Birth 2 Nov 1881 Missouri, USA
Death 5 Dec 1985 (aged 104) Florence, Pinal County, Arizona, USA
Burial Valley Memorial Park Cemetery Coolidge, Arizona
Parents
Maurice Calvin Adkins "Morris" Smith 1827–1900
Mary Jane Bristow Smith 1842–1931
Spouses
Frank Lee Dickinson 1867–1925 (m. 1899)
Ralph Alexander Marshall 1890–1966
Ralph Marshall is the son of William Marshall and Martha Ellen (Strahan) Marshall
Siblings
James Segal "Bud" Smith 1861–1955
William Edward Smith 1864–1929
Armittie Dell "Mittie" Smith Hamilton 1865–1958
Julia Sherman Smith Mahan 1868–1922
Sarah Ellen "Sallie" Smith Thompson 1869–1960
Wyatt Adkins Smith 1872–1964
Maurice Calvin Smith 1879–1960
Children
Vaudrey Samuel "Sam" Dickinson 1900–1981
Alta Mae Dickinson Spooner 1903–2002
Edward Lee "Eddie" Dickinson 1906–1968
Frank H. Dickinson 1914–1998
Helen May Dickinson Moxcey 1917-2017 (100)
With Ralph Marshall - Mattie May (Marshall) Brashears
Traveled from Missouri to the Verde Valley Arizona with the 1887 wagon train.
1887: Hulda, family settle in Valley
By Bennie Wolley 1982
Verde pioneer celebrates 101st Part 1 of 2
By Bennie Wolley 1982
Verde pioneer celebrates 101st Part 2 of 2 of 2
By Bennie Wolley 1982
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Territorial Women's Memorial Rose Garden at Sharlot Hall
HULDA (SMITH) MARSHALL
(b. 1881 – d. 1985)
Hulda Susan (Smith) Dickinson Marshall was born on November 2, 1881, in Joplin, Cedar County, Missouri, the daughter of Maurice “Morris” Calvin Adkins and Mary Jane (Bristow) Smith. Her father, who worked a rented farm in Cedar County, set out in April 1886 for the Arizona Territory with his family in a covered wagon on the Santa Fe Trail. They arrived in Flagstaff, Yavapai County, in July 1886. There an elderly man named Mahan allowed them to live on his cattle ranch near Hutch Mountain, not far from Mormon Lake and the present Mahan Mountain. He offered them an empty ranch house to live in. In September they moved south to the Verde Valley, Yavapai County, where Hulda’s father rented a house for the winter. According to Hulda, “We moved around a lot in the valley until father bought a piece of land from Mr. Calloway. This was across the river from Camp Verde.”
Eventually the whole Smith family—including Hulda’s older brothers Edward, Wyatt, Ben, and Maurice and sisters Sarah and Julia—built their home on their new homestead, within view of the bridge and library in Camp Verde. Hulda first attended school in the Middle Verde on the Verde River. Later, she attended the Squaw Peak School in Yavapai County and completed and seventh grade, according to U.S. Census records. (A feature newspaper article celebrating Hulda’s 102nd birthday claimed that she completed high school.). Hulda’s father was a member of the Dunkard Church, and his children conceivably followed him in his faith. He died at his home on April 16, 1900, of la grippe and old age.
On December 25, 1899, Hulda married Missouri-born Frank Lee Dickinson (1867-1925), a cattleman who had been courting her for some time, in Camp Verde. Frank and his family had also journeyed in a covered wagon to the Verde Valley in the late 1880s, and he became a partner in the Babbitt Cattle Co. in the early 1900s. Shortly after their marriage, Frank and Hulda lived in one of the officers’ buildings at Fort Verde. The couple had five children: Vaudrey Samuel Dickinson (b. October 4, 1900, at Fort Verde); Alta Mae (Dickinson) Spooner (b. November 11, 1903); Edward Lee Dickinson (b. February 20, 1906); Frank H. Dickinson, Jr. (b. November 20, 1914); and Helen May (Dickinson) Moxcey (b. May 14, 1917). For a few years Frank served as Deputy Sheriff of Coconino County, when his brother William was Sheriff (c. 1918). The Dickinsons moved to Cottonwood, Yavapai County, in 1920 and lived there until 1930.
About November 1923 Frank became ill with “leakage of the heart” and spent time in Clarkdale convalescing without improvement. After two years of unsuccessful treatment, Frank Dickinson died of dropsy (October 22, 1925), leaving Hulda with eleven-year-old Frank, Jr. and eight-year-old Helen to care for. He had been lauded as a man “of a genial disposition and highly regarded in his home county for honesty and integrity” (Weekly Journal-Miner, October 2, 1918, p. 6). Hulda commented in her recollections at the age of ninety-four that “Frank and I had a good life together.”
Four months after Frank’s death, on February 26, 1926, Hulda married Arizona-born Ralph Alexander Marshall (1890-1966), a son of one of the early pioneer families in the Verde Valley and a hoisting engineer in the copper mining industry. He was born and reared in Cottonwood, and he had served as a cook in the U.S. Army during World War I (1917-1919). The Marshalls had one daughter, Mattie May (Marshall) Brashears (b. August 27, 1927). In 1930 the family moved to Superior, Pinal County, Arizona, where Ralph worked in the mines. They resided there until 1950. From 1950 to 1953 they lived in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. A news article in the Arizona Republic (January 20, 1953, p. 4) reports that they “are now residents of Prescott.” In March 1953 Ralph suffered a stroke and was a patient at the Whipple Veterans Hospital in Prescott. By April he was recuperating in their home at 143 S. Marina St. They remained in Prescott through at least August 1955. Around 1959 Hulda and Ralph moved to Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico, near their daughter, Mattie May. In Albuquerque Ralph suffered an unidentified seven-year-long illness. He died there on March 10, 1966, after which Hulda lived alone and moved back to Arizona, residing in Coolidge, Pinal County, with her daughter Alta Mae.
