Isabelle (Sageman) Shull Forrest was born on September 19, 1864, in Chatham, England, the daughter of Phillip and Elizabeth Ann (Baker) Sageman (aka Woodman). She came to Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory, in 1877 with the Callen Party in a wagon train. She went to the log school on Granite Creek and attended school for two years in California. On January 4, 1879, Isabelle married John Thomas Shull, who owned the Plaza Livery Stables, located on Goodwin Street. Their children were Gideon (1881), Charles (1883), Ethel Biles (1885), Marguerite Buckley (1891), and John (1893). Isabelle always loved to walk by the big Arizona white oak tree on her way to school, so her husband built their home by the oak tree at 225 South Cortez Street. This beautiful and favored oak tree became the official Bicentennial Tree of Prescott on April 30, 1976, in celebration of the America’s Bicentennial. Isabelle was a remarkable cook and housekeeper. Many a lonely man from the mining camps ate at her table or care for through sickness by her capable hands. After John died in 1899, Isabelle continued to run the Plaza stables until 1902. She also ran a cooking school, training Chinese boys to be cooks for the mining camps. She found time for art and took painting lessons from the wife of a Fort Whipple officer. She studied and taught music, art, china painting, as well as oil and watercolor painting. Isabelle often won prizes at the Arizona State Fair. The Prescott Evening Courier newspaper of November 22, 1900, carried an advertisement wherein she was soliciting orders for her hand-painted china. Isabelle was a member of the Rebekah Lodge and Monday Club and belonged to the Episcopal Church. On May 20, 1900, Father Bennett of the Episcopal Church married Isabelle and J. C. Forrest, a Prescott lawyer. It appears that the marriage did not last because Isabelle classified herself as a widow in the 1910 Prescott census. However, J. C. lived until May 25, 1921. Isabelle died on September 9, 1934, with interment in the family plot at the Odd Fellows’ Cemetery. Her newspaper obituary published in the Prescott Evening Courier of September 10, 1934, was written by Sharlot M. Hall stating: “The multitude who received Isabelle Shull’s kindness and care will never be known – but surely when she went into the land ‘Beyond’ a goodly company were waiting to welcome her.” Isabelle’s daughter, Marguerite (Shull) Buckley, is also commemorated in the Territorial Women’s Memorial Rose Garden. Note: Furniture from the Shull home is on display in the Fremont House of the Sharlot Hall Museum. Donor: Ethel (Shull) Biles and Marguerite (Shull) Buckley, daughters Photo Located: Tyson/Shull Family Collection - PB-111, F-3, I-12 Updated: 5/29/2015; D. Sue Kissel
