Martha Summerhayes

Martha Summerhayes (* 1844 as Martha Dunham, † May 11, 1926 ) was an American author. She was known for her 1908 published under the title Vanished Arizona memoirs in which she describes her experiences in the "Wild West " of America of the 1870s.

Life

Summerhayes came in 1844 to the world. 1871 she traveled for two years after Germany and lived in Hanover in the household of a former garrison commander, Lieutenant General vest. Upon her return to the United States she married in March 1874 Officer John W. Summerhayes ( 1835-1911 ), who had already fought in the American Civil War. A month later, she went with her husband to his regiment to Fort Russell in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Summerhayes, who was accustomed to the life of the North American east coast zivilierte, entered this for the first time the "Wild West ". In June of the same year the regiment left for Arizona, then a little unexplored desert. The following years were spent Summerhayes at her husband's side mainly in Arizona and later California, New Mexico and Texas. Finally, her husband was ordered in 1892 returned to New York, where he was employed in 1898 at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in supplies. Two years later he was in the rank of Major in retirement.

In 1908 she published her memoirs under the title Vanished Arizona ( " Arizona Disappearance " ), which evolved into a bestseller. Summer Hayes died in 1926, her grave, and her husband is on the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC

Interesting from a historical perspective, tennis is an anecdote in Summerhayes report that in October 1874, befriended officer's wife, Ella Wilkins Bailey, said to have played at Camp Apache, near the present-day Tucson, Arizona tennis. This is considered one of the earliest mentions of a modern tennis game on American soil. The required sets consisting of clubs, balls and a net were only sold from February 1874 in England.