Brothers Cosme (1856-1943) and Refugio (1858-1922) Solano arrived in Arizona in the late 1880s. Both took advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 to establish themselves in the Arizona Territory.
Cosme farmed/ranched on 320 acres in the San Rafael Valley, east of Lochiel. He married Natividad Durazo (1866-1960) in 1887, and they had ten children—eight daughters and two sons. Cosme remained in the area until his death.
Their eldest son Filiberto “Bert” worked for Colonel William Greene’s Cananea Cattle Company and lived in Cananea, Mexico. By 1930 Natividad was living in California with two of their youngest daughters, and son Cosmo M. was nearby, operating his auto repair shop.
Refugio married Elisa Fraijo (1868-1965) in Santa Cruz, Mexico in 1887. The 1900 U.S. Census records the couple living in Greaterville with their son Yndalecio (1894-1964), known as Y, and daughter Inez (1898-1982). Refugio was a storekeeper and served as an election judge in the Greaterville precinct.
By 1910 the family included seven children, and they were farming in Elgin on the 160-acre homestead Refugio received title to in 1914. Refugio and Elisa, Y and Inez each filed homestead claims for additional property about 1918. Y and his parents claimed 860 acres in the Rain Valley area of Pima County. Inez claimed 640 acres nearby, in Cochise County.
The 1920 census documents a significant change in Refugio’s family. Elisa and most of her children are living with Y and his wife Josephine Escaig (1897-1978).
In 1920 Y was shot by a neighbor, Tom Larrieu. Y survived and Larrieu was convicted and imprisoned. [Arizona Daily Star 7/23/1920].
There is no further record of Refugio until his death from kidney disease in 1922 at the Ft. Huachuca Hospital. He is buried in the Elgin Cemetery near his home.
In 1924 Elisa, Y and Josephine sold their Rain Valley property to Louis Sands, who established today’s Sands Ranch. They received “$10 and other valuable considerations” for each 320-acre parcel. [Pima County Book of Deeds, 99, p. 337]. It’s likely that Inez’s property was also purchased by Sands, as it lies within the Sands Ranch boundaries.
Y and Josephine had eight children. By 1930 the family had moved to Tucson where Y continued to work in ranching and as a train inspector.
Inez married Arla Harkey (1882-1939), a Cochise County rancher, in 1921 and they had one daughter, Clemmie. Inez remained in Cochise County until she moved to California in the late 1940s to live with Clemmie and Clemmie’s husband.