Cynthia Maria (Miller) Sanders was born on December 28, 1858 in Princeville, Peoria County, Illinois to Jane Maria (Reeves) and Jacob Leroy Miller. Her father was a freighter and left the family for long periods. Jacob and Sam, his brother, were part of the Walker Party, which prospected in Yavapai County, Arizona Territory in 1863.

Harriet E. (Sedgwick) Sands was born on March 6, 1906, in Waterloo, Blackhawk County, Iowa, to James Elliott and Carrie Amanda (Cobb) Sedgwick.  She attended West Waterloo High School and was a graduate of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Greene County, Ohio, and of Iowa State College (June 1928) in Ames, Story County, Iowa.  In the year 1926 she was initiated into Chapter Z of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a philanthropic organization dedicated to the advancement of education for young women, in Waterloo.

Lillian Belle (Welty) Satathite, the daughter of Willie (Rhodes) Welty  and James W. Welty, was born on February 17, 1884, near Barksdale, on Cedar Creek in Texas. The Welty family moved to Socorro County, New Mexico, about 1900. There Lillian married William J. Satathite, a rancher, on January 18, 1906.

Leonita, “Nita” (Gilardi) Savoini, daughter of Eliseo and Margherita (Mariani) Gilardi, was born in Bre, Lugano, Switzerland, on October 30, 1905. Both parents were of Italian descent. 

Nita’s father prospected in the Arizona Territory as a young man and then returned to Switzerland, where he met Nita’s mother.  After Eliseo and Margherita married, Eliseo left his wife and baby Leonita to return to Arizona.

Minerva (Denney) Scarborough was born in Jackson City, Madison County, Tennessee, on February 4, 1837, to Charles Crockett and Mary Polly (Bryan) Denney.  Nothing is known of her childhood or teenage years.

She married William B. Scarborough (b. 1827 in North Carolina) in 1858 (no record of the marriage exists), and the couple settled in Spencer, Van Buren County, Tennessee, where William was a merchant by profession.

Sedona Arabella (Miller) Schnebly was born in Gorin, Scotland County, Missouri, on February 24, 1877, one of 12 children of Phillip and Amanda Scheafer (Mohr) Miller.  Her father was of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.  The Millers, devout Methodists, gave their daughter a fine education and even sent her to a finishing school.

Edith Marie (Foster) Scholey, daughter of Agnes Winterholer and Arthur A. Foster, was born on August 23, 1908, in Jerome, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory. She graduated from Prescott High School in 1926 and attended the University of Arizona. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1930 with a major in mathematics and a minor in geology, specializing in the geology of northern Arizona.   A petite woman, Edith was the first woman to be on the university rifle team.

Elizabeth Jane (Wells) Scholey, the daughter of Sara Elizabeth (Johnson) and David O. Wells, was born in White Oaks, New Mexico, on June 25, 1884. She traveled to the Arizona Territory with her family in 1888, a three-month journey in a covered wagon. In June, they arrived at the Willard Ranch in the Verde Valley, Yavapai County, where her older sister, Ila, was nursed back to health from typhoid fever that she contracted on the way. 

Mattie Elizabeth (Durbin) Scott was born on June 30, 1894, in Prescott, Yavapai Co., Arizona to Ida Sarah (Densmore) and William Waters Durbin in the home built by her father at 136 North McCormick Street, Prescott, Arizona.

Mattie was the youngest of six girls: Jessie Grace (Durbin) Powers (1881); Florence B. (Durbin) Kennedy (1883); Iva D. (Durbin) Ranney (1884); Helen Ann (Durbin) Reynolds (1888); and Alice E. (Durbin) Stewart (1890). She had two brothers, both of whom died in infancy: Francis J. Durbin (1887); and Elmer Durbin (1893). Mattie was raised and educated in Prescott, Arizona.

Elizabeth (Heckert) Shanberger was born October 8, 1818, in the Duchy of Hesse, Germany. She married John Shanberger, a native of Baden, Germany, on August 18, 1839, in Pulaski County, Arkansas.

Prior to the Civil War, they owned and operated a prosperous plantation at Mamelle, Arkansas, in the area which is now part of North Little Rock. During the conflict, they were forced to abandon their holdings and seek refuge in Texas on the banks of the Brazos River.