says: “In conclusion I beg leave to say that all my hard work was made lighter and all my efforts were made more efficient by the constant kind help and advice of Gov. A. P. K. Safford, whose memory this and all future generations should forever revere as ‘Father of Our Public Schools.’”[1]
The next heard of the Tucson schools was in the summer of 1872, when a girls’ school, which later became a part of the public-school system, was opened by Mrs. L. C. Hughes, wife of the probate judge of Pima County, who later became governor of the Territory. On February 4, 1873, this school received an official visit from the legislature, and during that year Gov. Safford, seeing that the schools had been carried on at irregular periods and by persons who had other vocations than teaching, and seeing, according to McCrea—
the great need of trained and experienced teachers and of continuity of effort, determined to secure such teachers for the schools of Tucson, if possible, and then to see that the schools were carried on for a fixed term each year. Through Surveyor General Wasson he got into communication with Miss Maria Wakefield, a teacher in the schools of Stockton, Cal., and was able to persuade her and a companion, Miss Harriet Bolton, to attempt the trip to the new land of promise. I have been able to secure an account both of their journey and their reception at Tucson from the daughter of Mrs. E. N. Fish, formerly Miss Wakefield, which account is approved by her mother and is given herewith:
“In 1873 my mother was teaching in the public schools of Stockton, Cal., when she received a letter from Gov. Safford asking her to come to Tucson, bringing a competent primary teacher with her, to open the public school. This letter also advised them to start immediately, as the Apaches were then in the eastern part of the Territory and travel was comparatively safe. Accordingly, on October 26, they left Stockton for San Francisco, where they took a steamer for San Diego. From there, after five days and nights of continuous stage riding, the longest stop being 20 minutes to change horses and partake of the wretched food provided at the stations, they arrived in Tucson. Few can realize the terrors of such a journey, with the bright moonlight transforming every giant cactus into an armed Apache and every clump of brush into an ambush. Each driver contributed a new lot of stories of the horrible deeds of the Indians, pointing out here and there along the way where this freight train was captured and the men murdered, and that stage taken, and that family massacred, keeping those two terror-stricken women constantly, by day and night, on the lookout for Apaches. They did not then know that Apaches do not attack by night.
“The good people of Tucson had arranged two very comfortable rooms for them. Gov. Safford and his good friend, Surveyor General Wasson, left nothing undone to assist in the difficult task of establishing a public school. The priests were bitter in their denunciations, and were formidable antagonists, even going so far as to threaten parents if they allowed their children to attend the public school. Gov. Safford was generous almost beyond his salary in giving books and clothes to needy children to enable them to attend school. Above all, the one great desire of Gov. Safford’s heart was the welfare of the public school.” * * *- ↑ Superintendent’s Report, Arizona, 1908, pp. 86–87. See also historical sketch in Tucson Public School Report, 1893–94, pp. 30–32. Under date of June 17, 1872, Gov. Safford sent $30 to the school trustees of Prescott as a gift from his brother, A. B. Safford, of Cain, Ill., “to help build” a schoolhouse there. Arizona Miner, July 20, 1872.
