Victorian "Ghost" Photography - Victorian Era and Death

"Haunted Lane" - 1889

"Spirit" - 1901

"Houdini and Abraham Lincoln" - about 1920

Spiritualism: When the Victorians Tried to Connect with the Dead

In the late 1800s, photography was new, science was advancing, and grief was everywhere. The Victorians, haunted by high mortality rates and the loss of loved ones, turned to Spiritualism, hoping that death was not the end but simply another doorway.

Enter spirit photography: eerie portraits showing ghostly figures beside the living. Whether clever double exposures or heartfelt attempts to reach the beyond, these images captured more than faces.  They revealed a society searching for comfort in faith, science, and mystery.

From séances in parlors to photographs claiming to show a loved one’s lingering presence, the Victorians tried to connect mourning with marvel.

Take a look at these haunting examples of spirit photography from the 19th century.

- Photos from Library of Congress.

 

William Belcher (1846 – 1898) - “The Cockney”

 

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William A. Belcher was born in London, England around 1846.  Not much is known about him prior to 1880, when he was living in Missoula, Montana.  At that time he was working as a watchmaker and living on Front Street. According to news reports, William inherited $5570 from his mother who had died in England.  William quit his profession and began enjoying his money.

William migrated to Phoenix, Arizona and began bartending for Rose Gregory, aka Minnie Powers, a well-known madam.  They began living together and, because William had a problem with alcohol, Rose became his money manager. 

William and Rose had a tumultuous relationship because of his drinking and her profession.  William would end up in jail because of his behavior and while he was gone, Rose would entertain other gentlemen callers.  He would become jealous of her relationships with men and threaten to kill her. 

After his release from jail on September 17, 1898, he went for a few drinks and obtained a .44 caliber handgun.  He then went to where Rose and he were living at 720 Railroad Avenue in Phoenix and entered the residence around 9 a.m.

William found Rose alone and asleep in bed.  He shot her in the head and then shot himself, falling across her.  They were not discovered until 1 p.m. when Flora Wilson, one of the other women living in the house, found the bodies. 

William and Rose were buried in Rosedale Cemetery.  William’s location in the cemetery is unknown, as there is no grave marker.  

- by Patty

 

Ida Emma Guenther (1853-1904) - Shrew

 

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According to the federal census of 1900, Ida (maiden name unknown) was born in Denmark April 1853 and arrived in the United States in 1865.  One can only guess what contributed to her fondness for conflict and drink.

Mrs. Ida Bailey first came to the attention of Phoenix authorities when she was charged along with Fred Steffans with “mutually maligning each other and the employment of language which is not admissible to mail bags” on April 2, 1893. 

Shortly after that incident, Ida married Joseph P. Murray, a blacksmith, on April 23, 1893.  Witnesses to the marriage were Frankie Hill and H.C. King. Frankie Hill (aka Minnie Drum) was a known madam in Phoenix.  At the time of their marriage, Ida was 40 years old and Joseph was 57 years old. 

The Arizona Republican paper reported that the newlyweds were off to the World’s Fair on honeymoon.  However, the romance—if romance it was—didn’t last long.  Barely two months later, Ida was living in a crib in the alley behind the Central Hotel in Phoenix.    That area was known for all sorts of criminal behavior, the main problem being prostitution. 

On June 23, 1893, one of Ida’s neighbors, Annie Marchand, complained to Night Marshal Blankenship that Ida had tried to fire a shot at her with a Smith & Wesson handgun. Ida was arrested and fined.  “Inspired by whiskey and morphine”, Ida retaliated by charging that Annie had been calling her names.

On July 1, 1893, a fire swept through the residences in the alley behind the Central Hotel.  The flames were so intense that they threatened the hotel.  It was learned that Ida had moved all her belongings out of her shack prior to the fire, but Annie lost everything.  Although Ida had openly boasted that she “was going to make it hot” for Annie Marchand, there was no direct evidence linking her to the fire.

