By Mick Woodcock

What follows are excerpts from articles about Christmas in Prescott from selected years during the 1870s.  We hope this will give you an idea of what our predecessors thought of the holiday and how they observed it.

By Al Bates

When Arizona’s third territorial governor, Anson P. K. Safford, arrived at the Territorial Capital of Tucson in July 1869 he was met both by an enthusiastic citizenry and by a legal firestorm that threatened extended chaos in the territory.  The eventual solution would include giving the new governor temporary dictatorial powers.

By Al Bates

The portability of Arizona Territory’s seat of government—Prescott to Tucson to Prescott to Phoenix—earned it the nickname of “Capital on Wheels.”

By Al Bates

This article ends the Days Past sesquicentennial series covering Arizona Territory’s earliest two years from a Prescott perspective.

The first Arizona Territorial Legislature adjourned on November 10, 1864, leaving behind a solid record of accomplishment headed by adoption of the Howell Code, a comprehensive set of laws for the territory.  A major part of that effort was establishment of the territory’s original four counties and providing for their administration.

By Elisabeth Ruffner

Among the myriad counties created in the United States over the earliest years of this democratic republic, Yavapai County in the Arizona Territory was the largest ever devised.  Of the original 65,000 square miles designated when Arizona Territory was organized, other entirely new counties were later carved out.

By Brad Courtney

Part one of this article told of the rise of Prescott’s first effective lawman, night-watchman William Jennings.  His downfall would be more rapid than his ascension.

By Brad Courtney

Prescott has its share of legendary lawmen.  Its first lawman of note was most likely William Jennings, a transplanted Englishman who was not a marshal, sheriff, or chief of police, but a night-watchman.  A case can indeed be made for Jennings’s induction into Prescott’s “legends club”.

By Mary Melcher, Ph.D.

During the 19^th century, a woman’s death in childbirth occurred about 65 times more often than in the late twentieth century, according to historian Judith Leavitt.  In the rural West and Arizona Territory, giving birth was especially hazardous due to a lack of competent attendants, long distances between ranches, farms and towns, as well as poor roads.  Women relied on a variety of people to help them through this potential ordeal, including midwives, doctors, neighbors, relatives and even their husbands, who were called into service when others were not available.

By Jan MacKell Collins copyrighted 2014

By 1931, the boom-bust-boom town of Jerome had seen its fair share of shady ladies. These “enterprising” women rode the carnal rollercoaster of the city’s economy as miners came and went. There was plenty of violence within Jerome’s red light district even then, and Sammie Dean’s murder has remained an especially intriguing and tragic story.

By Al Bates

This article is one of a series that will appear in this space during this year on historic events relating to the Arizona Territory’s Sesquicentennial and the founding and establishment of Prescott as the Territory’s first capital.

The first Arizona Legislature convened at Prescott in a floorless hall rented from Sheriff Van C. Smith, on September 26, 1864, but because of the late arrival of some members, it was adjourned from day to day until September 29.  Both houses then chose their officers including Coles Bashford as President of the Council and W. Claude Jones as Speaker of the House.