Jane Hutchinson
was born in Stroud, Oklahoma on March 18, 1903. While Jane was very
young, her mother, Edith Thomas Hutchinson, contracted tuberculosis, known at
the time as "consumption". Jane and her mother came West
on a train from Oklahoma in 1910 in hopes that the Arizona climate would help
Edith recover, and to have the support of Edith's family to nurse her through
her illness. Edith's widowed father, John L.V. Thomas, along with her
sister Kate and brothers John and Lou, were homesteading in Arizona at the mouth of the
West Fork of Oak Creek, in a lovely canyon just north of Sedona.
Sadly, Edith died just six weeks after they arrived in Oak Creek Canyon.
Jane remained in Arizona and was raised by her Thomas relatives. She grew up loving animals and the beauty of the canyon.
Frank L. Pendley was born in Austin, Texas on March 12, 1877. He moved to the Salt River Canyon in 1903 where he began work as a driller and powder monkey quarrying stone for Roosevelt Dam. From 1907 to 1910 he worked as miner in the Mayer-Humboldt are of central Arizona. His expertise in quarrying and mining was to prove indispensable in Oak Creek canyon. He also did work as a surveyor.
Pendley came to Slide Rock during the summer of 1907. He established squatter's rights on the undeveloped land that fall. He worked on the land in the warm months while spending winters trapping bobcats for $5.00 a skin from the Territory. By 1910 Pendley had figured out a way to build an irrigation ditch. He filed for ownership under the Homestead Act and built a cabin to begin proving his claim.
Frank Pendley became acquainted with Jane Hutchinson, the child living on the Thomas Homestead, when she was just 11 years old. He gave her a young mule as a gift. (Note - some say it was a pony, others say it was a mule. Some say she was 11, others 15. They exact details may be fuzzy...but suffice it to say that Frank Pendley was friends with the Thomas family, his neighbors up the canyon, and knew Jane well from the time she was a little girl.)
Sadly, Edith died just six weeks after they arrived in Oak Creek Canyon.
Jane remained in Arizona and was raised by her Thomas relatives. She grew up loving animals and the beauty of the canyon.
Frank L. Pendley was born in Austin, Texas on March 12, 1877. He moved to the Salt River Canyon in 1903 where he began work as a driller and powder monkey quarrying stone for Roosevelt Dam. From 1907 to 1910 he worked as miner in the Mayer-Humboldt are of central Arizona. His expertise in quarrying and mining was to prove indispensable in Oak Creek canyon. He also did work as a surveyor.
Pendley came to Slide Rock during the summer of 1907. He established squatter's rights on the undeveloped land that fall. He worked on the land in the warm months while spending winters trapping bobcats for $5.00 a skin from the Territory. By 1910 Pendley had figured out a way to build an irrigation ditch. He filed for ownership under the Homestead Act and built a cabin to begin proving his claim.
Frank Pendley became acquainted with Jane Hutchinson, the child living on the Thomas Homestead, when she was just 11 years old. He gave her a young mule as a gift. (Note - some say it was a pony, others say it was a mule. Some say she was 11, others 15. They exact details may be fuzzy...but suffice it to say that Frank Pendley was friends with the Thomas family, his neighbors up the canyon, and knew Jane well from the time she was a little girl.)
When she grew up a bit they began courting. They were married in November of 1921 in Flagstaff by the Justice of the Peace. Frank was 44 and Jane was 18.
Frank and Jane began their married life in the small wooden cabin he had built. In 1927 he built the large 2 story house that still stands on the property. The house is said to have been designed like Jane's childhood home in Oklahoma.
In that house Frank and Jane raised 9 children. They worked together, along with their children and various hired hands, to run the orchards Frank planted as their primary livelihood up until Frank's death in 1954.
Jane remained on the ranch for nine years following her husband's death, working the property with the help of various hired managers. In 1954 she asked her oldest son, Tom, to take over the management and at that time Jane moved to Cottonwood.
In her later years Jane lived with her various children at different times, taking turns with each of their families. She died in Prescott, AZ at the Pioneer Home in 1979.
After Jane's death the children became interested in selling the family property. In the early 1980's Governor Bruce Babbitt worked to acquire the ranch by creating the Arizona Park foundation. The Foundation purchased the ranch from the Pendley family in 1984. It became Slide Rock State Park in 1987.
The descendants of Frank and Jane continue to honor their legacy by gathering at the ranch for family reunions. Tom's daughter, Kathy Pendley Shaw, has played an active role in preserving the history of the ranch through the Friends of Slide Rock State Park organization.
Based on the following resources:
Friends of Slide Rock State Park - Facebook Page:
(Posted March 13, 2013)
Pendley History - Information from interviews with Tom, Joy & Nina
No comments:
Post a Comment