By Ken Edwards
(The first part of a two-part article regarding Pauline Weaver who was named "First Citizen of Prescott.")
Few people know much more about Pauline Weaver than is contained in the short memorial on his headstone on the grounds of the Sharlot Hall Museum. Who was Weaver and why is he of such importance in the history of Prescott and the Territory of Arizona? His life story is recounted in the excellent 1993, booklet by Jim Byrkit and Bruce Hooper: "THE STORY OF PAULINE WEAVER Arizona's Foremost Mountain Man. Trapper, Gold-Seeker, Scout, Pioneer". The following material is mostly based on that publication.
Although dates and places of birth are varied, it is most probable that Pauline Weaver was born in White County, Tennessee in 1797. His parents are thought to be an Anglo-American father and a Cherokee mother. His given name was Powell Weaver.
"Reliable" records on Weaver begin in 1829, when, at the age of 32, he answered an advertisement in the Little Rock, AR, Gazette entitled "To Young Men of Enterprise". The ad was placed by a Captain John Rogers to recruit about 100 men for a trapping expedition to the Rocky Mountains.
The expedition got under way in early May 1830, and consisted of less than 50 men. After some battles with Indians, desertions, and poor success with trapping, the party traveled south to Taos. After their arrival in late fall Weaver left the remnants of the group and stayed in Taos for several months.
In October 1831, Pauline Weaver accompanied Ewing Young and 34 others on a trip from Taos to California to buy horses and mules to sell in New Mexico. Until that time only a few Americans are known to have previously entered Arizona.
The group traveled through the White Mountains to the Salt River and thence to the Gila. They stopped at the villages of the friendly Pima Indians, where they bought supplies. They reached the Colorado River in the first week of 1832. It isn't known whether Weaver went all the way to California with Young or waited in the Yuma area for the return trip. However, the party, minus Young, but combined with an earlier party which included Antoine Leroux and David Jackson, followed a more southerly route going back, eventually reaching Santa Fe in July 1832. They managed to bring back about 600 mules and 100 horses as well as some beaver pelts.
On a wall of Casa Grande, near present-day Coolidge, is scratched "P. Weaver 18--". The date is thought to be 1832, which would be consistent with Pauline's known trip through that area. However, it is not known for sure that this is the correct date or that Weaver actually was responsible for the engraving, since he is generally thought to have been illiterate.
Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe record that a "Paulin de Jesus Guiver" (Weaver), was baptized at Taos in August, 1832. A later church archival record states that Weaver was married to Maria Dolores Martin on September 10, 1832. Other records state that his children were Jose Benito Guivar, born April 28, 1833, and daughters Maria Guadalupe, born January 21, 1835, and Lucinda, of unknown birth date. The son, Ben, seems to be a certainty, but there is some doubt about the daughters. Other legends have Weaver marrying an Indian woman who may have been Maricopa, Mojave, Hualapai, Chemihuevi, or Pima.
Although Weaver's given name was Powell, his name was later given as Powleen, Pawleen, Pawlino, Paolin, Paolino, Paul, and Pauline. The Spanish name closest to Powell was apparently Paulin, pronounced as Pauline.
Little is known of Weaver's life in the decade following his return to New Mexico. He is known to have been in southern California at least by 1842, and by 1845, he had moved to Rancho San Gorgonio, 30 miles from San Bernardino. In July Weaver and Julian Isaac Williams made application to the Mexican government to obtain possession of the deserted rancho at San Gorgonio. In the application, Weaver called himself Paulino and claimed to be a Mexican citizen by naturalization. The two men claimed that they would protect San Gorgonio Pass, a key mountain crossing, with armed guards. Although there is no record of the request being granted, Weaver apparently lived at the rancho for more than a decade.
When Commodore Stockton, in September 1846, thought he and John C. Fremont had conquered California in the early stages of the of the war with Mexico, he sent Kit Carson, accompanied by Pauline Weaver and others, east to report the news. After considerable hardship, they reached Socorro, New Mexico on October 6, having traveled 800 miles in 21 days. There they met General Kearny and his troops on their way to fight in California. Kearny conscripted Carson as a guide, and sent Weaver on to Santa Fe to act as a guide for the Mormon Battalion.
The Battalion, consisting of 397 Mormon troops, left Santa Fe on October 19, 1846. Commander Colonel Philip St. George Cooke decided to take a southerly route through Arizona - a region unfamiliar to Weaver and Antoine Leroux, who had become chief guide. Weaver's independent nature and lack of knowledge of southern Arizona caused tension with Cooke.
After taking Tucson and suffering severe hardship due to lack of food and water, the Battalion reached the Colorado River on January 8, 1847. Under Weaver's guidance the battalion got lost in the California desert. Eventually, they reached 'civilization' and Weaver returned to San Gorgonio only to find that it had been looted by retreating Mexicans.
Back at his Rancho, Weaver apparently lived in semi-seclusion except for his Indian friends. He was described by a visitor in 1850 as "an honest, kind hearted man, of strong intellect, but wholly uncultivated, ever ready to render all the assistance in his power." In 1851, he helped to quell an impending Indian uprising over a plan to tax them and held the instigator captive until he was taken away to be hung for treason, murder and robbery. Later, the California legislature passed a special act for "the relief of Powell Weaver." He was awarded $500 compensation for horses and supplies provided to friendly Indians in thwarting the 1851 uprising. But in spite of all this, Pauline's relations with the Indians were often not friendly.
In 1853, Dr. Isaac William Smith emigrated to California from Iowa and found Weaver at his ranch seriously ill with rheumatic fever. Smith stayed and nursed him back to health. In return, Weaver gave him a one-third interest in his San Gorgonio property to start a cattle ranch. He eventually conveyed the entire ranch to Dr. Smith.
Weaver stayed on and became great friends with the Smith children. When they were threatened with parental punishment, he would hide them and when they had been ordered to bed without food, Weaver fed them. He was a co-conspirator with them in mischief and, sometimes encouraged them to defy parental authority. Smith's daughter, Ida, became a great chum of Weaver's and reported that he taught her how to use a gun, to ride, to smoke, to speak Spanish and to swear. But, she said, he used good English and Spanish and "did not speak gutter English."
Weaver finally left Rancho San Gorgonio in 1857, and moved to the Yuma area where he trapped beaver. He claimed to have helped the Maricopa Indians to defeat the Yuma and Mohave in a September 1, 1857, fight, but his participation has not been confirmed.
He is reported to have gone to Gila City, about 22 miles upstream from Yuma during its short-lived prosperity from placer gold deposits. The July 1860, census in Tucson showed Weaver in that location, with a net worth of $2100. He began prospecting along the Colorado in 1861, and in 1862, he and some other beaver trappers discovered some gold deposits a few miles east of La Paz. The region was to become known as the Weaver Mining District, but there is little evidence that Pauline made much money there, although a considerable gold rush to the district had occurred.
Next week: how Weaver became Prescott's "first citizen."
Ken Edwards is an active volunteer at the Sharlot Hall Museum.
This rendering shows Rancho San Gorgonio which Pauline Weaver spent many years between travels across Arizona. Born in Tennessee, he became a famous trapper, guide, and eventually pioneer of Prescott. The Story of Pauline Weaver by Byrkit is available at the Museum Store.