HerStory

Sharlot Mabridth Hall

She was born on October 27, 1870 in Barbour County, Kansas, “When I was twelve my parents moved from Barbour County, Kansas (in which state they had been among the earliest pioneers), to Yavapai County, Arizona.  We started on the third day of November with two covered wagons drawn by four horses each.  I rode a little Texas pony and drove a band of horses.

We followed the old Santa Fe Trail nearly all the way.  In many places the deep ruts worn by the old caravans could still be seen; rock cliffs were marked by names, painted or cut into the stone, and all along the roadside were sunken graves, mostly unmarked and nearly obliterated. Often I would slide out of my saddle, as I drove the band of young horses behind the wagons, and try to read and brace up with rocks some rotting bit of board that once told who rested there.”

The family settled on lower Lynx Creek, just outside of Prescott Arizona. Her education was informal but her mother taught her to love literature.  She began writing poetry when she was twelve and progressed to short stories and historical articles. When she was 30, she became editor of Out West Magazine.  

In 1909 she became the first woman to hold public office in the Arizona Territory, serving as Arizona’s historian. In 1928 she purchased the Old Governor’s Mansion in Prescott and moved in with her extensive collection of Arizona artifacts opening it as a museum.  She also traveled extensively giving lectures on Arizona history. Her dream, The Sharlot Hall Museum continues as a state institution.  In 1981 she was named to the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame for her contribution to the literature and history of Arizona.