Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and María Sotelo Miller

              Arizona Latina Trailblazers Vol III Stories of Courage, Hope and Determination By Dr. Christine Marin
Vol III
By
Christine Marin, Ph.D.
Published by
Latino Perspectives Media
and
Raul H. Castro Institute
Vol III
Copyright @ 2011
by Latino Perspectives Media and Raul H. Castro Institute
Phoenix, Arizona
Edited by: Joan Westlake / Phoenix College
Designed by: Alfredo Hernández / Phoenix College
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
The publishers grant permission to individual teachers to reproduce the contents of this
book for educational purposes and classroom use.
Limit of Liability/ Disclaimer of Warranty: While the author and the publishers have
used their best efforts in preparing this publication, they make no representations or
warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of its contents and specifically
disclaim any intent to defame or slight any people, places or organizations.
Printed in the United States of America
April 2011
Arizona Latina Trailblazers 2011
5
As Arizona approaches its Centennial
Celebration, it is an ideal occasion to
honor and celebrate six Latina Trailblazers
who represent more than 100 years of
contributions that continue to be vital to
this state. The life journeys of these women
are filled with compelling stories that
reflect the strength of their vision, their
courageous actions, and their thoughtful
advocacy.
It was 1872 when Manuela Sotelo
brought her family to the Salt River Valley.
A widow, she was legendary for her astute
land purchases and for sharing her frontier-honed
skills with all. She and her daughter,
María Sotelo Miller, saw grandchildren go
on to teach after being trained at the school
Manuela and María helped to establish —
Tempe Territorial Normal School.
In search of the American Dream, two
generations of the Cajero family came to
mine in Morenci, Ariz. in the early 1900s.
They had a dream of a better life for both
their family and community. This vision
was instilled in Bernardo and Carmen
Cajero, and was fulfilled through their
work in the legislature. This dream continues
today, through the work of their daughter,
State Senator Olivia Cajero Bedford.
Cecilia Esquer and Maricopa County
Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox left their
mining community of Superior to pursue
an education during the turbulent 60s.
The Chicano Movement helped to direct
their pursuit of equality. Excelling in their
varied careers, their contributions to the
Democratic Party are legendary, as are
their achievements on behalf of the poor,
the dispossessed, women and children, the
sick, and the elderly.
These six Latina Trailblazers represent a
rich heritage of moral courage, sacrifice and
fortitude. They come from communities
that taught lessons of cultural survival while
tending the love of la familia in the heart.
The lives of these Trailblazers shine a light
on the path of service and social conscience.
We honor them and all that they represent
as strong role models and pioneers who
forged our rich cultural heritage. They are
extraordinary women of Arizona.
INTRODUCTION
22
Unimaginable hardships faced the set-tlers
from Mexico and the eastern
United States who began coming to the
Salt River Valley in the 1860s and 1870s.
The unforgiving terrain challenged farming
skills, required homesteading talents and
presented dangers from American Indian
conflicts. Helping to ease the settlers’
plight with a helping hand, astute business
advice and advocacy for education and other
fundamentals of civilization were Manuela
Sánchez Sotelo and her daughter, María
Sotelo Miller. Arriving in the Valley in
1871, the Sotelo women nurtured the
people and community of what is now
known as Tempe for nearly half a century.
Frontier historians first called the town
Hayden’s Ferry after Charles Trumbull
Hayden, a trader and business promoter
who settled in the area in the 1870s. Many
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and
María Sotelo Miller
Nurture Tempe and Salt River Valley’s Pioneers
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo
Image courtesy of ASU Chicano Archive MP SPC 349)
23
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and María Sotelo Miller
Mexicano settlers worked for Charles
Hayden constructing irrigation canals,
clearing the desert for water develop-ment
projects and helping to construct the
Hayden Ferry, which transported freighters
across the Salt River. They also operated
the ropes and pulleys to run the ferry.
While building the Valley’s infrastruc-ture,
the enterprising Mexicanos worked
their own ranches and by 1872, established
San Pablo, an 80-acre community southeast
of the Tempe Butte, where today stand
Sun Devil Stadium, Wells Fargo Arena and
ASU dormitories. In the 1880s, Mexicanos
also helped to build Hayden’s mill as well as
blacksmith and wagon shops along the Salt
River near his homestead, which became
later known as “La Casa Vieja.”
Records show that the first Mexican
family to settle in the Salt River Valley area
was the Tiburcio and Manuela Sánchez
Sotelo clan. Manuela Sánchez, often called
the Mother of Mexican Tempe, was born
in 1820 in the town of Tubac, 45 miles
south of Tucson. Sotelo family records show
that by 1846, she was the wife of Tiburcio
Sotelo, whose father, Ignacio, had served
as a Spanish Commander of the Tubac
Presidio in the early 1800s. By 1870, the
area of Tubac was serving as a pueblo to
Spanish-Mexican families and to the Pima
Image courtesy of ASU Chicano Archive MP SPC 348
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo
24
and Papago Indians nearby.
