Scholefield Family Tree
Remember that Google is your friend. Try a phrase like — “James A Moore” Arizona pioneer — and you discover the following facts:
James A. Moore and Larkin W. Carr came into possession of the stage station in Maricopa Wells in 1870.1 It was the largest station on the road between Yuma and Tucson. One website compared the station to a mini-mall because it held a store, a blacksmith, a restaurant…2 This site also stated that Moore’s twin daughters, Susan and Clara, would sing to travellers during dinner.
Information is also available about one of the names which is familiar to us from the censuses and our wonderings about Matilda’s marriages. Sarah Jane Crampton’s marriage to Charles H. Kenyon was held in Phoenix on 27 Nov 1872.3 And a biographical article about him is posted in the USGenWeb Archives. He was a pony express rider, a merchant, a cattleman and lived in Globe from 1879 until his death in 1906.4 This article states that he and Sarah were the first white couple married in Phoenix and provides the answers to our questions when it reports that Matilda J. was married first to a John V. Crampton and they had three children: Mary (Henry) Fitzgerald, John F. Crampton, and Sarah J. (Charles) Kenyon. Her maiden name is reported as Burnette, and she travelled with her parents to California in 1850. After Crampton’s death which is reported here as 1856, she married James Moore in San Bernardino by whom she had an additional three children: Susie, Clara (George) Schofield, and J. Arthur Moore. James Moore reportedly lost a fortune in his unsucessful mining operations and died in San Francisco. The article also lists Sarah Kenyon’s four children.
An article about Susan’s husband Charles T. Connell is also available. Connell was a sucessful miner and politician.5 He married Susan A. Moore on 20 May 1882, and they had three childen.
Removing the quotes from around the name on our search leads us to the Arizona Pioneer Biographies by Senator Carl Hayden. The typewritten biography of James Armour Moore states that he was born 4 Apr 1825.6 This source confirms that she had married previously, and he adopted the three children by her first marriage. Her maiden name is spelled Burnett by this source. They moved to Arizona in 1863 where he was a merchant and miner. He also held public offices. He died 18 Jul 1883 and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco. At this point I slapped my forehead because I was impressed by the coincidences that are present in this world. I know what happened to this cemetery because my great-grandmother’s stillborn brother was buried there. The cemetery no longer exists because San Francisco lawmakers decided that cemeteries were no longer allowed inside of city limits.7 All remains from this cemetery were reportedly relocated to Cypress Hill in Colma. Now I have two people to find.
We now have a basic family sketch of Clara’s parents and siblings.
1. Thomas Edwin Farish, History of Arizona, 8 volumes (San Francisco: Filmer Brothers Electrotype Company, 1915-1918), 6: 66; electronic text, Southwest Electronic Text Center, University of Arizona (http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/swetc : accessed 13 Sep 2008).
2. John Arthur, “Maricopa Wells and the Butterfield Overland Stage” (http://www.sierraestrella.com/wells.html : accessed 13 Sep 2008).
3. Farish, 6: 208-209.
4. USGenWeb Archives (http://files.usgwarchives.org/az/gila/bios/kenyon.txt : accessed 13 Sep 2008), “Charles H. Kenyon,” citing Arizona, the Youngest State, p. 485.
5. USGenWeb Archives (http://files.usgwarchives.org/az/pima/bios/connell.txt : accessed 13 Sep 2008), “Charles T. Connell,” citing History of Arizona, 1896.
6. Department of Archives & Special Collections, “Arizona and Southwestern Index,” database and images, Arizona State University Libraries (http://info.lib.asu.edu/spmi.htm : accessed 13 Sep 2008); Biography of James Armour Moore, item no. 4879; citing “Hayden Arizona Pioneer Biographies Collection” compiled by Senator Carl Hayden.
7. Western Neighborhoods Project, “Laurel Hill Cemetery” (http://www.outsidelands.org/laurel_hill.php : accessed 14 Sep 2008).