By Nancy Kirkpatrick Wright

Happy Birthday Sharlot! Yes, if Sharlot Hall were here this Sunday she would be 132 years old. Of course, she is here today, not only in spirit, but in her writings and in the museum which bears her name.

Let us continue the story of Sharlot M. Hall's life: 

The year 1895 was a pivotal one for Sharlot: It all started in January, when the Hall family drove their buckboard into Prescott to attend a lecture by the renowned Freethinker, Samuel L. Putnam. Adeline and Sharlot, liberal thinkers, long interested in philosophy and women's rights, were so taken with his lecture that they attended all four of his talks and even brought the famous lecturer home to spend the night. Like ranchers then and now, Sharlot's mother was unfailingly hospitable. So it was not unusual for the Halls to invite guests to stay the night. 

Although Samuel Putnam was fifty-six years old, twice Sharlot's age, the two were soul mates whose close friendship developed quickly. You can find Putnam's books with their glowing, personal dedications to Sharlot, in the archives of the Museum. Sharlot read them and before long, she was speaking in Prescott and Phoenix on the Freethought movement. Moreover, she visited other Freethinkers on her first trip to California in June, 1895. 

Also in 1895, Sharlot sent one of her poems to Charles Lummis, founder of 'Land of Sunshine', a California promotional magazine, later renamed 'Out West.' Lummis, who befriended many young artists and writers, sent back a thoughtful critique and invited Sharlot to submit more of her work. Before long, her articles as well as her poems, became regular features in 'Land of Sunshine.' 

Meanwhile, Sharlot's friendship with Samuel Putnam was growing, nurtured by frequent letters back and forth. Putnam lectured throughout the U.S., and less than two years later was preparing for a lecture series in England when he died suddenly under unsavory circumstances. When she learned of his death, Sharlot was devastated. Tributes she wrote for Freethought publications testify to the depth of her mourning, and her poignant poems reveal a profound love for him. It was to take her more than seven years to completely recover from this loss. 

Always strong and practical, even in her sorrow, Sharlot kept on writing and sending her work to various periodicals of the day. When Charles Lummis became so busy he needed help with 'Land of Sunshine', he invited Sharlot to serve as assistant editor and, by 1901, she had moved to California to work on the magazine full time. This was quite a shift for a young woman of limited education from Agua Fria, Arizona. While working for Lummis, Sharlot met and formed lasting friendships with many California movers and shakers who gathered around his table. 

In 1909, fortune once again smiled on Sharlot. She was chosen Territorial Historian, the first woman to hold public office in Arizona. She had already traveled to virtually every corner of the Territory, collecting artifacts and gathering stories for her articles. As she met with old timers, she realized more and more that someone should preserve pioneer stories--and that someone would probably be Sharlot Hall. 

She continued traveling throughout the Territory and writing about people and places, even after her term as official historian ended. Her diary from a seventy-five mile journey by buckboard across the Arizona Strip from Flagstaff to Kingman eventually became C. Gregory Crampton's "Sharlot Hall on the Arizona Strip." This exciting true-adventure story is still in print. 

By 1911, Sharlot's poems had collected so many accolades that she was encouraged to compile and publish her first collection, "Cactus and Pine," which drew compliments and congratulations from throughout the U.S. and England. Some called her "Arizona's Poet Laureate." 

Sharlot's life changed considerably after her mother's death in 1912. She was needed to care for her ailing father and the growing demands of Orchard Ranch. From 1912 to 1925, she tended the garden, peddled fruit from the orchard, butchered and sold beef, finding little time or inspiration for writing. Except for a few trips to doctors in Phoenix and California, her contact with the larger world was restricted to letters and publications. Yet, during these years, she managed to help with the founding of the Smoki organization, a group of Prescott businessmen, dedicated first to promoting Prescott and eventually to preserving Native American traditions and artifacts. 

An unexpected treat came along in 1925, when Sharlot was chosen to deliver Arizona's electoral votes for Calvin Coolidge. The trip to Washington, D.C. gave her the heady opportunity to meet national dignitaries and visit museums in the east, as well as consult with doctors there about her back problems. 

Sharlot's father 's health had declined while she was gone, but she returned in time to care for him until he died in September. 

After her father's death, Sharlot went into high gear with her plans for the Governor's Mansion. She was fifty-seven and free! 

Although the Arizona Legislature had given the Governor's Mansion to the City of Prescott in 1917, nothing had been done to rehabilitate the old building. Intrepid Sharlot wrote the City Attorney asking for a life lease on the building: "I must be free to carry out my plans without hindering. I wish to be sure that my personal collection will never be moved away from Prescott. I wish absolute freedom to develop the land around the building into the most beautiful park possible." The City agreed, and gutsy Sharlot got what she wanted. 

She soon made the mansion somewhat livable and, by June 1928, had moved into an attic room, begun restoration, and welcomed her first guests. 

Eventually, thanks to federal construction projects of the 1930's, she found herself with a new museum building and a comfortable apartment to boot. 

By 1943, Sharlot had suffered several heart attacks and, at the age of 72, was admitted to the Pioneers' Home, just a day before her death on April 9. 

The quintessential Sharlot is reflected in the letter she had written her friend, Prescott's funeral director, Lester Ruffner, years earlier: 

"I do not wish a service of any sort, nor do I wish anyone beside the necessary care-taker to see my body, just wrap it in a sheet and place it in the coffin. Bury me in the plot beside my parents if it is not too much trouble, take me out before sunrise and I do not wish my friends to go with me or to feel that I am gone from among them. This is not because I do not treasure the regard of my friends or respect every form of service for the dead but when I think of the prehistoric people of this immediate region who laid their dead away so lovingly only to have them become objects of curiosity, I feel the futility of all customs and services. I know you will find it hard to yield to this wish of mine for complete privacy but you have been too good a friend not to be able to humor my last wish." 

But of course, there had to be a service, a big one. Music, flowers, and fittingly grand oratory crowded the museum building along with hundreds of friends. The Reverend Charles Franklin Parker read two of Sharlot's poems and called her, "the tap root of Arizona history." 

Governor Sidney P. Osborn, who had driven up from Phoenix for the funeral, called Sharlot, "one of the grandest characters that ever lived in our state," and concluded, "Goodbye Sharlot, we are going to miss you terribly." 

(Nancy Kirkpatrick Wright, retired librarian from Yavapai College, is active in Prescott Art Docents and Sharlot Hall Museum. She enjoys investigating the historic confluences of the arts and sciences.) 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (po0157pm)
Reuse only by permission.
By 1909, when she was appointed Territorial Historian, Sharlot had already traveled to virtually every corner of the Territory, collecting artifacts and gathering stories for her articles. As she met with old-timers, she realized more and more that someone should preserve pioneer stories..and that someone would probably be Sharlot M. Hall.