If These Walls Could Talk - How This Project Got Started

I first became aware of the Arizona Pioneers' Home in the 1970’s when my paternal grandmother, Jane Hutchinson Pendley, went to live there in her final years.  

Then in January 2020, I had an opportunity to visit the place with my cousin, Gloria James, to see a couple of her cousins who lived there.  As we were leaving from that visit, we had a conversation about all the people who had lived there over the years.  I said to Gloria, “If these walls could talk can you imagine what they could tell us?”

That question stayed in my mind for several weeks.  I began to ask myself, who were the early pioneers who entered that unique institution?  As I began digging into records, I quickly went from being mildly curious to determined to learn more.

Many of the early miners, stage coach drivers, merchants, cowboys and guides who settled Arizona never married.  Even some who did take a spouse did not have children.  With no posterity to keep their legacy alive, often stories of who those early settlers were and how they lived their lives were lost over time.  Other tales of the more renowned men and women of Arizona’s early days are recorded in fragments in old newspapers, some books long out of print, and in the archives of local museums.  With some digging they can be pieced together, but are not easily accessible.

As a sociologist, and a person who has researched family histories for over 40 years, I have long been fascinated by the stories that get passed down in families.  I have given much thought to what sort of tales make up family legends that last for generations as part of kinship legacy while other experiences are passed over to fade with time.  

I believe family stories matter.  I believe even the most ordinary of lives are worthy of recording.  The more familiar I became with the stories of the early Arizona pioneers, the more I worried that some important contributions would be forgotten in another generation since they had no posterity to keep their memory alive.  I did not want that to happen.

Even for the famous early settlers it seemed appropriate to do some careful digging.  Being married to a fisherman, I know a bit about how some things can get exaggerated in the telling.  I also know that the light in which a battle is recalled depends very much on whether the one telling the story was on the winning or losing side.

When I began working on this project, I was determined to dig up as many primary sources as possible to pin down what parts of the early pioneer stories could be documented and which were merely legend.  This humble little blog is my attempt to gather together all the various bits and pieces I found in library archives, internet searches, old newspaper articles, and interviews.  It is dedicated to all the residents of the Arizona Pioneers' Home, past and present.  May they never be forgotten.