Mrs. Swilling was involved in local civic activities and promoted the public recognition of her husband as founder of Phoenix.

She was also involved in dispute which made the local news as to who was the first white woman to settle in the Phoenix townsite.

Trinidad Mejia Escalante[note 2] was born on April 15, 1849, in Hermosillo, Mexico, a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora.

Prior to meeting Escalante, Mr. Swilling, a native of Anderson, South Carolina, was in Los Pinos where he belonged to a militia named the Arizona Guards.

The militia's primary objective was to defend the early Anglo settlers against the attacks by the members of the Apache tribes.

That day Father Aloysius M. Bosco came to Tucson's St. Augustine's Cathedral, as was his custom, to baptize Mexican children, and to confirm Catholic marriages.

[1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9][10] The Swillings moved to Yavapai County and established a farm at Walnut Grove where he had a claim on Weaver's Mountains.

[11] In 1867, the Swillings moved once more, this time to the Salt River Valley where Black Canyon City is currently located.

The Loughs, who had encountered problems with their wagon and livestock leaving them stranded, received a helping hand from the Swillings.

They had a modern canal system dug with the help of Mexican laborers, enabling a dependable delivery of water.

The canal diverted water from the Salt River to irrigate farm lands in what would eventually become the town of Phoenix.

Father Edward Gerard of Florence would often come to Phoenix via a horse-drawn wagon to hold Catholic services at their home.

Due to economic considerations benefitting the members of SRVTA, the more westerly townsite was selected, and a 320 acres (1.3 km2) plot of land was purchased in what is now the downtown business section.

Among the businesses that the Swillings had an active interest in was the "Gillett Real Estate" where they sold lots ranging from $100 to $250 depending on the location, a cattle and horse ranch and a vegetable farm in partnership with L.A.

[15] The Swillings later moved to Black Canyon City where they built a stone house and established a farm.

In the spring of 1878, word reached the Swillings that Colonel Jacob Snively, a family friend, had been killed by the Apaches in the Wickenburg Mountains near the peak called White Picacho.

Mr. Swilling and his companions returned to Gillett after exhuming Col. Snively's remains at White Picacho Mountains on April 23.

Prior to his arrest Mr. Swilling had developed a habit of using of a combination of narcotics and liquor to relieve the pain caused by old injuries, thus he was not very healthy.

The terrible prison conditions combined with the August heat, aggravated Mr. Swilling's chronic ill health.

The Hodges family owned two lots in the Yuma Cemetery behind the old Catholic Church, and Swilling was buried in one of them.

On one occasion Mrs. Ethel Clark, who was the chairwoman of the Historic Spots and State Historian of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Mrs Schumacher were out at the Park of the Four Waters together.

Her funeral services were held in the Saint Mary's Basilica and she was buried in St. Francis Catholic Cemetery in Phoenix.

[19][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9][10] On Thursday afternoon, February 19, 1931, the Maricopa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in a simple ceremony with the presence of Arizona Governor George W. P. Hunt, unveiled and dedicated to the memory of Jack and Trinidad Swilling, a fountain which stands in the park directly in front of the courthouse building in Phoenix.