Albert T. Colton
Florence

Arizona, The Youngest State, 1913

From the time Albert T. Colton, then a poor and friendless 
boy bound out to a farmer at the age of fourteen, ran away 
from his master and faced the world alone up to the present, 
when as water commissioner of the Safford-Solomonsville 
Valley, he controls irrigation and engineering work in 
Arizona, he has made steady progress.  Mr. Colton was 
born in Kinsville, Ohio, March 16, 1851, and is a son of 
Elijah and Apha (Chesley) Colton, natives of that state.  
The grandfather was a sawmill owner and the father for many 
years acted as superintendent in a woolen mill.  The parents 
have passed away.  In their family were three children: 
Francis H., deceased; Elijah V.R. of Colorado Springs, 
Colorado; and Albert T. of this review.

When the last named was four years of age his mother 
died and his father, then a helpless cripple, was able 
to support his son only until he was six years old.  At 
that time he was bound out to a farmer and obliged to engage 
in the heavy labor which fell to the lot of the farmer's boy 
at that time.  Seeing no future in this line of work and 
ambitious to be something more than a farm laborer, he ran 
away and engaged in various occupations for some time, 
working hard during the day and spending his evenings in 
school.  He earned enough money to complete his studies in 
civil engineering and surveying and he did not lay aside his 
books until, at the age of twenty-one he joined the army.  
He enlisted in the Seventh United States Cavalry and served 
for five years, engaging in various Indian wars and fighting 
against Sitting Bull and his famous tribe.  He saw active 
service on the Dakota frontier under General Custer and made 
an enviable record for courage and loyalty, receiving his 
discharge just before the Custer massacre.  He is deservedly 
proud of the document releasing him from service for it bore 
at the bottom of the page "Character excellent and excellent 
soldier."

After leaving the army, Albert Colton went to California and 
began his career as a surveyor and engineer, being connected 
with irrigation projects in Kern County, where he remained 
ten years, gaining valuable practical experience along the 
line of his chosen work.  In 1886 he came to Florence Arizona 
and was chief engineer and superintendent for the Florence 
Canal Company and supervised the construction of the project 
in which it was interested until the successful completion of 
the work.  By this time he was one of the best known engineering 
in the territory and his ability brought him recognition in his 
election to the office of County Surveyor of Pinal County, to 
which position he was again and again re-elected, serving for 
10 years.  During that time he was also employed by the U.S. 
government on surveying work and served as deputy clerk of 
the U.S. court in Florence.  His last work for the government 
was the survey of the Hualapai Indian reservation on the 
Grand Canyon in Arizona.  In 1903 Mr. Colton was appointed by 
Judge Fletcher M. Doan water commissioner of the 
Safford-Solomonsville Valley with charge of all the canals 
in that locality and still holds this position.  He owns 
property in Bowie, Casa Grande and in Safford.

On April 26, 1883, Mr. Colton married Miss Mary E. Kentfield, 
a native of New York and one of a family of three children: 
George H., a druggist in Morrison Illinois; Lottie, the wife of 
H.C. Parke, secretary of the Peerless Oil Company of San 
Francisco, California and Mary E., the wife of this review.

Mr. and Mrs. Colton have four children: Georgiana, the eldest 
married B.F. Thurman, a merchant in Safford and they have two 
children, Fern and Frederick.  Lottie who was for some time a 
teacher married Edward O. Devine, a merchant of Florence.  
Alberta, who resides at home is bookkeeper and stenographer 
in the University of Arizona.  Mattie, the youngest has 
passed away.

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