LARCENA PENNINGTON PAGE SAGA.

Larcena Pennington came to Arizona from Texas when her father brought his 12 children to the Santa Cruz Valley following his wife’s death.  Several of the children died from disease during their first years in Arizona and Mr. Pennington and two of his sons were killed by Apaches near present day Patagonia.  On December 12, 1859, when Larcena was 22, she married John Hempstead Page who was managing the lumber operation in Madera Canyon for Bill Kirkland.  Larcena was also employed by Kirkland as a private teacher for his ten-year-old ward, Mercedes Sais Quiroz.  After the wedding, Larcena remained in Tucson while Page still lived at Canoa Ranch (owned by Kirkland) so he could be closer to the lumber operation (13 miles).  After about 11 weeks, Page finally got permission to move Larcena to Canoa Ranch and Mercedes moved with her.  When Larcena became ill with a possible recurrence of malaria, it was decided that the higher elevation of Madera Canyon might help in her recovery.  The plan was to build a cabin so they could live close to the lumber mill which was located near the “Big Rock“(near the current location of the Madera Kubo Gift Shop) .

In March of 1860, Larcena and Mercedes accompanied Page and William Randall (Page’s partner) to Madera Canyon and they set up camp about two miles down the canyon from the mill. The next morning, after Page left for the lumber camp and Randall went to hunt for deer, five Apaches looted the camp and took Larcena and Mercedes prisoner and headed toward the Catalinas.  Just before nightfall when they reached the area which would become Helvetia, the Apaches saw that they were being followed and tried to hurry.  When Larcena was unable to keep up, she was struck in the back with a lance and fell down the side of the hill. The Apaches followed, thrusting their lances at her and striking her with rocks which knocked her out. Thinking her dead, they dragged her behind a tree, took her shoes and left her for dead.  When she heard the rescue party came by shortly thereafter, she was too weak to call out.  One of the Apaches had put on Larcena’s shoes and the rescuers followed his trail until they lost it on the other side of the Catalinas.  Larcena, who was covered with bruises and cut with 16 lance wounds, started her incredible journey back to her camp the next morning.  She crawled during the day and tried to rest at night by crouching on her hands and knees because of the wounds in her back.  She subsisted on seeds and other edible vegetation she found.  It took her about 12 days to work her way back to her old campsite where she found some flour and coffee that had been spilled during the looting of her camp.  She dined on bread and coffee and slept at the camp overnight before heading for the lumber camp the next morning.  Her husband was in Tucson organizing another search party to look for his wife when he got the news of her survival, 16 days after her capture.  Larcena was rushed to Tucson where she was treated by Dr. C. B. Hughes.  Over the next few months, she made a slow but steady recovery.  Mercedes was found in the Pinal Apache camp at Arivaipa.  Mercedes was returned unharmed in exchange for the freedom of some Pinal Apaches who were being held at Fort Buchanon.  John Page was killed by Apaches a year later.   Larcena eventually returned to Texas.

Summarized from "The Nature of Madera Canyon" by Douglas Moore.

Additional Material: GVHC Library File 36