Oral History
Interviewee:  Elizabeth Poley (b. 01/15/1896 - d. 11/22/1979)
Interviewer:  Ceil Rix with Sharlot Hall Museum
Audio Number: 106
Duration: 00:42:23
Date:  January 25, 1978
Acquisition Number:  ACC# 2021.100
Topics Discussed:  Groom Creek Post Office; Edward J. Poley; Mercy Hospital; Skull Valley; Governor George P. Hunt; Mayer; Groom Creek; Bollerena; Goodwin Post Office; Hooper Post Office; Mr. Roach; Senator; Altamire; Mayer; Prescott; Globe; Belle Spence; Veteran’s Hospital; Arizona Pioneer’s Association; Elsie and Burt Evans; Copenhagen, Denmark; Crown King; Colorado River; Reverend E. D. Wycoff, First Congregational Church; William Pool; Sharlot Hall; Palace Station; Goodwin; Ora Belle; Camp Verde; General Crook; Skull Valley; Gail and Delia (Gist) Gardner; Orchard Ranch; Indian scouts; Fort Whipple; Johnson and Pool children; Mrs. Keegan; Alfred & Matilda Spence; Prescott Hotel. Arizona Statehood.

Time         Topic /Subject Discussed
00:00:27    Elizabeth born in Prescott
00:00:31    Father ran Post Office in Groom Creek
00:00:46    7-8 miles beyond Groom Creek
00:00:56    Husband’s name Edward J. Poley
00:01:04    Elizabeth born in Prescott
00:01:43    Born at old Mercy Hospital
00:02:10    Grove Street
00:02:24    82 years old
00:02:35    Born on January 15, 1886
00:02:51    Lived in Prescott all her life
00:03:24    Father had a ranch near Skull Valley
00:03:55    Married husband and ran cattle ranch
00:04:04    Cattle permit
00:04:19    Husband was disabled veteran
00:04:33    Sold ranch
00:04:50    Lived in Prescott about 10 years when he died
00:05:02    Bought lot and built home
00:05:14    Worked in grocery stores and bakeries in Prescott when she was young
00:05:27    Governor George P. Hunt
00:05:46    Attended school in Mayer
00:05:53    Attended High School in Prescott
00:06:12    Old High School on Gurley Street
00:06:17    All children born in Prescott
00:06:27    Groom Creek
00:06:40    Old Post Office is not standing now
00:07:08    Bollerena
00:07:18    Lived there during the summer
00:07:34    Mail came from Prescott
00:07:47    Horse and mail sack
00:07:48    Locked mail sack
00:08:09    Lock with a key. Post Office had to have a key to open
00:08:20    Goodwin Post Office
00:08:33    Post Office 7 miles beyond Groom Creek – Hooper Post Office
00:08:48    Mr. Roach
00:08:57    Miner’s mail
00:09:06    Only post office
00:09:14    Groom Creek different settlement
00:09:46    Senator, Altamire
00:10:10    No other children around
00:10:29    Claude Cline
00:10:48    Came for supplies with father
00:11:02    Mayer, Prescott
00:11:10    2-3 sisters
00:11:13    1 brother
00:11:31    Brother – living, Sister Jean
00:11:35    Sister Rose Pattison living in Globe, AZ
00:11:44    Sister Myrtle Osburn lives with Elizabeth
00:12:01    Mother – Belle Spence
00:12:33    1922 - Mother joined Arizona Pioneers Association
00:12:35    Joined in Phoenix
00:12:44    Prescott growing up – Horse and Buggies
00:12:52    Streetcar
00:12:59    Ran from the Veteran’s Hospital
00:13:29    Horse barns
00:13:36    Aunt Elsie Evans
00:13:51    Uncle Burt Evans
00:14:57    Elsie still living – 93 years old
00:15:11    Father came with uncle from Copenhagen, Denmark
00:15:27    Traveled around the country
00:15:38    Father went back to Denmark, finished school and returned to the United States
00:15:47    Mother was born back East
00:16:08    Father married Mother after she arrived in Prescott
00:16:38    Father was a miner in Prescott
00:16:52    Crown King
00:17:05    Father developed a mule train
00:17:19    Had 100 head of mules
00:17:33    Mined, took ore out of mine
00:17:45    Bagged ore, Father packed on mules
00:17:46    Gold and any kind of ore
00:17:57    Gold, silver and copper
00:18:02    Packed down to Colorado River
00:18:07    Shipped out by boat
00:18:20    Met and married mother
00:18:42    12/30/1889 - Father William Johnson and Mother Belle Spence married
00:19:04    Reverend E. D. Wycoff
00:19:17    First Congregational Church, Prescott, AZ
00:19:42    Stepfather William Pool
00:19:52    Father died 
00:20:27    Crown King, located past Groom Creek and Palace Station
00:20:38    Goodwin
00:20:42    Ora Bell
00:20:44    Crown King
00:20:51    Railroad at Crown King
