Trinidad Swilling

Trinidad Swilling Shumaker (April 15, 1849 – December 27, 1925), known as "The Mother of Phoenix" (Phoenix, Arizona) was a pioneer and the wife of Jack Swilling, the founder of Phoenix. Mrs. Swilling was involved in local civic activities and promoted the public recognition of her husband as founder of Phoenix. She was also involved in dispute which made the local news as to who was the first white woman to settle in the Phoenix townsite. In 1868, Swilling founded the first pioneer home in the Salt River Valley.

Early years

Trinidad Mejia Escalante was born on April 15, 1849, in Hermosillo, Mexico, a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. Her father was Ignatus Mejia. Her grandfather was a Spaniard who moved to Mexico during the Spanish Colonial period. Her mother was Petra Escalante, a Mexican national.

Arizona belonged to Mexico until the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the 1853 Gadsden Purchase clearly defined the US–Mexican boundaries and the Mexicans living within the boundaries of the new United States territory became American citizens, This included the relatives of Escalante who lived in Tucson.

In 1867, the Swillings moved once more, this time to the Salt River Valley where Black Canyon City is currently located. Mr. Swilling built a small "Rock House" which Mrs. Swilling described as her "1st House". According to an oral history account made by Mrs. Swilling, Mr. Swilling befriended the Lough family near the town of Gillett, by the junction of the Agua Fria and the New Rivers. The Loughs, who had encountered problems with their wagon and livestock leaving them stranded, received a helping hand from the Swillings. The Lough family joined the Swillings and headed to the Salt River Valley. Mrs. Swilling recalled being the first Mexican women in the Phoenix townsite, and that her friend, "Mrs. Lough" was the first white woman in Phoenix.

The Swillings claimed 160 aces in what currently is 32nd Street and Van Buren in Phoenix. There they established a farm which included an orchard and a vineyard and the Swillings became economically prosperous. They built a 10-room house which often served as a community meeting place. It was in their house that the first Catholic Mass was held in Phoenix. Father Edward Gerard of Florence would often come to Phoenix via a horse-drawn wagon to hold Catholic services at their home. image3 = Wickenburg-Wickenburg Massacre site Marker-1.jpg caption3 = Vicinity marker where the Wickenburg Massacre took place.

Mr. Swilling continued prospecting in the Bradshaw Mountains. The family moved to Gillett where they owned various businesses. Among the businesses that the Swillings had an active interest in was the "Gillett Real Estate" where they sold lots ranging from $100 to $250 depending on the location, a cattle and horse ranch and a vegetable farm in partnership with L.A. Stephens. The Swillings later moved to Black Canyon City where they built a stone house and established a farm. He organized a party which built an irrigation ditch from the Aqua Fria River to their property. This provided the water he needed to raise cattle. Their house became a popular stagecoach stop and resting place for those who traveled from Prescott to Phoenix.

In the spring of 1878, word reached the Swillings that Colonel Jacob Snively, a family friend, had been killed by the Apaches in the Wickenburg Mountains near the peak called White Picacho. Mrs. Swilling suggested that Mr. Swilling and two companions, which included Andrew Kirby and George Monroe, founder of Castle Hot Springs, go on a trip to recover and rebury the remains of their old friend.

On April 17, Mr. Swilling and his two companions went on their Snively exhumation trip. Mr. Swilling and his companions returned to Gillett after exhuming Col. Snively's remains at White Picacho Mountains on April 23. He was seen walking the streets of Gillett with a bag or sack containing the remains of Col. Snively. Mr. Swilling buried the bones of Col. Snively on his property next to his house.

Three hooded men, one tall, one medium-size, and one short, robbed a stagecoach near Wickenburg. Six men, including the driver, were shot and killed. Among them was Frederick Wadsworth Loring, a young writer from Boston who had been sent as a correspondent for Appleton's Journal. The incident became known as the Wickenburg Massacre. On one occasion Mr. Swilling and his friends were in a bar discussing the incident and the description of the murderers, Mr. Swilling jokingly mentioned that he and his friends matched the description. Mr. Swilling and his companions became suspects in the robbery.

Marriage to Henry Schumaker

After Mr. Swilling died, Mrs. Swilling returned to Gillett for a few months and subsequently sold her holdings in that town and moved to Phoenix in 1879. She was in a bad financial situation after Mr. Swillings' death and was destitute when she arrived in Phoenix. She found work as a seamstress to support her children. She met Henry Schumaker, a German immigrant and on September 28, 1887, she married him (she was then referred to as Mrs. Schumaker). Together they had three children. Henry Shumaker committed suicide on March 11, 1896. He was buried in the City Loosley Cemetery which is located inside the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park.

Mrs. Schumaker donated her mother's rosary, prayer book and a lace shawl to the Arizona Museum. Mrs. Schumaker also donated to the museum a rifle which once belonged to Mr. Swilling and whose name had been engraved by the makers.

In her later years Mrs. Schumaker was involved in a dispute as to who was the first white woman in Phoenix. According to Mrs. Schumaker:

The dispute made the local news and several early settlers rushed to support her and the Phoenix newspapers stated:

On one occasion Mrs. Ethel Clark, who was the chairwoman of the Historic Spots and State Historian of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Mrs Schumacher were out at the Park of the Four Waters together. Among the subjects which they discussed was the responsibility that Mrs. Clark took upon herself for having the body of Charles Debrille Poston moved in 1925, from a cemetery in Phoenix to Poston's Butte in Florence, Arizona. That was when Mrs. Schumacher told Mrs. Clark

Mrs. Clark then reaffirmed her promise that the Maricopa Chapter of the D. A. R. would do something in memory of Jack Swilling.

On December 27, 1925, Trinidad Swilling Schumaker died in her home in Phoenix of liver cancer. Her funeral services were held in the Saint Mary's Basilica and she was buried in St. Francis Catholic Cemetery in Phoenix.

On Thursday afternoon, February 19, 1931, the Maricopa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in a simple ceremony with the presence of Arizona Governor George W. P. Hunt, unveiled and dedicated to the memory of Jack and Trinidad Swilling, a fountain which stands in the park directly in front of the courthouse building in Phoenix. The fountain has a small bronze plaque with the following inscription "In memory of Lieut. Jack W. Swilling, 1831–1878, who built the first modern irrigation ditch, and Trinidad, his wife, 1850–1925, who established in 1868 the first pioneer home in the Salt River Valley."