The Toilet Parlor: From Discreet Luxury to Modern Beauty Salon

 

Women Believed to be Martha Matilda Harper

Library of Congress

The other day, I was researching a wife of one of the pioneers buried in our cemetery.  I came across an ad in 1897 that she had placed in the newspaper.  She had a business in her home called a "toilet parlor", and of course, I was surprised!

In late 19th-century America, the phrase “toilet parlor” did not refer to a bathroom, but to a discreet and fashionable space for women’s grooming, hairdressing, and beauty treatments. The word “toilet” derived from toilette—the French term for the rituals of dressing and personal care—while “parlor” suggested refinement and privacy.

For much of the 19th century, women’s beauty culture carried a social stigma. Cosmetics were associated with actresses or “painted women,” and many respectable women avoided overt grooming outside the home. A toilet parlor solved this dilemma. By providing a female-centered, parlor-like atmosphere, these establishments offered:

• Privacy: women could have their hair styled or receive treatments away from the male-dominated barber shop.
• Respectability: the word “parlor” softened the act of professional grooming, presenting it as genteel rather than vain.
• Social comfort: toilet parlors often doubled as gathering spots, where women could converse in safe, female-only environments.

One of the most influential figures in legitimizing women’s beauty spaces was Martha Matilda Harper, a Canadian immigrant who opened her first public hair salon in Rochester, New York, in 1888. Harper introduced innovations such as the reclining shampoo chair and emphasized cleanliness, health, and moral uplift alongside beauty. She also pioneered one of the earliest franchise systems, spreading “Harper Method” salons across the U.S. and abroad, helping to transform hairdressing into a respected profession for women.

At the same time, trade publications like The American Hairdresser (founded in 1877 and later renamed American Salon) chronicled the rise of professional beauty culture. These journals helped standardize techniques, advertised new products, and promoted the idea of the beauty parlor as a legitimate business rather than a questionable indulgence.

In practice, a toilet parlor was the forerunner of the modern beauty salon. Inside, women might find:

• Hairdressing and wig services
• Facial massages, skin treatments, and “toilet waters” (light perfumes)
• Manicures and nail buffing
• A parlor furnished with chairs, mirrors, and draped curtains—designed to feel more like a sitting room than a shop

By the 1890s, toilet parlors reflected a broader cultural shift. What once might have branded a woman as frivolous or “wayward” was increasingly recast as a mark of modern refinement and self-care. Thanks to pioneers like Martha Harper and the professionalization of the trade, the toilet parlor laid the foundation for today’s beauty salons.

 - by Val

Mary “Minnie” Perry Bassett (1878-1903) - Schoolteacher

 

PCA Archives

Mary Adeline Perry was born December 21, 1878, in Badger Springs, Arizona to William Henry Perry and Mary Agnes Clark.  William Perry was a rancher whose land later became part of Perry Mesa within the Agua Fria National Monument.   Mary was one of nine children, according to a homestead claim her father filed in 1889.

She and her sisters--Grace, Maud, Agnes and Charlotte “Lottie”—eventually attended Tempe Normal School (now Arizona State University).  Education for women was obviously valued in the Perry household.  Mary graduated in 1899 and became a schoolteacher.  One of her first teaching posts was in Arizola, Arizona.

Mary often visited friends in the Arizola area.  There was known to be a mountain lion in the area which had been taking livestock for some time.  One day, Mary was alone and on foot near the  Bellamy ranch when the lion appeared in her path.  Mary was certain that she was going to be attacked until she suddenly remembered reading about “the power of the human eyes on savage beasts.”  Mary looked the lion right in the eye and it turned and fled.  The lion, when later shot by a hunting party, was found to measure eight feet from nose to tail.

While teaching in Cordes, Arizona, Mary met Joseph Reuben Bassett, a cowboy who was working cattle on a nearby ranch.  They were married in Phoenix on April 17, 1902.

The young couple was living in Safford, Arizona, when on January 24, 1903, they welcomed a son, Walter into their household.   Unfortunately, Mary never recovered from the birth.  She died on February 4, 1903 in Safford, with childbirth listed as the cause.  She was buried in Masons Cemetery in Phoenix.

Although Joseph R. Bassett remarried a few years later, apparently little Walter was raised by his sister and her husband.  Joseph died at the Pioneers’ Home in Prescott, Arizona, in 1957.

Mary’s father, William Henry Perry outlived her by many years.  When he died in 1929, his ashes were scattered over Perry Mesa.

