Trinidad Swilling

Trinidad Swilling
Trinidad Escalante Swilling-Schumaker "Mother of Phoenix, Arizona"
Born	Trinidad Mejia Escalante April 15, 1849 Hermosillo, Mexico
Died	December 27, 1925 Phoenix, Arizona
Occupation	Housewife, seamstress
Known for	"The "Mother of Phoenix"
Spouse(s)	Jack Swilling 1864-1878 Henry Schumaker 1887-1896
Parent(s)	Ignatus Mejia and Petra Escalante

Trinidad Swilling Shumaker (April 15, 1849 - December 27, 1925), known as "The Mother of Phoenix" was a Phoenix pioneer. She was the wife of Jack Swilling, the founder of Phoenix. Mrs. Swilling was involved in local civic activities and promoted the public recognition of her husband as founder of Phoenix. She was also involved in dispute which made the local news as to who was the first White woman to settle in the Phoenix townsite. In 1868, Mrs. Swilling founded the first pioneer home in the Salt River Valley.

Trinidad Mejia Escalante was born on April 15, 1849 in Hermosillo, Mexico, a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. Her father was Ignatus Mejia and her grandfather was a Spaniard who moved to Mexico during the Spanish Colonial period. Her mother was Petra Escalante, a Mexican national.

Arizona belonged to Mexico until the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the 1853 Gadsden Purchase clearly defined the U.S-Mexican boundaries and the Mexicans living within the boundaries of the new United States territory became American citizens, This includined the relatives of Escalante who lived in Tucson.

In 1864, when her father died, she and her mother migrated to Tucson, in the Territory of Arizona, to be with their relatives. At the time she was 15 years old.

When she was 17 years old she met John William Swilling better known as Jack Swilling, who happened to be in Tucson. Prior to meeting Escalante, Mr. Swilling, a native of Anderson, South Carolina, was in Los Pinos where he belonged to a militia named the Arizona Guards. The militia's primary objective was to defend the early Anglo settlers against the attacks by the members of the Apache tribes. In 1861, the secession of Confederate Arizona from the Union was officially declared. At that time Mr. Swilling held the rank of First Lieutenant of the militia. The Arizona Guards were absorbed into the Confederate Army. After the war, Mr. Swilling became involved in gold mining near and around the Prescott area. He met and befriended King S. Woolsey and went to Tucson on a flour-buying trip as a favor to Woolsey. However, when he reached Tucson, he found that the mill, of which he was half-owner, had run out of flour and was forced to wait for a cargo of flour from Hermosillo.