Heeding a call for irrigation workers
along the Salt River, Tiburcio and his two
sons, José and Feliciano, and his nephew,
Pedro, left their home in the Tubac/Tucson
area and traveled to Tempe. The men
helped the Mexican farmers, who lived
along the Salt River between present day
24th and 40th Streets, build the Mexican
Ditch, also known as the San Francisco
Canal. The head of the canal was located
near what is now downtown Tempe. The
canal extended more than three miles
southwest toward the foothills of South
Mountain.
The Sotelo men also worked for
William H. Kirkland and James B.
McKinney, constructing the first irrigation
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and María Sotelo Miller
Zanjero or irrigation overseer in the early 1900s
Image courtesy of Salt River Project
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and María Sotelo Miller
25
ditch on the south side of the Salt River.
Tiburcio bought a small share in the Tempe
Irrigation Canal Co. for $200 and pur-chased
160 acres on the southeast corner of
what are now Rural Road and University
Drive. His share in the Kirkland-McKinney
Ditch entitled him to water from the canal
to irrigate his fields.
The strong work ethic of the Sotelos
caught the attention of Winchester Miller
who was the first zanjero (irrigation over-seer)
for the Hardy (Tempe) Irrigation Canal
Company. In 1871, Miller hired the Sotelos
and the relationship quickly became one of
mutual respect. But, tragedy struck several
times that year. Tiburcio died of an illness.
His eldest son, José, 23, rode his horse into
the Salt River and drowned. Feliciano, 21,
was killed by Apache Indians while carrying
mail on the Tucson-Maricopa route for the
Southern Overland Express.
Still in Southern Arizona, Manuela said
that to abandon the 160 acres acquired by
Tiburcio would have rendered meaningless
his sacrifices and death. In 1872, Manuela
arrived in Tempe with her 5-year-old son,
Antonio, and eight daughters, ranging in
age from 4 to 20 – Inéz (nicknamed Petra
or Prieta), Manuela, Salomé, Concepción,
Jesús María, Guadalupe, Isabel, and María.
The Sotelo family planted wheat as a
cash crop and, with seeds they brought with
them, a garden of beans, squash, corn and
herbs. Manuela sold or traded her pro-duce
with the Anglo farmers in the area,
forging lifelong relationships. Manuela was
Image courtesy of Salt River Project
Horse teams work in an unidentified canal
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and María Sotelo Miller
26
renowned as a woman of honor as well as
someone of financial worth who knew how
to manage a ranch.
Manuela exhibited astute entrepre-neurial
skills. She learned that Anglo
farmers were using water from the Tempe
Irrigation Canal Co. to irrigate their
farmlands. She realized she had to protect
her valuable property and bought addi-tional
shares in the Company. She was
one of the few Mexican women in the
Salt River Valley to hold water rights to
her property. On July 3, 1890, Manuela
also filed a homestead claim on her 160
acres, receiving a patent on the property.
It was surveyed by A.M. Jones on Aug. 6,
1890, and subdivided, becoming known as
the Sotelo Addition. The 25 parcels were
bordered by the Tempe-Mesa Road and the
Hayden branch of the Tempe Canal. Many
of these lots were occupied by her children
and other relatives. She later divided the
rest of her land among her daughters. Over
time, Manuela acquired additional acreage
in Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek.
Manuela was a goodwill ambassador to
the Mexican and Anglo families, assisting
those in need. She allowed her friend and
neighbor, Charles Trumbull Hayden, to
establish a canal through her property so
that her water could get to his flour mill.
She showed the women how to survive and
make a home in the frontier including how
to can peaches and apricots and how to dry
fruits and cure meats. She taught the young
pioneers first aid, which included how to
grow and use medicinal herbs.
The Sotelo ranch became a haven for
Fathers Andrew and Edward Gerard of the
Florence Parish, who came to Tempe in
1873 to administer to the area’s Catholic
families. Father Andrew often held reli-gious
services in the home.
Image courtesy of ASU Chicano Archive MP SPC 339/OV
Plat of the Sotelo Addition to Tempe. Surveyed By A.M.
Jones. Aug. 6, 1890; 160-acres, subdivided into 25 lots.
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and María Sotelo Miller
27
Manuela’s eldest daughter, María, was
a well-mannered and intelligent young
woman, educated in a private school admin-istered
by the Catholic Church in Pitiquito,
Sonora, Mexico. She caught the eye of
her father’s former employer and friend,
Winchester Miller, a widower 17 years her
senior with teenage children living in Iowa
with their grandparents. With Manuela’s
permission, he courted María and she
became his bride on Jan. 8, 1873 when she
was 20 years old. Most likely, the ceremony
took place in the Sotelo home since it wasn’t
until 1880 when a one-room adobe Catholic
chapel was built in San Pablo.
