Description

Coles Bashford (b. 1816 – d. 1878) was born January 24, 1816, the son of William and Phoebe Bashford. He was a lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Wisconsin senate in 1853 and 1855 and became the first Republican Governor. He declined renomination and left for the Arizona Territory in 1863 with his brother, Levi (b. 1813 - d. 1899), who was to be surveyor general of the newly created territory. They arrived in the Arizona Territory in December 1863. He was the first lawyer admitted to practice in an Arizona court (May 1864, Tucson, Arizona). He held a number of offices including: first attorney general of Arizona (1864 - 1866), presiding officer of the first Territorial Council (1865), elected as an independent to the Fortieth U.S. Congress (March 4, 1867 - March 3, 1869), and served as secretary of state (1869-1876). He resigned his position and moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1876, where, with his Levi, he operated the Bashford Mercantile Store, which continued in operation until the 1940s. He and his wife Frances Adams Forman (b. 1827 - d. 1911) were married on October 12, 1847. They had seven children: Belle (who died at age 11), Edward, Elizabeth, Helen, Lillian, Margaret, and William Coles.

Frances was born in New York. Following her husband’s death, she moved to Oakland, California in 1880 to live with her daughter, Lillian (Bashford) Kirkland (Mrs. W. A. Kirkland). She died at her daughter’s home and is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California.

Coles’ son, William Coles Bashford, built what is known as the Bashford House in 1877. This home is now part of the Sharlot Hall Museum complex in Prescott, Arizona. Coles died in Prescott, April 25, 1878 and is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California.

Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Pima-Maricopa County AZ Archives Biographies, Find A Grave, Geni.