Elizabeth (Davis) Densmore was born in Morgan County, Ohio, in 1833, the daughter of Sarah (Moore) Davis of Centre, Beaver County, Pennsylvania and John Davis of Beaver, Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth married Joel “Henry” Densmore of Chelsea, Vermont, in Lee County, Iowa, on April 28, 1856.  This couple had eight children: Ida Sarah Durbin (born July 31, 1859, in Wisconsin); Henrietta Maxwell (born November 12, 1861, in Colorado); Eva B. Nesbit (born in 1863, in Colorado); Nellie Lu Chartz Crosby (born May 1866, in Colorado); Viola Gilmore (born in 1871, in Colorado); Edwin “Edward” Joel (born December 16, 1872, in Iowa); Willis (born in 1878, in Arizona) and Paul Henry (born June 15, 1880, in Arizona).

Etta Allen (Young) Middleton Martin Denny was born in Williamson Valley, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory, on September 7, 1884, the daughter of Emily Ann (Sanders/Saunders) of London, England and De Witt Clinton Young, a U.S. Army scout. She was the youngest of ten children.  The Young family settled in the Walnut Creek and Williamson Valley areas in 1878.

Harriet Eliza (Sanderson) Deming was born June 19, 1872, in Colfax, Jasper County, Iowa, the daughter of Captain John W. and Sarah N. (Coe) Sanderson. Harriet and her brother Will were orphaned at an early age and reared by maternal relatives in New England.

Prior to 1892, she married Reverend Clyde Washington Deming in Massachusetts. They moved about frequently in the New England area, which was typical of Methodist ministers in those days.

Laura Elizabeth (Theobald) Delk was born April 29, 1902, to Phoebe (Lauer) and John Nicholas Theobald in Marietta, Washington County, Ohio. When Laura was two years old, her mother became very ill with what was then known as consumption. The family doctor insisted that Phoebe move to a drier climate, so the family boarded a train to Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory.  There Phoebe made a miraculous recovery.

Alice Jane (Donovan) Curnow, the second daughter of Edward and Sarah (McNally) Donovan, was born in Whitefield, Lincoln County, Maine, on February 13, 1861. Edward, an engineer, went to California to work shortly after Alice’s birth, leaving his family in Maine, where he apparently believed his children would receive a better education.  Alice attended a convent school in Whitefield until 1873 and then attended Augusta, Maine schools.

Ida Belle “Idelle” (Grumbles) Culley was born on August 15, 1895, in White Oaks, New Mexico, to John Hemphill and Mariam R. (Brooking) Grumbles. Her father died March 10, 1896, leaving her mother a widow with seven children to rear.

Lottie (Grounds) Crozier was born near Hackberry, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory, on December 18, 1888, the daughter of Melissa (Cureton) and Bud Grounds. She was named for Lottie Cook Miller, a schoolteacher friend of her mother. Lottie had some formal education that was supplemented by home study and reading.  She married Samuel Franklin Crozier, and the couple lived on ranches in California and Colorado, as well as in Arizona.

Susan “Susie” (Mahony) Crose, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Mahony, was born on April 16, 1890, in Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory.  Her birth and weight of ten pounds were reported in the Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner on April 23, 1890.

Mary Tapscott (Dailey) Crook was born May 7, 1842, the eldest daughter of John Dailey and Ann Rebecca (Turley) in Romney, Hampshire County, West Virginia. She grew up in Oakland, Maryland, and married General George Crook on August 21, 1865, in Allegany County, Maryland. A short wedding announcement was found in the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer newspaper dated July 25, 1865: “It is announced that within the next few days Maj. General Geo. Crook, lately in command of the Department of West Virginia, will marry Miss Mollie Dailey, of Oakland, Md.”

Kate Thomson Cory was born on February 8, 1861, in Waukegan, Illinois, the daughter of James Young and Eliza Pope (Kellogg) Cory.  She was a pioneer in more than the usual sense of the word. She was indeed extraordinary. In May 1887 the New York Herald carried an article titled “PRIZES FOR FEMALE ART STUDENTS,” stating Kate T. Cory had won first prize receiving $30 in gold for her art work from the Art Department of the Cooper Union.  The following year an article in that newspaper showed her as an instructor.  As a single woman at the age of 44, she journeyed alone to the Hopi mesas of Arizona hoping to become a member of a developing artist colony.