Unknown-Coconino-Mohave County AZ Archives Biographies.....Poston, Charles D. 1825 - living in 1896 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/az/azfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 8, 2005, 5:00 am Author: McFarland & Poole p. 604, 607 HON. CHARLES D. POSTON. Among the early pioneers of Arizona it is but just to say that Charles D. Poston takes a prominent place, and as an attorney he is recognized as a man of superior ability, force of character and determination. He has been a steady worker in aiding and developing the resources' of the Territory, and is a firm believer in its future prosperity, when all its wonderful avenues of wealth shall have become known. Mr. Poston is a product of Hardin County, Ky., April 20, 1825. When but twelve years old he was left motherless and soon after he was placed in the county clerk's office, where he served an apprenticeship of seven years, learning the rudiments of law. For three years after this he was in the office of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, at Nashville, where he studied law and was licensed to practice. Upon the acquisition of California he joined the Argonauts and was honored with a first-class appointment in the custom house at San Francisco. Upon the conclusion of the treaty with Mexico for the purchase of Arizona he embarked with a company of about thirty men for exploration of the new Territory, arriving at Guaymas in January, 1854. After examing the Territory and taking specimens of mineral wealth, he returned to California and thence by the Isthmus to New York, Kentucky, and Washington, where he spent the year 1855 enlisting interest for the new possessions. In 1856 he returned to Arizona with a company and funds for opening the silver mines, and continued this arduous and dangerous occupation until relieved by General Heintzelman (the president of the company) in 1857, when he transferred his intelligence to the office of the company in New York. Upon the commencement of the Civil War he was in charge of the company's business in Arizona with a plant that had cost nearly a million dollars. When the country was abandoned by the United States troops, and after sad havoc by the Mexicans, Indians and Americans, he left the country in ruins, with only a companion (Prof. Pumpelly), vide "Across America and Asia." Repairing to Washington he served awhile as volunteer aid to his old friend, General Heintzelman. In 1863 he was appointed by President Lincoln Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Arizona. Upon the organization of civil government in Arizona he was elected first delegate to Congress. At the conclusion of his term he made the tour of Europe; visited the Paris Exposition of 1867, and wrote a little book called "Europe in the Summer Time." Returning to Washington he resumed the practice of law in partnership with Judge Batts of California, but the delays of Washington jurisprudence were irksome to an impetuous nature. When the news of the Burlingame Chinese Embassy came over the wires it fired an old ambition to see "the splendor and havoc of Asia," and he obtained an honorary commission from Mr. Seward to visit Asia in the ostensible interest of "Immigration and Irrigation," and was also commissioned as bearer of dispatches from the Chinese Embassy to the Emporer of China. He was accompanied on this voyage by his old friend and traveling companion, Ross Brown, as Minister to China. Before the inauguration of President Hayes our traveler was appointed by President Grant Register of the Land Office in Arizona. He also served as consular agent at Nogales, Mexico, and military agent at El Paso. For five years after this he was in Washington engaged in promoting the interest of irrigation by the Government on the arid lands of the West, a measure which has produced more good results than any enterprise since the construction of the Pacific railways. Mr. Poston has served as agent of the Department of Agriculture and has been president of Arizona Historical Society. Additional Comments: From: A Historical and Biographical Record of the Territory of Arizona Published by McFarland & Poole, Chicago, 1896 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/az/unknown/bios/gbs111poston.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/azfiles/ File size: 4.5 Kb