- by Patricia 

 

The Reburial of the Forgotten Pioneers

 

PCA Archives

When Phoenix was incorporated on February of 1881, city leaders were already facing a pressing issue, which was what to do with the town’s first cemetery. Located between Madison and Harrison from 7th Ave to 5th Ave., the cemetery stood in the way of the growing community. 

By 1884, after much political discussion, the graves were moved to a new site between 13th and 15th Avenues and Harrison and Madison. the move was considered done in 1888. Many hoped this would be the end of the matter, but over the years, as the city expanded and new buildings went up on the old burial grounds, human remains continued to be found. In 1935, partial remains were unearthed during construction, and once again, the city moved on.

The story resurfaced in May 2012, when excavation for a new county building revealed more remains. Archaeologists, including Dr. Todd Pitezel from the Arizona State Museum and Mark Hackbarth of Logan Simpson Design, investigated the site. They discovered partial remains belonging to 14 separate individuals, but no complete skeletons. The identities of these pioneers will never be known.

The Pioneer Cemetery Association stepped in, determined to ensure the remains would find a proper final resting place at Pioneer & Military Memorial Park (PMMP). PCA had a spot picked out that they had painstaking researched.  After months of waiting, the call finally came — the remains would be coming home!

In the quiet early hours of June 11, 2013, without public fanfare, the 14 individuals were reburied in the Loosley Cemetery, Block 8 Lot 8. Respecting a request from involved agencies, no public notice was given until after the reburial was complete.

Today, the burial spot marked with a grave marker honor these forgotten Phoenix residents. 

Pictures by Logan Simpson

Maude Ball (1864-1899) - Teaching Instructor

PCA Archives - AOUW

Maude was born June 21, 1864, in Marshall, Michigan, to Dr. Alexander Rawson Ball and Delilah née Weld.  She was the youngest of their ten children.  Maude’s father was a well-regarded homeopathic physician until his death at the age of 79 in 1902.  Her sister Hannah became a homeopath like her father and sister Fannie trained as a teacher.

By 1880, the Ball family was living in Mason, Shiawassee County, Michigan.  Maude herself graduated with a teaching degree in 1882 and eventually became an educator of teachers at Michigan State Normal School (now Eastern Michigan University) for several years. She then transferred to Whitewater Normal School (now University of Wisconsin--Whitewater) around 1897and served as secretary of the teachers' association.

Maude’s sister Delilah had married George Homer Jones in 1874.  On December 12, 1898, he died suddenly at the home of his mother in Michigan.  By September 1899, Maude was suffering from tubercular laryngitis, so her widowed sister Delilah accompanied her to Phoenix, Arizona Territory.

Like so many others who came to Phoenix during that time, Maude had been hoping that she would recover in the warm Arizona climate.  However, she died on December 26, 1899, at the home of her sister Delilah in Phoenix.

- by Patricia 

 

 

How Did They Move the Dead When Relocating a Cemetery?

 

PCA Archives - Loosley Cemetery

How Did They Move the Dead? A Look at Phoenix’s Early Cemetery Relocations 

We’re often asked: “How did they relocate graves from the old Phoenix cemetery?” Historical records from 19th-century cemetery relocations across the U.S., including Phoenix, often mention rudimentary mapping methods such as stakes, string (twine), and hand-drawn grids. These were used to mark grave locations and guide exhumation crews, especially in cemeteries that lacked formal headstones or clear lot maps. In some cases, someone just told them where to look or dig.

In Phoenix's case, there's strong anecdotal and documented evidence that:

·         The Original Phoenix Townsite Cemetery (Old City Cemetery) had minimal or deteriorating grave markers by the 1880s.

·         City workers and contractors relied on simple surveying tools: stakes, twine, and memory to create rows and sections.

·         John Loosley, who was paid to move remains to the new cemetery starting in 1884, kept basic records, but many were incomplete or lost.

·    Later discoveries when building the Maricopa County Sheriff's Administration Building strongly suggest that remains were missed or accidentally fragmented, which is common when relocations lack precise mapping.

Stay tuned! We will be highlighting the move of some forgotten unknown individuals to the PMMP that occurred in 2012.

 

Cemetery Mystery: Who Was Sam Elliott?

PCA Archives

 

Cemetery Mystery: Who Was Sam Elliott?

Tucked away in the Wooldridge Vault at Rosedale Cemetery lies a mystery we've yet to solve - an orphaned gravestone belonging to Sam Elliott, who passed away in 1851 at the age of 71. The grave maker does not belong to anyone in the vault.

