Stock photo of Mohave mother and child, ca. 1900.
Emma Burrows was born around
1885. She was a member of the San Carlos
Mohave (Yuman) tribe. Her maiden name
appears in the written record as Burrows, Burroughs and Burris.
She graduated from the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania in 1906. On 7 August 1907, she married William French, a Salt River Maricopa who had been a student at the Phoenix Indian School. Witnesses to the marriage were William’s brother Clarence and a woman named Ossie Mollie.
Emma’s first child, a girl, was born 22 July 1908 but died 11 May 1909 of whooping cough and lobar pneumonia. The Frenches were living at 231 North 2nd Street at the time.
On 4 December 1909, Emma gave birth to a boy, William. However, he too died on 13 April 1911 of pulmonary tuberculosis. Both children were buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Phoenix. When little William expired, the family was residing at 918 East Jefferson Street in Phoenix.
By May 1911, Emma herself was in the last stages of pulmonary tuberculosis. She was taken to Fort McDowell, possibly for medical care, and died there on 14 May. She was buried in Rosedale, presumably near her children.
William French remained a widower for more than two years, after which he married Ada Quorah (Cora) and fathered seven more children.
-by Donna Carr
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