First White Child
Born in County?
Matter Settled (For Now)
Lincoln Republican, 29 August 1912
Historical Statement Corrected
In our issue of August 8 we mentioned the claim of V.E. Schermerhorn, of Manhattan, of the honor of being the first male white child born in this county, and at the same time referred to the claim of Miss Hall of being the first white child born in the county. We have since received the following communication from Rev. T.M. Strange, giving the facts in the case.
Friend Menoher: I noticed in a recent Republican that Mr. V.E. Schermerhorn claims to be the first white male child born in Lincoln county, and you say you think Miss Charlotte Hall was the first white child born in the county.
Miss Hall gave 1868 as the year of her birth. Lizzie Green, daughter of George Green, and wife of David Parker of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., was born Oct. 18, 1866. So you see that Miss Hall is entirely out of the ring. I know Miss Hall’s parents did not settle in Lincoln county until after Lizzie’s birth. In regard to Mrs. Schermerhorn’s birth must have been about 1869. The county had been settled over three years by a good many families at this time, and births had become common affairs.
David M. Reed and Nancy E. Hendrickson were the first people married in the county, ceremony by Rev. John Hendrickson, date Aug 25, 1867.
T.M. Strange, Aug. 21, 1912, Barnard, Kan.
Lincoln Republican, 12 September 1912
Historical Correction Corrected
In the Lincoln Republican of April 3, 1902 (now before me) appears the following: “It will be noted that the Chronicle gives Miss Hall the credit of being the first white child born in Lincoln county, and in response to a letter of inquiry from the Republican, asking for information on this subject, Miss Hall writes:
Orchard Ranch, Dewey, Ariz.
March 25, 1902
“Gentlemen: I was born Oct. 27, 1870, on Prosser Creek which I believe is six or eight miles east of Lincoln.”
Sharlott Hall’s name appears on the roll of pupils of the Lincoln county normal institute of 1880, and she was in the classes taught by myself that year. She was a remarkably precious [precocious?] little girl and her parents were ambitious to give her every advantage within reach. I was very fond of her and regretted their removal to Arizona, which I think occurred the following year.
A few years later a little western magazine came to me containing a little poem written by her entitled “The Forgotten Man,” said individual being “The Father-in-Law.” Some time later she wrote me inquiring where she could obtain Woman Suffrage literature, which indicated that she was measuring up to the early promise of her mental capacity for she was still a young girl and equal suffrage was not in the air then as it is now.
Her poems, “Out West,” Arizona and “The greater Flag” are very strong and fine. They are all I have seen except “The Forgotten Man.”
Miss Hall is a first cousin of Mrs. Elma Bradbury. Lizzie Green Parker is four years older than Sharlott M. Hall. Lizzie Green attended the first term of school that I taught in Lincoln Center and was six years old the 18 of October of that year (1872). Sharlott M. Hall was two years old, the 27 of the same month according to her own statement. Oct. 27, 1870 is the date of her birth.
Anna C. Wait
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