack Berlin of Los Angeles and is regarding San Francisco cable car lines and their colors. It is written on the society's letterhead. With envelope.

mssHM 74895

Image not available

In memoriam : Johann E. Knoche : a member of the Society of California Pioneers

Manuscripts

Short biographical sketch of Johann E. Knoche honoring him as a member of the Society of California Pioneers. Signed by John J. Spear, Secretary with a seal of the Society of California Pioneers.

mssHM 26057

Image not available

"Fort Huachuca Arizona Looking East toward Tombstone Arizona"

Manuscripts

HM 81548: The first volume, written in ink, consists of miscellaneous reports prepared by Frank West. The volume begins with a report about a transportation march from Camp Supply, Indian Territory to Fort Clark, Texas in 1873. West meticulously details the journey of the cavalry including length of travel, rivers crossed, and personal remarks. "Our wagon was [?] in the quick sand at the crossing of the Red River men were disseminated and applied to ropes attached to the wagon and it was drawn out" (p. 2). The total distance of their march was 1,371 miles, which took 74 days. The next two reports are about the murder of Jacob Dilsey in 1873. Other reports include number of utility poles erected in Arizona and confidential statements and endorsements about various Army personnel. Also included are briefs from Fort Niobrara, Nebraska and Fort Myer, Virginia. The last portion of the volume appears to be excerpts from a history book concerning Europe, Asia, and the Middle East during the 19th century. The endpapers have miscellaneous notes and account information written on them.

mssHM 81548-81554

Life history of George H. Rothrock [microform]: 1924

Manuscripts

Microfilm of a typescript of George H. Rothrock's autobiography, written in Glendale, California, in 1924. Rothrock describes his childhood, including the death of his infant brother by fire; his father's trips to California in the early 1850s; of traveling to California by way of Aspinwall and crossing the Isthmus of Panama in 1854; of sailing to Sacramento and arriving in Marysville; and of his father's vineyard, orchard, and cattle ranch in Marysville. Much of the account recalls Rothrock's many travels throughout California, Nevada, and Arizona while he worked as a miner (including at the Soledad Mine and in the Mesquite Mining District), sheep and cattle herder, and teamster. He also describes trouble with Indians at Fort Apache in 1881, being placed in charge of the head of the Arizona Canal in 1905; of moving to a ranch in Lehi in 1915; and of settling in San Diego in 1920.

MSS MFilm 00223 item 05

Sketches of pioneer days in Southern Utah and Arizona [microform]: 1923-1924

Manuscripts

Microfilm of a collection of typed anecdotes about early Mormon pioneers in Utah and Arizona, primarily written by Sullivan Calvin Richardson. The text opens with a general story of Mormons crossing the plains to Utah and early descriptions of settlements and the landscape. It also notes difficult working condition of laborers on the canal from the Rio Virgin, the building of settlements in Dixie, the construction of Call's Landing, and the giving up of homes on the Muddy River after some were found to be across the Nevada state line (where taxes were too high). The account includes quotes from settlers such as Charley Curtis, William Halladay, George A. Smith, Orville Allen, Lorenzo Watson, and Ammon M. Tenney. The microfilm also includes two poems identified as "The Transformation of the Pioneers," consisting of "Someone's Opinion of Arizona" by Charles O. Brown and "Answer to Some-one's Opinion of Arizona" by S.C. Richardson; a sketch of early Arizona by 'Lige Hancock; sketches of 1870s Arizona pioneers Peter O. Peterson, Andrew Anderson, Andrew Woods, O.C. Oveson, M.H. Peterson, and Andrew Locie Rogers by S.C. Richardson; the text of the "Arizona Song" by "some of the Salt Lake Boys;" and a sketch of Arizona pioneers by Joseph H. Richards.

MSS MFilm 00189

Biographies and histories on Arizona pioneers, (bulk 1945-1962)

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

You might also be interested in

Life sketches of Arizona pioneers [microform]:

Society of California Pioneers letter to Jack Berlin

In memoriam : Johann E. Knoche : a member of the Society of California Pioneers

"Fort Huachuca Arizona Looking East toward Tombstone Arizona"

Life history of George H. Rothrock [microform]: 1924

Sketches of pioneer days in Southern Utah and Arizona [microform]: 1923-1924