Calabazas & the Penningtons of Arizona

[Vulture]

The old mission at Calabazas continued to be used in various ways for many years after being abandonded by the Catholic Church. It was occupied by the Pennington family in 1858. Earlier it had been a ranching HQ for Sonoran governor Manuel Gandara who built additiions on the old church. After the Gadsden purchase U S Army Major Enoch Steen established camp Moore there & then moved the post to Ft Buchanan on Sonoita creek. A U S customs house was established there when the Penningtons cohabitated in 58'.

The Penningtons were a family of 14 enroute to the California gold fields when daughter Larcena became ill near what is now Benson & they sought medical aid at Ft Buchanan. Father Elias liked the land & decided to stay in the area.

At Calabazas they had to carry water up a steep trail from the river. Jane Pennington described the house they lived in as built around a courtyard containing an arrastra. While the family stayed at the hacienda brother Jack returned with his friend Hank Smith. They had been working at the Overland stage station at Gila Bend. One can imagine the many Penningtons sitting around the courtyard overlooking the river listening to the youths tell of their recent escape from Indians.

While there Hank took the enticing pay of $5 a day from the customs house to ride the line on lookout for smugglers & Indians. Southern Arizona was so isolated that Sonora was often the only source of supplies for impoverished Americans struggling to survive.

Calabazas in 1913, looking much as when the Penningtons were there.

Larcena Pennington

Jack Pennington, (L) & Hank Smith,(R)

Mary Frances,(L) & Amanda Jane Pennington,(R)

[Vulture]

Detail of the 1913 picture. While cropping it I noticed two people I hadn't seen before. Theres a woman sitting between the sitting man at center & the woman in the white dress at right, (with a little dog). Theres also a man sitting on the ground at left.

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[Vulture]

A couple more of the recent shots.

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[Joel]

Way cool! We're finally starting to add flesh to those old bones in Santa Cruz County!

[Norman Johnson]

OK, my bad. I am gaining a vast appreciation of you guys. I spent this last week in a cabin in The San Jacinto's of CA, two feet of snow, no work down at the shop in Costa Mesa, (like that story hasn't been told) just me and my dog, Gunner.

I have already read, Ghosts of the Glory Trail, and Sovereigns of the Sage. This last week has been devoted to Ghosts of the Adobe Walls. So WOW!

Joel, I have this mental picture of those photo's you took on the San Pedro, the adobes and mine sites, and Vulture seems to know a lot of history that is not in Nell Murbarger's book.

I am going to visit Arizona this year. I am already trying to figure out what silver chloride looks like...black? malleable?

The sad thing is that Murbarger could make a living visiting and photographing and writing about those old ghost towns and today, you guys don't get paid for all the great work you do.

But I am becoming a huge fan of Arizona history. And a big fan of Nell Murbarger and a big appreciator of the modern AZ. ghostowners---you guys. Kudos.

NJ

[Vulture]

Thanks NJ, glad you enjoy the posts. Arizona has a lot of history & as an Arizonan I am full of it. Seriously though, the Spanish were here 80 years before the pilgrims hit the east coast.

I am a huge fan of Nell as well, "Ghosts of the adobe walls" is the first book I read on GT'n. She got the bug at exactly the right time. There was so much to see 50 years ago. Nell's gone now but Joel gets me off the couch now & then.

You have certainly covered a lot of territory there in California. You should post more. You've been to some great places.

Where will you be visiting when you come to Arizona?

It looks like a pretty good spot you found to catch up on your reading. That couple feet of snow will seem awfully nice to us desert rats in a couple of months.

Thanks for the kind words & you take care.

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[Joel]

Thanks. There is so much out here that has been long neglected and forgotten.

[mellison0107]

I want to explore more of Tucson, and my ancestors who settled there. I am a descendant of Wm Fisher Scott and Larcena Pennington Page Scott. My great-uncle, Robert H Forbes, provided a book on the Penningtons, but neglected any informations on the Scotts. Any information you have on them would be most appreciated. Thanks!

[Vulture]

Hi Mellison,
What an amazing family you come from. I have been fascinated by the Penningtons for years & Fisher Scott & Robert Forbes are important to Arizona history as well. I've read the Forbes book & it is a good start but as you say doesn't include the whole story. There is a book that does, it is one of the best histories I have read. "With their own blood", link to the Amazon listing here;
http://www.amazon.com/Their-Own-Bloo...3248587&sr=1-1

As complete a history as will ever be written of the Penningtons, Scotts life with Larcena, and an indispensable account of life in southern Arizona in it's earliest American period using Larcena as the central character.

Here is a couple of shots of the Penningtons stone cabin on the Santa Cruz river about a mile north of the border I visited about 6 years ago. It's the same cabin as pictured in the Forbes book. Elias really knew how to build to last.

Well please tell us a little about yourself, where you live & some family stories would be great to hear.

Glad you found this site, I've posted other threads on southern AZ history & the Penningtons here.

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[mellison0107]

I've been trying to locate the origin of Larcena's 2nd husband, William Fisher Scott. Apparently, he was born in Scotland in circa 1832, and married Larcena in 1870. He was the father of William Pennington Scott, my great grandfather. My grandfather was his son, William Vernon Scott, who was adopted by Georgie Scott Forbes and Robert H Forbes, and changed his name to Pats Henry Forbes when he joined the army. Pats committed suicide in 1935, leaving my grandmother with two boys, Robert H Forbes and Ernest Lee Forbes, and a daughter, Susan Patricia Forbes. Any information you can help me locate about either of the Scotts would be awesomel. Tracing William Fisher's parents would be very helpful. Thanks for your diligence in this history!