Mesa Historical Society

Abstract Cooper tells about her father coming to Arizona in 1908 where he homesteaded in the area of Guadalupe and Greenfield roads in Gilbert. She describes everyday life ? hauling water, preserving and storing food, farming, riding horses, and getting around on dirt roads. She talks about marrying Delbert Mortensen who worked as an electrician and then eventually farmed her parents' homestead. Cooper also tells the story of gathering up children in Gilbert to start the first school. She mentions...

Abstract Miller tells of her family's move, when she was 14 years old, to the Gilbert area to farm. She describes her schooling, some of the area's fairs and parades, going to the movies, and other things they did for entertainment. She talks about medicine, home remedies, and how her entire family was ill during the flu epidemic of 1918. She recalls that Mesa's streets began to be paved around 1918 and that her father's first car was a ?Grant.? Miller talks about her daily home life and then...