Ida Murray next married Herman Guenther, a gunsmith, on September 18, 1899 in Phoenix.  Herman had been born in Germany in December 1835 and arrived in the United States in 1871.  He had been previously married and had two sons who were in California.  

The Guenthers invited Nicholas Brecht and his wife Maria Gilmore to their home on July 11, 1899 for a drink.  The affair became a two-hour drinking contest before everyone said their goodbyes.  Sometime later Maria realized her purse was missing and returned to the Guenthers.   A fight broke out and police were called.  All were brought to court and fined.

Ida died in Phoenix on May 5, 1904 at the age of 50 and was buried in Loosley Cemetery.  Herman died on August 10, 1904 at the age of 69.  He had attempted to walk to the cemetery where his wife was buried and lost his way.  He was found unconscious and brought back to his residence where he later died.  He is also buried in Loosley Cemetery.   Neither Guenther has a grave marker.

 - by Patricia 

 

Frank Barrios - Thank You for your Service to PCA!

 

PCA Archives

Volunteer Spotlight: Honoring Frank Barrios!

Today we honor the life and legacy of Frank Barrios: historian, preservationist, author, and longtime volunteer with the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association.

Frank was more than a volunteer. He was a bridge between the past and the present. Through his work with PCA, he helped preserve the stories of Phoenix’s earliest residents with genuine care and deep respect. His gentle spirit and dedication reminded us all why preserving history matters.

Beyond PCA, Frank’s passion for heritage shaped how Phoenix remembers its roots. His book "Mexicans in Phoenix" captured the heart of the city’s Mexican American community. These families, neighborhoods, and traditions helped build the city we know today.

Frank was named LULAC’s Man of the Year, honored as an Arizona History Maker, and celebrated by the City of Phoenix with “Frank Barrios Day.” Yet, those who knew him will tell you his greatest honor was serving others and keeping their stories alive.

We are grateful for his years of service and friendship. Frank’s light continues to guide all of us who believe history is best preserved when it’s shared with love.

Open House - October 25th, 2025 from 10am -1pm

 

PCA Archives

We picked this up and moved it just for you!!!

Come join us for Open House, October 25th from 10am - 1pm!

Take a self-tour of the cemetery, check out Smurthwaite House, and chat with some awesome folks who love Phoenix history! See you soon!

Grave Marker Symbols of Family and Love

 

Victorian grave markers often carried messages of relationships that endured beyond death

🤝 Clasped hands – farewell, unity, or eternal bond

❤️ Hearts – love everlasting

🌿 Wreaths – victory, remembrance, honor

⌛️ Tree stumps or Cribs – family ties or a life cut short

Every carving tells the story of love that lingers. We have many grave marker symbols and stories at the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park! Come discover them!

Photos: PCA Archives

William B. Casey (1870-1898) - Hot Tempered Ranch Hand

 

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Aerial of Rosedale

William B. Casey’s story is one of those wild tales from early Phoenix that reminds us how rough life could be on the frontier. Born in New York in 1870, he went west as a young man, described as tall, athletic, and quick to quarrel. By the time he reached Arizona, his hot temper was well known. He tried his hand at a milk delivery business in Phoenix, but the partnership fell apart, and Casey found himself in frequent trouble with the law.

Things came to a head in September 1898. While working at Ben Anderson’s ranch north of town, Casey was asked to saddle a horse for Anderson’s granddaughter. Taking offense, he lashed out at Anderson’s son-in-law with a pitchfork, leaving him badly injured. Only days later, still spoiling for a fight, Casey confronted rancher James Marler over rumors of insults. When words didn’t satisfy him, he attacked with his fists, then turned on a hired hand, George Moudy. As Casey rushed forward, Moudy fired in self-defense. One bullet to the heart ended Casey’s violent streak.

A coroner’s jury quickly ruled the killing justified, given Casey’s attacks in the days before. William B. Casey was buried on September 12, 1898, after a Catholic funeral service.  Despite his bad temper and reputation, a large crowd of family and friends were there to pay their last respects and follow his coffin to Rosedale Cemetery.   

