Founding Members of First Congregational Church, United Church in Christ

The current popular history of Prescott emphasizes the wild west, mining boom town and Whisky Row. While these are part of our history, First’s Founders were members within our community who by example and action brought churches, schools and culture to what was a wilderness capital in the Wild West.

First Congregational Church was not the first Christian fellowship in Prescott. Our twelve Founding Members were part of other congregations and fellowships before they came together in 1880 to found First Congregational.

In the Fall of 1880, the Rev. Dr. Warren, Missionary Superintendent for Southern California addressed Prescott residents at the Lone Star Baptist Church. After the meeting, Pastor Warren met with our thirteen Founding Members to help them form the First Congregational Society, which became First Congregational Church. Most of the Founding Members were New Englanders and educators.

Pastor Warren was also a member of a group within the Congregational Church that was named the “New West Educational Commission.” According to Jay Eby, a long-time member of First in the 20th and 21st Centuries, the aims of this Commission was to bring education to the southwest that was public and free of religious domination.

The Founding Members

1.      Margaret Forman Bashford Burmister

2.      Theodore Weld Otis, married to Pamela Otis

3.      Pamela F. Libbey Otis, married to Theodore Weld Otis

4.      Eli Payson Clark, married to Lucy Sherman Clark

5.      Lucy Hazeltine Sherman Clark, married to Eli Payson Clark

6.      Moses Hazeltine Sherman, brother of Lucy Clark

7.      Angeline Brigham Mitchell, married to Daniel Mitchell

8.      Kathryn A. Dunning Adams, married to Amos Adams

9.      Amos D. Adams, married to Kathryn Dunning

10. Mary S. Snyder Hazeltine

Brief Bios of the Founding Members

Margaret Forman Bashford Burmister was the daughter of Coles Bashford, former Governor of the State of Wisconsin. She taught music, was the Church organist, and organized our Women’s Fellowship. Margaret also was active in women’s groups in Prescott – the History and Poetry Club, the Monday Club and the Arizona Federated Women’s Club.

Margaret was married to Robert Henry Burmister, who was a merchant, a principal in the Prescott and Arizona Central Railroad, and Mayor of Prescott in 1901. Robert also was a member of the first Board of Trustees of First Congregational.

Theodore Weld Otis, married to Pamela (below), was a descendent of our Patriot father James Otis of New York. He was a graduate of Oberlin College, had served in the Army and was a school teacher. He came to Prescott with his family in 1874 from New York and established a grocery store. He had been a member of a Presbyterian congregation that closed in 1879. Mr. Otis was a Judge, Coroner and Postmaster of Prescott. In 1895 he and Pastor McLean began a school for the Chinese men in Prescott.

Pamela F. Libbey Otis, married to Theodore (above), attended Parsonfield Seminary in Maine and was a schoolteacher. She was also a member of the Monday Club. The meeting held with Dr. Warren to begin First Congregational Society was held at her home on North Pleasant Street. At one point, Jun Moy, a young Chinese woman, escaped from her master and ran to Pamela Otis for refuge. The Otis family made Jun a part of their household. The Otis and Clark families were neighbors in North Pleasant Street.

Eli Payson Clark, married to Lucy (below), was born in Iowa, educated in the Iowa public schools and briefly was a student at what would become Grinnell College. He taught school in Iowa and Missouri before coming to Prescott in 1875. Mr. Clark was a sawmiller with a sawmill at Lynx Creek. He also was the Secretary-Treasurer of the Prescott and Arizona Central Railroad Company* with Frank Murphy, a prominent Prescott railroad developer and philanthropist. (Frank was not a Founding Member). Eli served as Territorial Auditor while in Prescott. Later he and his brother-in-law M.H. Sherman (below) constructed and managed the Los Angeles Consolidated Electric Railway Company (then in Portland) and the Mt. Hood Railway and Power Company. Later, these men sold their railroads and developed the area in California that is Sherman Oaks.

Lucy Hazeltine Sherman Clark, married to Eli (above), dubbed by the Weekly Miner, “Prescott’s Favorite School Teacher,” came to town to join her brother Moses (below) to teach school and then married Eli Clark, the saw-miller we met above. Board meetings for First Congregational were held at the Clark home on North Pleasant Street until the first church was built. The Otis and Clark families were neighbors on North Pleasant Street.

Moses Hazeltine Sherman, brother of Lucy, brother-in-law of Eli (both above), and cousin of William Hazeltine (below), was a native of Vermont. He attended Oswego Normal School in New York and later another school in Wisconsin. A teacher, in 1873 Moses was invited by Gov. Safford to organize the Arizona Territory schools. In 1876, he built the Prescott Free Academy, the first graded school in the Territory; the school was significant as it marked the beginning of organized public education in the Arizona Territory. The Free Academy was at the northeast corner of Gurley and Alarcon Streets (across the street from First Congregational), in front of what is now Washington School. Moses also built the second school building in Prescott. He was then appointed by Gov. Fremont to Superintendent of Public Instruction and was later elected to that position in 1880. Moses and his brother-in-law Eli Clark later went into the railroad business and later developed lands in California.

Angeline Bringham Mitchell was from Massachusetts, graduated from Holyoke Seminary, and served as Master of the Young Women’s Seminary at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. She came to Prescott with her husband Daniel and taught in the school. Angeline was appointed to the Arizona Territorial Board of Examiners for teachers. Daniel was a surveyor, photographer (he took a famous photograph of Doc Holliday), and served as Justice of the Peace; he died in1877.

Kathryn A. Dunning (Kate) was born in Plattsburg, New York, graduated from Oswego Normal School and came to Prescott in 1879 to teach school here. Sharlot Hall, an Arizona historian, stayed at Kate’s home while attending school in Prescott, and Sharlot contended that Kate was a great influence on her development. Later, Kate married Amos D. Adams, a partner of Eli Clark in the sawmill at Lynx Creek.

Mary S. Snyder Hazeltine, married to William (below), was a graduate of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. She came to Albuquerque and then Prescott as part of the New West Education Commission. She was a missionary, and her brother was minister of our sister church in Albuquerque.

Mary was married to William E. Hazeltine, who was born in Suncook, New York. He came to Prescott in 1875 at the invitation of his cousin Moses Sherman (above) who told him he believed that he could get him a job clerking in Buffum’s store. Soon he married Miss Snyder. He and his brother Moses were bankers.

 This information was adapted from a written copy of A History of First Congregational Church, Prescott, Arizona, a presentation by Jay Eby on Sunday, July 16, 2006.

*Prescott and Arizona Central Railroad Company later became the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad.