Margaret Barney (Johnston) Born was born December 5, 1876, in Ottawa, Illinois, the daughter of James Bower and Ella (Johnson) Johnston. By 1880, the family had moved to Waterloo, Lyon County, Kansas, where her father was a farmer.
On September 1, 1891, she married New York native Charles Born, a miner, at Del Norte, Colorado. The Borns would eventually have nine children. Their first-born, Johnston August, was born on November 12, 1892. When the price of silver dropped, Charles decided to move to Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory, to search for gold. Margaret and their first child joined him in Prescott in September 1895.
She went on to have eight other children: Charles Dewey (April 27, 1898), Robert Valentine (June 15, 1900), Helen Margaret Royer (March 14, 1902), Earnest August (September 11, 1904), Fredrick Shirley (July 15, 1907), Mary Alice Heller (March 27, 1911), James Sidney (May 29, 1914) and Ralph Marvin (September 8, 1920).
The family resided for a time in a home on Lynx Creek, where Charles mined for gold at the Hidden Treasure Mine. Later they moved into Prescott, where Charles was the first mail carrier in Prescott. He also owned and operated the Elks Theater and other businesses.
Margaret was one of the pioneer women who came to the still raw town of Prescott, a housewife and mother raising nine children, several of whom became prominent Prescott citizens. She was a member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church and active in the Monday Club. She resided at 424 W. Goodwin Street.
Margaret died on August 11, 1959, and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Prescott, next to her husband Charles who died August 1, 1951. Margaret’s newspaper obituary published in the Prescott Evening Courier August 11, 1959, reported, “She was an active worker in the local charities.”
Her mother, Ella Barney (Johnson) Johnston Burns, and daughter Mary Alice (Born) Heller Noyes are also commemorated in the Territorial Women’s Memorial Rose Garden.
Donor: Dewey E. Born, December 1998
Photo Located: RGC MS-39, Box B, F-Born, Margaret
Updated: 8/29/2015, D. Sue Kissel