Whispers in Stone - Flowers on Grave Markers

Whispers in Stone…

Flowers carved into old grave markers aren’t just decoration. Each bloom holds a message of love, loss, or eternal life. What stories do these stone blossoms tell?

• Lilies – purity and peace
• Roses – love and fragility
• Ivy – eternal attachment
• Oak leaves & acorns – strength and immortality
• Morning glory – life’s short bloom

Some of the “whispers” at the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park… every flower tells a story! 

Photos: PCA Archive

Wilson Augustus McGinnis 91850-1899) - Architect

 

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Wilson Augustus McGinnis was born in Dyer County, Tennessee, in February, 1850.  He was the youngest of ten children belonging to John S. McGinnis and his wife, Martha Mathis (or Matthews?). 

By 1884, Wilson was in Phillips County, Arkansas, where he married Letitia “Lula” Vaughan on February 15th.  Their first child, Neil Weston McGinnis, was born about a year later across the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee.   Eula, their second child, was born in August 1886 in Texas.   By July 20, 1888, the McGinnises was in Phoenix, Arizona, where four more children were born to them.

Wilson McGinnis was a very busy architect, surveyor and civil engineer in Phoenix and central-northern Arizona.  He formed a partnership with another architect, Fred Heinlein, and, in 1890, they were the architects for the territorial insane asylum.  He served as Phoenix’s city engineer until February 1893, when he resigned over a disagreement with the City Council.

McGinnis owned an almond orchard in south Phoenix.  In July 1895, the trees were bearing nuts.  He was also interested in growing ramie, a natural fiber.

On June 27, 1896, Fred Heinlein, the architect originally selected for the Normal School in Tempe, was discharged and the position given to McGinnis.  A year later, he received a contract to examine the unfinished boys’ reform school in Flagstaff and design plans to convert it into an insane asylum.  However, the contract was cancelled in August, 1897.

W. A. Mc Ginnis was the Maricopa County surveyor until he suffered a breakdown in 1898.  In June, he was remanded to the asylum he had helped design.  His wife took him back to Tennessee in July in hopes that a change of scenery would benefit him, but to no avail.

McGinnis’s illness left two of his projects unfinished.  Evidently the Board of Control decided that one insane asylum was enough for the Territory.  The reform school in Flagstaff was converted instead into Northern Arizona University.  Architect James Miller Creighton stepped in to finish Old Main at what is now ASU.

McGinnis died on August 2, 1899.  He was buried initially in the AOUW cemetery, Block 18, Lot 3.  His remains and those of his little daughter Etta were later moved to the newly-opened Greenwood Cemetery.

McGinnis had an AOUW life insurance policy which paid $2000 on his demise.  The money was used to pay off the mortgage on his almond orchard in the expectation that it would provide an income for his family.

-  by Tim Kovacs and Donna Carr

Symbols on Grave Markers - Their Hidden Meaning

 

“Symbols whisper what words cannot.”

Ever wonder why some old gravestones are carved with clasped hands, doves, or weeping willows? These aren’t just decorations. They’re messages in stone. Symbols of faith, love, loss, loyalty....there are many meanings to a symbol.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be exploring the hidden language of grave markers. Each one tells a story.

Stay tuned—you’ll never look at a cemetery the same way again!

Photos: PCA Archives

Paul Gutike (1842- 1898) - Architect

 

Arizona weekly journal-miner. [volume], June 15,1892

 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85032938/1892-06-15/ed-1/seq-6/

Paul O. Gutike was born about 1842 in Berlin, Prussia, supposedly to a good family which afforded him an excellent education. He arrived in New York on October 2, 1862, aboard the ship St. Bernhard, hoping to find work as an architect. However, the Civil War interrupted his career plans.

Scarcely three weeks later, on October 23, 1862, Paul found himself in Company K, 53rd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (later became the 162nd). He may have been short of funds and enlisted voluntarily, but it’s also possible that he was more or less ‘drafted’.