00:21:06    Pack train   -  father rode one mule and led pack train
00:21:12    Packed load on mules, horses or burros
00:21:23    Packed to Colorado River, loaded onto boats and shipped off
00:21:27    Ferry boat
00:22:15    Elizabeth had childhood diseases at Crown King
00:22:35    No hospital in 1890’s
00:22:46    Prescott had houses scattered around
00:23:05    Went to meetings at Sharlot Hall
00:23:20    State meetings
00:23:31    Gathering
00:23:29    Family knew Sharlot Hall
00:24:05    Sharlot Hall lived between Prescott and Mayer (Orchard Ranch)
00:24:37    Sharlot Hall Museum
00:24:47    Elizabeth knew Gail Gardner
00:24:57    Gardner’s were ranch neighbors 5 miles down the road
00:25:17    Had telephone in Skull Valley
00:25:15    Ranger station
00:25:54    Gail Gardner residing at the Pioneer Home
00:26:16     Married Delia Gist
00:27:11    Bulena
00:27:36    Sometimes Bulena was home
00:27:48    Mother and  Father separated
00:27:51    Father kept place with Post Office
00:29:12    Mother remarried Mr. Pool from Omaha, Nebraska
00:28:12    Big, tall man with a mustache
00:28:27    Pictures of early childhood
00:28:48    Later, father worked for Government
00:29:05    General Crook
00:29:18    Used pack mules to pack General Crook’s supplies and his supplies
00:29:25    Went all through Arizona
00:29:32    Phoenix and Globe
00:29:37    Elizabeth has a sister in Globe
00:29:40    Camp Verde
00:29:46    Up in the mountains locating Indians
00:29:50    Government had given ground
00:30:02    Furnished ground  and teepees
00:30:06    Indian scouts scattered all around
00:30:15    Father followed General Crook with pack mules
00:30:30    Sometimes stationed at Fort Whipple
00:30:31    Stable and barns
00:30:43    Rebuilt stable and barns
00:31:00    Rounded up Indians scattered in the hills
00:31:05    Indians “scared to death of the white man” 
00:31:13    Afraid of being killed
00:31:28    Took in Indian “bucks” and trained them
00:31:31    Catch up with Indians
00:31:39    Told didn’t want to kill them
00:31:40    Wanted to put on land
00:32:01    Father convinced Indians to go to the land
00:32:53    Grew up more with Father than Mother
00:32:58    Stayed with Father for school
00:33:02    Father’s favorite
00:33:19    3 Johnson children and 3 Pool children
00:33:28    Sister Bertha (Pool) lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota
00:33:48    Sister Rose Pool
00:34:04    Sister Jean Pool
00:34:15    Bertha, Jean and Rose Pool
00:34:24    Johnson Children – Elizabeth, Myrtle and William
00:34:41    Rose lives in Globe
00:35:40    Father packed ore from the mines
00:35:56    Mother went along and rode horse
00:36:08    Ahead of mule train
00:36:40    Rode bell mule – pack mules followed
00:36:57    Several years, no children
00:37:14    Mail stage to Prescott
00:37:53    Hospital
00:38:06    Mrs. Keegan
00:38:17    Goose Flat (?)
00:38:32    Big square house
00:38:45    Stayed with Father at Bulena
00:38:39    Rode stage to town when sick
00:39:02    Stage hauled supplies and furniture
00:39:07    Stage would come in the morning around 9 am
00:39:18    Got  on stage and went to town
00:39:28    Stayed at Prescott Hotel
00:39:41    Changed to rooming house
00:39:58    Grandma Spence at Palace Station
00:40:29    Big log house
00:40:45    Myrtle
00:40:53    Upstairs
00:41:08    Palace Station is now quarters for the Forest Service
00:41:10    During the summertime has caretaker there
00:41:17    Grandfather Alfred Spence
00:41:24    Died in  1908
00:41:35    Grandfather built Palace Station
00:41:38    Came from back  East
00:41:48    Took weeks to drive to Arizona
00:42:02    1912 – Arizona became a state
00:42:30    State capital
00:42:40    Palace Station was a road station and post office
00:42:51    Stage came from Prescott
00:42:53    Grandma furnished the meals
00:43:00    Grandma Matilda Spence
00:43:33    Elizabeth Matilda (Johnson) Poley
00:43:41    Grandma Spence had 4-5 daughters and 2-3 boys
00:43:53    Lived at Palace Station
00:44:05    Chinking log house
00:44:17    Big, enormous pine trees
00:44:51     Buckets of water poured in the troughs
00:45:13    Big barrels for horses
00:45:28    Big place for ice
00:45:43    Wonderful meals
00:46:15    Washing machine
00:46:16 – 00:47:23    Silence to the end