This headstone is in great condition, yet its presence baffles us. It predates our cemetery by decades. Where did it come from? How did it end up here? Who was Sam Elliott, and more importantly, where is he truly buried?

If you know of an early Arizona settler by that name… if you’ve seen his name in family history… or if you just love a good historical puzzle, we welcome your theories.

Help us uncover the story behind the gravestone. Who knows? Maybe you hold the missing piece.

Frank Albert Barnes (1868-1903) - Circus Seal Trainer

Generic AI Generated Image

Frank Albert Barnes was born November 11, 1868, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, to James Barnes and Mary Jane Cain.  James was an oilwell driller who had immigrated from England to work in Pennsylvania’s oil fields.  By the 1890s, the family was in Akron, Ohio.  They lived in a cottage near railroad tracks, from which the Barnes youngsters would have seen trains come and go every day.  Frank’s younger brother James, Jr., became a locomotive engineer.

It is not known exactly how Frank Barnes joined the circus.  In 1897, he was employed by the Barnum & Bailey Circus.  Soon thereafter, he joined the Ringling Brothers Circus where he became a seal trainer and performer.

On the evening of October 4, 1903, Barnes suffered a fractured skull when he fell from a Ringling Brothers circus train as it was passing through Gila Bend, Arizona, at about 20 miles an hour.  He had been riding on a flatcar, next to the cages of his flippered charges, when the accident occurred.  It is presumed that he had fallen asleep. 

Train employees telegraphed ahead to the Circus’s ‘advance man’, Mr. Nagle, who was already in Phoenix making arrangements for the circus train’s arrival, and he had an ambulance waiting at the station.  Barnes was conveyed at once to Sisters Hospital in Phoenix, but he died on October 7, never having regained consciousness.

Barnes’s funeral was conducted from the undertaking parlor of J. Bradley, with all expenses covered by the Ringling Brothers Circus.  His body was temporarily interred in Rosedale Cemetery until the following spring, when the Circus had it transported back to Akron for burial in his family’s plot. It is a well-known fact that circus performers are a close-knit group and look after each other in death as in life.  Barnes being something of a local celebrity, his demise was widely reported in Akron newspapers.

- by Donna Carr

 

 

Mary Florence Mann (1841 - 1897) - Educator (reposted)

 

West End School 

Library of Congress

Industrial Drawing - 1894

Library of Congress

We are highlighting some of our business leaders in territorial Phoenix who were women.  Meet Mary Florence Mann!

Mary Florence was born about 1841 in Oswego, New York. She was the fourth of five children born to Daniel and Jane C. Shapley Card, farmers.  She entered the Oswego Normal and Training School in her late teens, graduating in 1863 with a teaching degree. By 1867, she was earning $500 a year as a schoolteacher in Cuba, New York. Sometime in the 1870s, she married Henry D. Mann, a physician and surgeon. The young couple moved to Tiffin, Ohio, where Henry attended Heidelberg College. Later, he did his residency at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before graduating from the Medical College in Albany, New York. He practiced for a short time in Ohio and Illinois before settling in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Florence continued to teach for a few years after marrying, but she is listed as a housewife on the 1880 federal census of Terre Haute. At some point thereafter, she and Henry separated but did not divorce.

In 1890, Florence came to Phoenix and was hired to teach in the Phoenix school system. Based on newspaper articles, she became well known as an educator. Besides teaching in the elementary schools, she often provided professional council and training at the Maricopa County Teachers’ Institutes, where she excelled in mechanical and industrial drawing.

She even persuaded the Phoenix school board to open a free night school for children over the age of 10 who were unable to attend day classes because of family obligations.

In 1893 Florence was appointed to the Maricopa Advisory Committee on Textbooks and School Law. Her duties included selecting the textbooks to be used throughout the district.

After retiring from teaching, she opened an art studio in Phoenix. A gifted artist, she painted many scenes of animals and the “wild and untamed west” in oils and watercolors. And she continued to volunteer at the night school she had started.

Florence died unexpectedly around 8 PM on March 22, 1897, while on her way home from seeing her students at the night school. Passersby heard her cry out in the alley beside the Ford Hotel on Washington Street and 2nd Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona, but she was gone before medical help arrived. Her doctor opined that she had died of an apoplexy—probably a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a burst aneurysm—as there were no signs of any trauma. She was 56 years old.

She was buried in City Loosley Cemetery and has no marker.  

- by Val

More Facts on Smurthwaite House!

PCA Archives

 

More facts on Smurthwaite House!

