Myrtle Rebecca Douglas entered this world on the 20 th day of June, 1904, in the small, desert mining town of Val Verde( changed to Humboldt in 1905), Yavapai County, Arizona, which is located in the romantically named Valley of the Agua Fria River. It is highly possible that she was actually born in a tent, as it was a popular form of abode at that time, especially for miners and railroad workers. She was the first of four children who would be born to her parents, Robert Douglas, a miner, and Lillie Dell Kilpatrick, a very over-burdened housewife. Brother Kenneth would be born just under two years later in 1906, Warren would join the family in 1910, and in 1911 Robert, Jr. would be the last. The births of Myrtle and her brothers are not officially recorded with the State of Arizona, so it is possible that being born at home instead of in a hospital they were never formally reported to authorities. Between the years of 1904 and 1911 this family would migrate between the“ towns” of Humboldt and Turkey Creek Mining District( later renamed Cleator) while Robert, Sr. tried to support his family by mining and working for the railroad. The old stone schoolhouse that Myrtle and her siblings would have attended in Cleator is still standing, so fans of Morojo can make a pilgrimage to at least one standing historic location from Myrtle ' s childhood.
Raising children in these isolated and rustic mining towns would have been very hard on Lillie Dell Kilpatric Douglas, and it is a minor miracle that her four children from this marriage all survived into adulthood. For children, especially small active ones, there were plenty of dangers that could quickly maim or shorten one ' s life, such as poisonous chemicals from the mines, explosives, flash floods, uncovered mine shafts and pits, deep water wells, fast moving horses pulling heavy wagons, broken bones, infected wounds, rattlesnakes, scorpions, wild gun fire, bandits, diseases and illness. Life at home for Myrtle, her brothers and mother Lillie may also have been a very unpleasant and nightmarish experience, as their father Robert, who was infected with syphilis and gonorrhea, began to display some of the horrific symptoms and debilities associated with the disease. There is every reason to believe that mother Lillie was also infected and suffering.
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