W.S. (William) Risley lived in Arizona prior to 1902, and may have been involved in mining in the Kingman area. Despite relocating back to Oregon, he maintained an interest in Arizona matters and wrote a letter in 1906 to Senator John M. Gearin of Oregon protesting the idea of Arizona and New Mexico being admitted to the Union as one State. Risley worked as a lawyer in Albany, Oregon and was Secretary/Treasurer of the Silver King Mining Company of Albany, Oregon. The collection contains a letter to and response from Senator Gearin, photocopies relating to Risley, and two checks/share certificates from the Silver King Mine.
Mrs. Joseph E. (Eliza/Lida) Thane and Hazel Cynthia Thane resided in Rucker, Arizona, Cochise County, in the year 1898. It appears they may have moved to Rucker with the aim of improving Hazel's health. Their letters are addressed Eliza's parents, the H.J. Tildens, of Niles California and describe both women's experience of Territorial Arizona.
Frank Mead worked in the office of the Superintendent for the Department of the Interior's Indian School Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His letters are responses to letters from Mrs. P.G. Gates of South Pasadena California and San Carlos, Arizona, regarding the trading post concession at Oraibi. The collection contains 3 letters and an envelope.
William E. Brooks was working as a lawyer or legal clerk in Solomonville, Arizona in Graham County, in 1904. He originally hailed from Massachusetts and indicates that he came to Arizona as a means of increasing his income. In his letters to his mother, he describes his experiences in Solomonville, gives his opinions on the aims of the Socialist party, and comments on the Mexican born residents of the area. The collection contains 2 letters from Brooks to his mother, with accompanying envelopes.
Leon f. Rosacrans was from Tecumseh, Michigan. On photo letterhead from the Kactus Klub in Morenci, Arizona, he writes to his family about taking photographs of nearby cliff dwellings and describes a fatal accident in the mine shaft.
Fred L. Ingraham, County Attorney of Yuma, was identified with the political life of Arizona for a number of years and was particularly well known for the part he took in the Constitutional Convention in 1910, having been a member of the committee which drafted the Corporation Commission provision. He was born in 1868, in Ohio, where his father, Richard Ingraham, was a merchant and farmer. His mother, Lucy Lewis Ingraham, was a descendant of one of the well-known pioneer families of that State. In 1907 he was united in marriage with Miss Inez Jacob, a daughter of one of the pioneer families of Arizona, her family having been among the early settlers of Yuma. To this union was born one daughter, Alice. The letters in this collection are to his wife Inez.
From the guide to the Arizona Territorial Correspondence Collection, 1866-1919, (Postal History Foundation, Peggy J. Slusser Memorial Philatelic Library)