On December 11, 1865, Gutike reenlisted in the 3rd U. S. Cavalry, being discharged three years later on October 1, 1868, at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He signed up again at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to serve in Company H, 5th U. S. Infantry, but deserted on May 28, 1870. He was dishonorably discharged December 4, 1870, at Fort Harker, Kansas.

Gutike had many more adventures with the military, some of them not so honorable.  

By 1887, Gutike had found work as a draftsman for James Riely Gordon in San Antonio, Texas. Gordon eventually gained national renown for his Texas courthouse designs.

Gutike’s career as an architect and civil engineer burgeoned in Arizona.  In 1889, Mrs. Vina Brown commissioned him to design some apartments at 4th Avenue and Adams in anticipation of providing quarters for winter visitors coming to Phoenix.  The following year, he designed the plans for the Burke Hotel in Prescott, Arizona.  The Burke was advantageously located on the corner of Montezuma and Gurley Streets and included ground-floor shops along with well-appointed rooms.  (Advertised as the only “fire-proof” hotel in Arizona, the Burke was nevertheless destroyed during Prescott’s Great Fire of 1900.  St. Michael’s Hotel is located on the site today.)

Gutike hadn’t forgotten his years in the military, either.  In 1891, he drew up plans for two new buildings to house troops at Fort Whipple.

Paul became well known in Phoenix, but according to his obituary, had a propensity for drink.  He died in July 21, 1898 of gastritis and was buried in the Rosedale Cemetery.

-by Patty

 

St. Michaels now stands on the corner where the Burke once stood - Val W.

Harvey Reid Leonard (1826-1896) - Civil Engineer and Architect

 

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An architect and bridge builder, Harvey Reid Leonard spent most of his professional life on the Pacific Coast.  Born in Illinois, he seems to have used the names Harvey and Henry interchangeably, at least at first.  The federal census of 1860 records him as a simply a carpenter in Sacramento, California, where he was living with his wife Amanda and infant son.

Between at least 1860 and 1869, Leonard partnered with other architects who were active in the city at the time.  According to San Francisco city directories, he maintained offices at 432 Montgomery Street and, later, 240 Montgomery Street.

Between 1871 and 1873, Leonard was in Portland, Oregon, with offices located at the corner of 1st and Ash Streets.  While in Portland, he designed an engine roundhouse and a railroad bridge.  By 1882, he was back in California as an employee of the Pacific Bridge Building Company, specializing in railroad bridges.

It appears that, sometime after 1880, Leonard’s wife Amanda died and he remarried.  Perhaps it was not a happy match, as his second wife, E. M. De Lisle, eventually divorced him on grounds that he had deserted her when he moved to Arizona. 

H. R. Leonard relocated to Phoenix about 1890, probably with the intention of retiring.  However, he found ample scope for his talents in the Salt River Valley and continued to work well into old age.  In 1890, he was working with William Hancock to map sites for reservoirs.  He designed a schoolhouse in Mesa in 1890 and one in Tempe in 1891.

Brick was a popular building material in Phoenix, as very little lumber was available locally.  Initially, manufacturers used molds of different sizes.  In January 1893, Leonard joined with several other Valley architects to call for the standardization of brick sizes. 

On May 6, 1893, Leonard undertook a reclamation expedition to see about the feasibility of building a water reservoir for northwest Yuma County.  It must have been an arduous undertaking for a man in or approaching his seventies.

In February 1894, concerns were expressed about the structural soundness of the Phoenix Opera House for an upcoming performance.  Architects Leonard and Petit were appointed to examine the structure.  Leonard ruled that the performance could proceed, but the building should be remodeled with more exits and safety features incorporated.

When H. R. Leonard died on February 2, 1896, of cirrhosis hepatitis at the age of 85, he was buried in City/Loosley Cemetery.  There is no grave marker.

- by Donna Carr

 

Open House! September 27 at 10am!

Join us on September 27th from 10am - 1pm for Open House! Take a self-guided tour, visit Smurthwaite House, walk the grounds, or just talk to us history obsessed.....uh......history buffs!