author
Charles D. (Charles Debrille) Poston
1825–1902
Best remembered as the "Father of Arizona," he helped push for the creation of Arizona Territory and became its first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. His life moved through law, exploration, mining, politics, and writing in the fast-changing American Southwest.
1 Audiobook
Building a State in Apache Land
by Charles D. (Charles Debrille) Poston
About the author
Born in Kentucky in 1825, Charles Debrille Poston built an unusually varied career as a lawyer, explorer, prospector, author, politician, and civil servant. After time in Tennessee and California, he went to Arizona in the 1850s, where he became closely tied to the territory's early political and mining history.
Poston is most often remembered for lobbying to create Arizona Territory, a role that earned him the lasting nickname "Father of Arizona." He later served as Arizona Territory's first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, making him one of the best-known public figures in the region's early American period.
He died in 1902, but his name still appears throughout Arizona history because of the outsized part he played in shaping the territory's public identity. For listeners interested in frontier politics and western expansion, his story offers a mix of ambition, boosterism, and genuine historical influence.