Description

Group photo of the Prescott History Study Club, founded in the spring of 1891. The women met once a week. They studied the history of different nations, wrote papers on historical characters, read and commented on contemporary poems, and shared interesting news items. This club was composed of five women that met for nine years at one of their homes.  This club was an example of outstanding, forward-looking women who associated in groups and took the initiative for civic improvement and cultural advancement in their local community. This club was the precursor to the Monday Club, an ongoing respected and recognized Prescott women's group.  Seated from left to right: Mrs. F. A. Tritle, Mrs. R. H. Burmister, Mrs. Louisa F. Wilson; Mrs. John C. Herndon (daughter of Louisa Wilson). Standing: Mrs. Hugo Richards.

Mrs. F. A. Tritle or Jane Catherine “Jennie” (Hereford) Tritle (b. 1840 – d. 1925) was born in Independence, Missouri, on May 30, 1840, the daughter of Sarah C. S. Foote and Francis Harrison Hereford. Jennie was the granddaughter of Governor Henry S. Foote of Mississippi. On October 16, 1862, she married Frederick Augustus Tritle in Sacramento, California. They came to the Arizona Territory a year-and-a-half before her husband was appointed Governor of Arizona Territory in 1882. He served until 1885. Jennie and Frederick had five children: Jane Catherine "Kate" (Mrs. Eugene) Spencer, Frank Hereford, Frederick Augustus Jr., John Stewart, and Harry Russell. She died March 13, 1925 in Webster Grove, Missouri and is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St.Louis, Missouri.

Mrs. R. H. Burmister (d. 1937) or Elma T. Burmister was the daughter of the late Justice Tolar of Alabama’s supreme court. She was the second wife of R. H. Burmister (d. 1927) who was engaged with his father-in-law in the Bashford-Burmister company in Prescott, Arizona. They had no children. Mrs. Burmister died January 14, 1937 in Unadilla, Georgia at the home of her sister, Mrs. J. M. Holland.

Mrs. Louisa F. Wilson (b. 1820 – d. 1900) was born in 1820 in Kentucky. She married Charles Francis Wilson, a merchant, in Missouri, but by the 1860 Missouri Federal Census, he is no longer mentioned. They had one daughter, Florence. Louisa came to Prescott in 1898 and made her home with her daughter. She died March 20, 1900 and is buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Prescott.

Mrs. John C. Herndon or Florence May (Wilson) Herndon (b.1852 – d.1932) was born May 10, 1852, to Charles Francis and Louisa Elizabeth Wilson in Mount Vernon, Missouri. She was married to John Clark Herndon (b. 1849 – d. 1906), an attorney and partner with the law firm, J. J. Hawkins and T. J. Norris, in Prescott. In 1883, Florence and John traveled to the Arizona Territory and then to Prescott. They had four children:  Charles Wilson (b. 1877- d.1927), Emile Clare (b. 1880 - d. 1890), Andrew Clark (b. 1882 -  d. 1887), and Florence (b. 1889 – d. 1981). Only one survived Florence, her daughter Florence, who married David Wentworth Russell. Mrs. Herndon died July 31, 1932 and is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery mausoleum in Prescott.

Mrs. Hugo Richards or Emma Towne was married to Hugo Richards, who was the president of the Bank of Arizona in Prescott and co-owner of the bank with Edmund W. Wells and Wil Hazeltine.

Mrs. F. A. Tritle, Mrs. Louisa F. Wilson, and Mrs. John C. Herndon are each memorialized in the Sharlot Hall Museum’s Territorial Women’s Memorial Rose Garden. More information for each of them is on the Sharlot Hall website.

Sources: Sharlot Hall Museum’s Territorial Women’s Memorial Rose Garden write-ups; obituary for Mrs. Burmister in Sharlot Hall files.