Mabel arrived in Santa Cruz in 1909 with her husband Elias Pinkney. Many members of her extended family were living in Santa Cruz at the time. Together, they helped organize and maintain the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Old Temperance Hall near Water Street and Bulkhead Street. For its short duration, this would be a nourishing space for the growing African American community. Mabel was a stewardess of the spiritual and social gathering place. She taught in the Sunday school. Her young son, Lorraine Pinkney, passed away and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Mabel would leave Santa Cruz and move to San Francisco. She was widowed and remarried Franzy Ritchardson along the way. She was a notable singer of both classical Western music and African American spirituals. Mabel meticulously preserved an archive of clippings of her performances and reviews, which her family treasures. Her family continues to grow and live in the Bay area.

Adapted from “Arterberry/King/Pinkney/Ritchardson Genealogy Page” by Marissa Arterberry; “‘Black and Tan Baseball’ in Santa Cruz: An Unknown History” by Geoffrey Dunn in Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 8; and “African American Churches in the City of Santa Cruz: The Early Years” by Stanley D. Stevens and Joan Gilbert Martin in in Santa Cruz County History Journal, Number 8.