First Settlers of Sedona, Arizona

Oak Creek Canyon is a river gorge located between the Arizona cities of Sedona and Flagstaff, and was home to Sedona's first known Anglo-American settler; John James Thompson (J.J. Thompson).

Soon after Thompson began homesteading in the canyon, more settlers arrived and the area grew enough to be recognized and surveyed by the General Land Records Office in 1889. The area became self-sustaining with the development of orchards and ranching operations.

In 1876, under the Homestead Act of 1862, Thompson claimed squatter’s rights on a parcel of unsurveyed land equipped with a running spring and healthy crops. A year prior, this land was occupied by a small group of Tonto Apache Native Americans who were captured by U.S. Army scouts from Fort Verde. Thompson's homestead was eventually surveyed, but the actual location of the cabin is northeast of the plat depiction (Township 18 North, Range 6 East, of the Gila and Salt River Meridian).

Thompson built a log-cabin on his claim and named his new home “Indian Gardens Ranch,” later referred to as “Indian Gardens.”

Thompson hoped to assist his children in establishing property in the surrounding area as they got older. He acquired approximately 56 acres adjacent to his homestead in 1912. Both of these homesteads are depicted on the 1913 Homestead Entry Survey for Township 18 North, Range 6 East, Sections 27 and 28, of the Gila and Salt River Meridian.

Looking to settle down with a companion, Thompson reached out to Abraham James, who was a friend he met while running a ferry boat business out of Nevada. Thompson invited the entire James family out to make Arizona their new home. Abraham and his wife, Elizabeth, had three daughters at the time. The daughter Margaret known as Maggie, was soon to become Thompson's wife.

The James family agreed to the move, and in 1879 established themselves just south of Indian Gardens in the area known today as Sedona. The James' homestead is depicted in Township 17 North, Range 6 East, Section 18, of the surveyed plat of 1890 (Gila and Salt River Meridian).

Thompson wed Maggie James in 1880 and made Indian Gardens his home until his death in 1917. Maggie raised their nine children on her own until her death in 1936.

The Thompson's first child, John Franklin Thompson (“Frank”), was the first born Anglo-American child in Oak Creek. Frank eventually purchased his own land, south of his parents and north of the James' homestead. Frank's homestead was patented in 1919 but is actually depicted in Township 17 North, Range 6 East, Section 8, of an 1889 survey plat.

All but one of the Thompson children survived through adulthood. Albert Thompson (child pictured front-center) went on to publish several stories of the West in the 1968 book, "Those Early Days."

Homesteaders followed Thompson’s lead and began executing squatter's rights and pre-emption homesteads in the area, as Oak Creek Canyon had not been officially surveyed yet.

The area continued to get more recognition, which prompted the General Land Office to send surveyors out to the area. In 1889, survey plats were established for the aforementioned Townships 17 and 18 North, Range 6 East, putting Oak Creek canyon officially on the map.

By 1901, more than a dozen families were living in the area with the first patented homestead issued to Frank Owenby. Owenby sold his parcel of land within a year to two brothers named Dorsey and Theodore Carlton Schnelby.

In 1902, Theodore Schnebly built a post office on his newly-owned property, naming it after his wife Sedona. This set the stage for developing the surrounding area into a thriving community that included the settlers of Oak Creek Canyon.

Homesteading in the Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon area continued until the last claim was acquired in 1942 for an area just south of the famous Chapel of the Holy Cross.