By Carolyn Bradshaw 

In February 1902, my great grandfather, Alfred Averyt Jr., fell off his bicycle on the icy Gurley Street hill in front of the Elks Theatre. The handlebar injured his lung, causing pneumonia. Seeking a change in climate, Mr. Averyt traveled by train to Phoenix. On his return to Prescott, he died in Wickenburg at the age of 33 on October 10, 1902. The Arizona Journal Miner reported, "He was an upright, conscientious young man, without an enemy in the world."

With the surnames of Averyt and Dicus on my mother's side, I have always known that my family has a rich history throughout Arizona. However, when I returned to Arizona and moved to Prescott three years ago, it was at a time when I was becoming interested in genealogy. What I've learned has been more than I had ever anticipated. 

Genealogy comes in many forms today, from spending time in museum archives to checking out connections on the Internet. Many of my discoveries have come from documents and photos at Sharlot Hall Museum and building relationships with newly-found relatives found by placing queries on the Internet. One of the most amazing contacts came from Jim Garner's editor's column in the Courier. A man in Alabama had written to the newspaper about finding relatives of Alfred Averyt, my great grandfather. That column brought me together with James Boatwright of Selma, Alabama, who is a cousin of mine. We have developed a wonderful relationship by telephone, exchange of letters and e-mail. 

My great grandfather lived in Prescott during a decade when the town's history was in its formative stages. Sharlot Hall was gaining a reputation as a writer, and Buckey O'Neill had gone off to Cuba to fight and die in the Spanish American War. 

During this period, Alfred Averyt was in the mercantile business and had a store in the Scopel Building at the southwest corner of Goodwin and Montezuma Streets. He had been elected Prescott city assessor and was the incumbent at the time of his death. The funeral took place at his home at 230 S. Pleasant St. and he was buried in the newly-opened International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) cemetery on Virginia Street. 

Mr. Averyt was mourned by his wife Mary and two children ages 2 years and 5 months. Today, as I walk through the cemetery and neighborhood, I can envision them on that sad day leaving the cemetery and returning to their home on Pleasant Street a few blocks away. 

An Alabama native, Mr. Averyt had arrived in Prescott in 1891, the year John Marion, publisher of the Prescott Courier, proclaimed the dawn of a new era for Prescott. In 1895, he married Mary Francisco. Their wedding was in the Levi Bashford residence, which still stands at 128 S. Mt. Vernon Street. Mary's grandfather and Levi Bashford had been members of the same church in Lyons, N.Y., and when Mary was orphaned as a young woman, she was sent to live with Levi Bashford in Prescott. News reports said, "Mr. Averyt is one of Prescott's leading merchants, and the lady of his choice is highly spoken of by all who know her." My great grandmother, Mary, is a Sharlot Hall Museum Rose Garden honoree. 

Also in 1895, it was reported that "Alfred Averyt's new residence has commenced to loom up from the commanding position it occupies on the East Prescott Hill...." On Dec. 31, 1996, I celebrated the 100th anniversary of this house with the present owners, Steve and Noella Elliott, and friends. The house is now registered as an historic building. 

Marrying, building a home and keeping a business going in those days were not without great difficulty. On Feb. 14, 1896, Mr. Averyt acknowledged final payment of $250 for a land sale in Alabama, and he wrote back to his relative, S.D. Neely, "I never needed money more in my life than I did then...I am struggling to keep things going." 

In 1897, Mr. Averyt left the Scopel Building store and had plans to open a grocery in the Big Bug District. It is unclear whether he ever located in this area. One can only imagine what he and his nephew, Elbert, who was deputy county recorder at the courthouse, must have thought three years later when they surveyed the devastation caused by a fire which engulfed downtown, making the Scopel Building a "roaring furnace." 

Also in 1897, Alfred and Mary had their first baby, a daughter, Gertrude. She was delivered by Dr. E.W. Dutcher, a doctor from New York who lived up the street on North Pleasant. The Journal Miner reported, "Mr. and Mrs. A. Averyt's infant child died on Saturday afternoon. Although apparently healthy and well when born, it lived only a few hours." Recently, I found baby Gertrude Averyt's gravesite at Citizen's Cemetery. 

Alfred and Mary traveled east to Alabama and New York on several occasions, and friends and family members came to Prescott to visit them. Mary knew the LaGuardia family and many friends from New York, including artist Bea Little, would come to visit. 

When Alfred and Mary had their second daughter, Dorothy, in 1899, Mary and Bea would saddle up the baby on the side of a burro and go off into the forest and around the Granite Dells to paint pictures of the local scenery. 

Mary was also active in the church and Ladies Aid. In 1901, the Ladies Aid Society of Prescott published a cookbook with Mary's recipes for pot roast, fried chicken, tomato salad, apple dandies and Spanish cream. Other contributors included the Mesdames Hicks, Tritle, Burmister, Munds, Hesla, Hazeltine and Ruffner. 

In 1901, Mr. Averyt succeeded E.B.Moden as city assessor. On February 11, 1902, Mr. Averyt wrote to his brother in Alabama. The letter is on stationery from the Averyt grocery store in the Scopel Building and the envelope is from the city clerk's office. He told of seeing an Alabama friend in Prescott who was working at a mining camp eleven miles south of town, and he asked his brother to reassure the man's mother that he was in the Arizona Territory, not back to South Africa. Mr. Averyt also wrote, "Our town continues to grow... new houses going up every where you look." And, "Mary has been sick for about two weeks, but is about well now. She and Dorothy make things much pleasanter for me than to have the house so lonesome and quiet without them". 

Mary was pregnant with their third child. Their son, who was named Alfred after his father, was born on May 30, 1902, five months before Mr. Averyt's death. As a young widow, Mary set out to raise her children in the Prescott area during those challenging days in the Arizona Territory. 

Carolyn Bradshaw is a genealogist and Sharlot Hall Museum volunteer.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (pb124f6i26)
Reuse only by permission.
In 1896, Alfred Averyt's grocery store occupied a ground floor area in the Scopel Building at the southwest corner of Goodwin and Montezuma Streets in Prescott. This photo was a recent gift to Sharlot Hall Museum and is the only known photo of the building before the fire of 1900.