By Kathryn Reisdorfer

(This is the first part of a two-part article regarding Ann Hopkins.) 

A student of mine led into her presentation on Sharlot Hall by asking the class, "Do you remember Molly Brown in The Titanic?  Well, Sharlot Hall was like her!"  Lively and rugged, women with minds of their own-that's how people might describe Sharlot or Molly.  We often admire those unique women, and we love to hear how they thumbed their noses at social convention.  But if we look more closely, we might realize that they found it painful to swim against the current, and we might conclude that society is often kinder to "characters" from a distance than it is at close range.  This was the case with Ann Hopkins. 
 

By Jay Eby

The First Congregational Church building, at Gurley and Alarcon Streets, is a part of the East Prescott Historic District.  This building, an example of Romanesque Revival architecture in Prescott, was constructed in 1904, and nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. 

By Harley G. Shaw

Fort Whipple.  Whipple Street.  The Whipple Stage.  Whipple is a common name around Prescott.  Go west to the Colorado River and you find the Whipple Mountains.  Obviously, someone named Whipple left his name scattered around Arizona, yet we seldom hear of Whipple the man.  Who was he?  What did he do to merit renown?

By Lorri Carlson

Until a recent acquisition, the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives and Library housed very few photographs of the Hotel Vendome, one of Prescott's enduring establishments and historic structures.  The Edith Dial Collection has provided us with some valuable images of the hotel, the second family of proprietor's, and some of their guests.  With each acquisition it is important that we in the archives research the background of the newly acquired collection.  During this process a family history revealed itself, providing yet another example of the value of private contributions to public history.

By Mona Lange McCroskey

On July 11, 2000 an obituary appeared in the Courier.  "Marion N. Perkins, 76, of Camp Verde, died Saturday, July 8, 2000, at the Sedona Emergency Center, Sedona."  Marion was a member of a prominent pioneer Yavapai County ranching family, and more needs to be said about his heritage.

By Linda Luddington

An ancient pole barn stands nobly in the cottonwood-shaded sunlight of the W-Dart Ranch headquarters.  Last summer's alfalfa hay welcomes visitors with a fragrance more heady to a rancher than the costliest French perfume.  The barn seems anxious to share a story, a story of a central Arizona valley watered throughout the year from a never-drying stream.  It's a story of copper-mining wages sustaining a ranching way of life.  It's a story of a tenacious young immigrant whose fierce love for the land founded a successful ranching family, now stretching into the fourth generation.  This is the story of the Verde Valley's W-Dart Ranch and the Groseta family.

By Rob Bates

Deep within the archives of our regional history lies an itinerant pioneer soul named Albert Franklin Banta.  During a full and varied life, he came to Prescott, Arizona in 1863 from New Mexico territory, where he had joined the First California Volunteers under Major E. B. Willis, in Albuquerque, in the humble capacity of bullwhacker.  Arriving in central Arizona, they established Ft. Whipple near present-day Chino Valley.  In January 1864, Richard C. McCormick, Territorial Secretary, came to Ft. Whipple as part of Governor Goodwin's party, bringing with him a printing outfit which he had procured in Santa Fe.

By Terry Munderloh

(This is the second in a two part series) 

Not content to remain long in one place, William Bradshaw left the management of the ferry business to his older brother Isaac and gravitated to the Weaver mining district where the discoveries of fabulous gold strikes on Rich Hill were being reported.  Missing the opportunity to stake a claim on Rich Hill, he moved on to the unexplored southern portion of the Silver Mountains to prospect.

By Terry Munderloh

(This is the second part of a two part article regarding William Bradshaw.)

Not content to remain long in one place, William Bradshaw left the management of the ferry business to his older brother Isaac and gravitated to the Weaver mining district where the discoveries of fabulous gold strikes on Rich Hill were being reported.  Missing the opportunity to stake a claim on Rich Hill, he moved on to the unexplored southern portion of the Silver Mountains to prospect.

By Parker Anderson

The murder trial of James Parker was one of the most notorious criminal cases in late 19th-century Prescott.  To this day, the story of Parker (no relation to the present author) is still told and retold, with varying degrees of accuracy, by old-timers and magazines devoted to Western lore.  James Parker, commonly referred to as Fleming Parker in more recent times, was born in 1865 in Visalia, California.  He had three sisters.  His mother died while he was still a child, and his father reportedly went insane a few years later.  Parker was then raised by his grandfather, who valiantly carried on the impossible task of keeping the wild young man out of trouble. 

By Terry Munderloh

(This is the first of a two-part story of William Bradshaw) 

William David Bradshaw's exploits were well known in the mining districts of California long before he discovered the Arizona mountain, and later "mountains", which bear his name.