Charles Anthony Proctor (1857-1913)

  Charles Anthony ProctorCharles Anthony Proctor was born in 1857 in Guildhall, VT and moved to California with his family in 1858. Charles left for Arizona in 1876 with his brother Frank Louis Proctor and Frank’s wife, Mary Dowdle Proctor. The two brothers brought horses for the Baca Float Ranch (No. 3?). Not too long after, CAP worked in the Santa Rita mountains for Herbert Brown’s sawmill and built a little rock house. He also had a store in Quijotoa, AZ and sold meat to the miners. The mines there were active about 1883-1885.

CAP was married to Jesus (Jesusita) Salazar on November 5, 1888 in Tucson, AZ at St. Augustine’s Cathedral. The Tucson Daily Citizen lists the couple as having a home in Canoa. CAP and Jesus had four boys and two girls. Charles Roque born in 1889, George Manuel in 1892, Henry Patrick in 1895, Frank Martin in 1897, Lucinda in 1903 and Marybelle in 1906. CAP worked on the Munson Cienega range with his brother Frank. In 1889, he was made the Superintendent of Maish & Driscoll’s cattle ranches and was a Vail Company foreman. CAP was mentioned in the “Southwestern Stockman” newspaper of 10 Jan 1891 for information on stock brands and ranges of area stock raisers.

Early on, CAP lived at La Tesota and Box Canyon ranches and would travel extensively. CAP bought his parcel of the Sopori ranch in 1898? from Tomas Elias Sr. He also had a school section on the Batamote 8 miles West of the Sopori homestead. He used about 70 acres for farming squash, barley, hay and more. When times were tough with cattle, he was a guard at Yuma Prison from July 1901 to March 1903. His buddy Herbert Brown was the prison superintendent.

He worked his “Graveyard Mine” with C B Ridley near Helvetia, AZ – Arizona Daily Star 04/21/1909 . He gave the Alamo Ranch to “the boys”. The Alamo ranch is located near the corner of Nogales Highway and La Villita Rd. And could be the same as the La Tesota, just his homestead on that range.

On May 15, 1913 Charles Anthony Proctor died on the Sopori Ranch. The Tucson Daily Citizen reports on May 17, 1913,

“It is believed that he [Charles Proctor] died from heart failure of apoplexy. William Lowe, coroner of Santa Cruz county arrived from Tubac and reported officially that the cause of death was unknown. When the family first discovered the body, lying at a distance of 50 yards from the house between the road and the fence, there was blood on the mouth and in the hand was a revolver.”

Charles A about 1900Sheriff McKnight of Nogales investigated, but found no suspicious circumstances. Some in the family thought otherwise.

CAP was buried at Evergreen Memorial Park with a long procession. The pall bearers were Lyman W. Wakefield, Andres Rebeil, Edward L. Vail, Charles C.Goodwin, James K. Brown, John H. McVey.

The Sopori ranch was sold in 1926 by Jesus Proctor Elias to Arthur Lee. Arthur Lee began combining the area ranches to one of the largest cattle ranches in the state. Arthur Lee dies tragically in 1937 and in time his widow sold to Eamon Beck. More Sopori owners include: Levi H. Manning and Jack Warner of Warner Bros Studio. (Update 03/2021)

His descendants honored him by inclusion in the memorial Plaza of the Pioneers at the Tucson Museum of Art in November 1982.

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