In the last two years or so of her life, after a fall that left her unable to walk, Hulda resided at the Pinal County Nursing Center in Florence. She died there on December 5, 1985, and was buried at the Valley Memorial Park Cemetery in Coolidge.
Details of the Smith family’s journey from Missouri to the Arizona Territory and their early years in the Verde Valley may be found in copies of unidentified news clippings in Hulda’s Rose Garden file. Her interviews shed no light on her married life, her religious affiliation (if any), or her social activities. She was a wife, mother, and a homemaker, and almost nothing else is known of her adult life.
Donors: Diana Kathleen Moxcey Rowe
Hulda and Franks wedding pictures.
These photos are on the wall of the officers quarters at Forte Verde, Camp Verde, AZ
Hulda and Frank
1934 Ralph Mattie and Hulda
Hulda's 92nd birthday with many Verde Valley Pioneers.
March 15, 1976.
I shall try to tell about my family as I remember, to please my good
friend, Jesse Goddard.
My father Maurice Smith, and my mother, Mary Jane Smith had nine children,
The oldest was my half brother James, called "Bud".
When father’s first wife died he married Mary Jane Bristow. Of this marriage
there were eight children. Bill-Ed, Mittie, Julia, Sarah, Wyatt, Ben, Maurice,
and I, Hulda, was the baby. All are gone now except me. We were all born in
Missouri where we lived in Cedar County.
My father served in the army during the Civil War. It was there he learned to
care for the sick and the wounded. Because of this training he later became
doctor and dentist for all the neighbors. A doctor was hard to find in those
early days. Father was also a farmer, a wheel-wright, and a furniture maker.
He made furniture for our home and most of the neighbors.
Lonnie Bristow, my mother's cousin had been to Arizona and returned for
his wife and children. He persuaded my father and mother and the older boys
to return to Arizona with them, Father had a good wagon and two good horses
so they decided to make the trip west and start a new life in the far west.
It was a happy decision for all except for one bit of sadness, we had to leave
our sister Mittie, behind. She was married to John Hamilton and they did not
wish to leave Missouri,
It was the first of April 1886, when we started on our journey. Just two
covered wagons live stock and our dogs. At our first camp we lost our two
dogs, Drum and Saunder. The boys searched a long time then they finally
decided the cayotes got them. We had to travel very slow because of the bad
roads and when we reached a range of mountains most every one walked. I was
small for my five years so I rode beside my father who did the driving.
When we would come to a stream of water we would make camp for two or three
days and everyone would take a bath and the women would wash clothes; The
men would scout and hunt. Much of the time there was little would to be
found so they had to burn buffalo chips. The going was rough but there were
happy times too. My brothers, Ben and Maurice played the violin and we would
all gather round and sing songs. Sometimes Bud would get up early and cook
hot cakes for everyone which was big treat. One time we had to cross a
river on a bridge. It was a toll gate and the price was 1.50 per person
with a wagon. In those days that was a lot of money.
As we crossed the state of Kansas we stopped at a railroad camp for a few
days to rest. The Santa Fe railroad was being built through that part of
Kansas at that time. Along here we were joined by another wagon. A young
man by the name of Charlie Babcock was driving an old man to Arizona.
New Nexico and Colorado were the last states we traveled through before
we reached Arizona. We arrived in Flagstaff July, 4, 1506. The town was full
of cowboys and Indians. They were having a big celebration.
Here we Met Charley Mahan. He told father there was a cow ranch not far from
Flagstaff which belonged to his father. Since no one was living there at
the present time we might go there. there was a big house, a corral and
come gentle milk cows. We could stay there as long as we wished.
Lonnie Bristow and his family wanted to go to Middle Verde. My brothers
Bud, and Bill-Ed went with them hoping to find work in the valley.
We went on to the Mahan ranch to find a large house and barn and will cows
so we had lots of fresh milk and butter. The country was so beautiful we
stayed the rest of the summer. September came all too soon and we left the
beautiful pines for Middle Verde, where we must go to school. Here we found Bud
and Bill-Ed working on a ranch. Father rented a house and we stayed there
all winter. It was here I met Lulu Lay. We went to school together and went
on to become fast friends. We moved around a lot in the valley until father
bought a piece of land from Mr. Calloway. This was across the river from
Camp Verde, near the bridge that crosses the river and the road lending to
Beaver Creek. It was here that my father passed away 1900, in the month
of April. My mother died in 1939. She was 89 years old.
On December 25, 1899 I married Frank Lee Dickinson. There was a big dance that
night in Camp Verde and we danced all night. Frank and I had a good life
together but that would be another story. Our first child, a boy, Vaudrey
Samuel was born in Camp Verde. We were living at the time in one of the
officers buildings at the old Fort. We had five children, Vaudrey, Alta Mae
Edward bee, Frank and Helen. My husband became very sick in 1925. Frank
passed away in October, 1925. I later married a good man, Ralph Marshall
and went to live in Superior, Arizona. We had a little girl, Mattie May,
born August 27, 1927. Years later with all the children married, Ralph
and I moved to Albuquerque New Mexico, near our daughter and her family.
Here Ralph passed away in February 1966.
I am 94 years old and still enjoying life.
Hulda Susan Marshall
Above is a retyping of Hulda’s typed letter without any editing.
Contact Webmaster if you would like a copy of the original letter.