María and Winchester initially settled
in a house provided by the Tempe Irrigation
Canal Co., where he served as superinten-dent.
Northeast of Tempe, in the settlement
of Lehi, the one-room home had a fortified
door and portholes instead of windows as
protection against Apaches who attacked
homesteads and the friendlier Maricopa and
Pima Indians. The couple soon moved to
Tempe and lived on his quarter section of
land just north of the Sotelo Addition.
Miller and María’s first child, Anna María Sotelo Miller
Image courtesy of ASU Chicano Archive MP SPC 350
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and María Sotelo Miller
28
Manuela Sotelo Miller, was born in
October 1873. Generally believed to be the
first Anglo-Mexican child born in Tempe,
she exemplified the results of the mixed-culture
marriages that brought prosperity
and progress to Tempe and gave the com-munity
its rich heritage of cultural diversity.
Along with ranching, Winchester drove
freight wagons from Tempe to Yuma for
supplies. On one trip, he brought María
a gift, a Wheeler & Wilson No. 9 sewing
machine shipped from the Gulf of California
and up the Colorado River. With the first
such machine in town, María became a
skilled seamstress, adding to the family funds.
The Miller home was a center for
community meetings and social events,
as Winchester became known for his
Democratic Party and business contacts.
The bill to establish the Territorial Normal
School in Tempe, signed by Arizona
Governor F.A. Tritle on March 12, 1885,
found early support from Manuela, María
and Winchester. At the invitation of her
friend, Charles Trumbull Hayden, Manuela
participated in a town meeting to discuss a
location for a new teachers’ school. Those Winchester Miller Jr.
Image courtesy of ASU Chicano Archive SPC 351
29
gathered agreed to raise $500 in exchange
for land on which the new school would
be built. Manuela and the Millers contrib-uted.
Their neighbors, George and Martha
Wilson, agreed to donate 20 acres in
exchange for funds to establish the school.
Manuela and María were strong advocates
of public education and campaigned for
the teachers’ school and other educational
opportunities in their community.
María and Winchester raised 10
children. Records show that six of them
attended the Arizona Territorial Normal
School from 1896 to 1906. María’s daugh-ters,
Anna Manuela Sotelo Miller and Clara
María Sotelo Miller, graduated with two-year
teaching diplomas, becoming the first
Mexican American ASU alumni.
Anna taught elementary school in
Flagstaff for three years and Clara taught in
Tempe and Buckeye. Their mother María
always emphasized that education was a
civic and parental responsibility. She also
made certain that her children took great
pride in their Spanish/Mexican/American
heritage and in their Spanish language.
Manuela and María raised their children to
value education and to use it to help others.
In the early 1880s, Winchester served
as a trustee of the Tempe School District
No. 3 and was elected a Maricopa County
sheriff. Bad luck hit when the Salt River
flood of 1891 swept away 15 acres of his
ranch, including livestock and supplies.
But, he and María rebuilt their home
among their family and friends. In 1893,
Miller’s health declined following a series of
injuries. He fell while making roof repairs
and injured his foot. Shortly after, a mule
crushed the injured foot and blood poi-soning
set in, resulting in an amputation.
Miller never regained full health and passed
away that same year.
Throughout their lives, Manuela and
María were recognized for their vital
contributions to the economic, cultural and
educational foundations of Tempe. In 1902,
Manuela passed away from pneumonia at
the age of 82. María’s love of learning and
respect for education continued to help
her forge new friendships in a bilingual,
bi-cultural world. In 1937, she passed away
from heart disease in her home in Tempe,
at the age of 84.
Manuela Sánchez Sotelo and María Sotelo Miller
DeterminationAs educators, social workers, labor leaders, entrepreneurs, scholars, judicial representatives, home makers, nurses, ranch wives, or political representa-tives, Latinas and Hispanas have long been at the forefront of Arizona’s history. It is important that we recognize the impact of their individual contributions, and imperitive that their collective stories be recalled and shared, especially as we approach Arizona’s 100th anniversary of statehood in 2012.The life journeys of the Arizona Latina Trailblazers are filled with compelling stories that reflect the strength of their vision, their courageous actions, and their thoughtful advocacy. Their outstanding leadership formed strong cultural cornerstones, laying the foundation for women in leadership roles today. And so we honor them and all that they represent, pioneers who forged our rich cultural heritage and strong role models.Raul H. Castro InstitutePUBLIC POLICY | EDUCATION | LEADERSHIPVol Stories Remain Important in Arizona‘s History