Fannie M. Perkins was born on April 7, 1897, at Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas, the daughter of Marion Alexander and Harriet Annie (York) Perkins. She was the first of three surviving sisters and three surviving brothers. Her family came to the Arizona Territory in November 1900 and settled on a group of ranches that later became the town of Perkinsville, Yavapai County. She was tutored at home and studied at area grade schools until she went to Temple Normal School, from which she graduated in 1917. A brief mention of Fannie in the Arizona Republic (November 15, 1954) causes some confusion regarding her education. The paragraph indicates that her parents visited their daughter, “Miss Fannie Perkins, a student in the Tempe Normal School.” Did she return there for additional classes? Fannie moved from one town to another in Yavapai County between 1900 and 1965. While her parents lived in Perkinsville, she was tutored at home but also attended the Thompson Valley School (1905) and the Groom Creek School (1909). In 1910 she lived with her family in Jerome Junction and attended school there (1910-1911). In the 1918 Yavapai County Great Register Fannie is listed as a Democrat, living in Perkinsville. The 1920 Federal Census finds her still in Perkinsville. In 1940 she lived with her brother Marion N. Perkins (Nick) in Chino Valley Village. For a short period of time she resided in Prescott, Yavapai County. The 1948 Prescott City Directory lists her as a resident of the Hassayampa Hotel. The 1953-1954 Directory shows her residing at 122 E. Gurley St. According to the Arizona Republic (January 5, 1933), Fannie and her brothers Nicholas M. Perkins and Robert E. Perkins filed articles of incorporation in Chino Valley for the Perkinsville Cattle Company. “The company has a capital stock of 1,000 shares without nominal par value.” Fannie also owned the Bar P Ranch (specific location unknown). Children loved Fannie, and she was deeply interested in them. This affinity led to the study of family history and made her an avid genealogist. Fannie never married. She devoted herself to work with the Jessie Griswold Club of the Blind in Prescott and was secretary of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association (founded 1904) and a member of the Yavapai Cowbelles (founded 1949), an auxiliary to the Yavapai Cattle Growers Association. She was also active in church work at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and with the annual Cowboy Camp Meetings, which were held on her brother Robert’s Deep Well Ranch. Fannie died on March 12, 1965, in a rest home in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Prescott. Her mother, Annie York Perkins, and her sisters-in-law, Evelyn and Laura, are also represented in the Territorial Women’s Memorial Rose Garden. Donor: Yavapai Cowbelles Photo Located: Perkins Family Collection, MS-100 Updated: 4/6/2018, Tom Collins