Robert Plumridge (1845-1906) - Gambler and Bookmaker

PCA Archive - Rosedale Cemetery

Robert Plumridge was born on December 1844 in New Zealand.  This would have been barely three years after the local Maori chieftains signed a treaty and New Zealand was made a British colony. 

It is possible that Robert was the son of George Plumridge, born in England, and Catherine Norris, born in Ireland.  The 1852 state census of California lists a boy by that name, living in the household of R. Watson and his wife Catherine.  Watson, a hotel steward, might have been Robert’s stepfather.

Plumridge was working as a waiter in California when the Civil War began in 1861.   On September 20, 1861, he enlisted at Coloma, El Dorado County, California, for a term of three years.  He mustered in at Auburn, Placer County, on October 16 and was assigned to Company F, 4th California Infantry.  The regiment never saw battle; instead, its soldiers were assigned as support personnel to posts along the west coast of the United States.  By September of 1862, Plumridge was working in the bake house of a military hospital.   At the expiration of his term of enlistment, he was discharged at Fort Yuma on September 20, 1864.

Fort Yuma was on the California side of the Colorado River, across from the Arizona Territory.  Plumridge seems to have chosen Arizona over California, for he was recorded as voting in Prescott in 1876.  In 1880, he was listed as managing a hotel in Tombstone.

On November 10, 1883, Plumridge wed Isabel Acedo in Tucson, Arizona (she also appears in several records as ‘Elizabeth’).   Isabel was twenty years his junior.  They settled in Phoenix, where they had five children.

Instead of employing his skills as a baker, Plumridge made his living in Phoenix as a gambler and bookmaker.  According to his obituary, he was an ardent ‘sporting man’ and an authority on card games, horse races and boxing.  Nevertheless, he had such a reputation for honesty and fair play that even those who lost their bets could not complain.  He was employed for several years by the Capitol Saloon as a faro dealer, although he sometimes took time off to attend sporting events where money was likely to change hands.

On September 7, 1895, Plumridge applied for an invalid pension due to respiratory problems contracted during his service.  He was awarded Pension # 938,379.  

Plumridge died on June 19, 1906, of carcinoma of the bowels.   Following an Episcopal funeral service, he was buried in Rosedale, Section: R-N.

Plumridge’s wife Elizabeth received widow’s pension # 852,345, based on his military service.  She died August 1, 1927, in Los Angeles, California.

 -by Donna Carr

 

Women of Grit: Business Owners at the PMMP

Ford Hotel - Location of Mary Lee's Ford Hotel Restaurant

Arizona Memory Project

 

In the 1800s, women were often limited to a narrow set of occupational roles which included teacher, servant, housekeeper, Sunday School instructor, or professions like saloon girl or madame. However, with the settling of the West, more opportunities developed for women, and many could start and own their own businesses.   

Here at the PMMP lie remarkable women who defied the norms of their day. 

🍨 Caroline Goodhue ran an ice cream shop
🍽️ Mary A. Lee operated her own restaurant
🍸 Edna Laziola kept a saloon
🖼️ Mary Florence Mann offered private lessons as an art teacher
🛠️ Saloma Newland owned and mined her own claims throughout Arizona

We also honor two of our cemetery owners.  Lulu Porter owned Porter Cemetery.  She sold and managed plots of land from it for burials.  Hortense Peery owned a large portion of Rosedale Cemetery, while in her late teens, no doubt, from California.

These women weren’t just business owners. They were barrier breakers, paving the way for generations to come.

Stay tuned for more stories about these entrepreneurs! 

 

Early Burials at the PMMP - Who Were They?

 

Cassie Smith - City Loosley Cemetery - PCA Archives

Early Burial Locations - PMMP

Ed Dobbins

Ed Dobbins in his research has revealed the following:

"The City/Loosley burial records contain the names of 133 individuals who died prior to the cemetery’s opening. With a few exceptions, most of the people on the list are believed to have been first interred at the Original Phoenix Township (OPT) cemetery.  Location information is available for thirty of the graves. Fifteen are marked by original monuments and nine by memorials recently placed by the PCA.

On the accompanying map (above), the red filled lots contain graves that were relocated from the OPT to City/Loosley Cemetery. Most are in the northwest quarter of Loosley. Two units with the OPT burials are in the southern portion of City Cemetery in Blocks XVII and XVIII.

Visible remains at City Cemetery of this final effort to empty the old cemetery include an impressive row of five original monuments in Block XVII in the southeast corner. A more recent marker appears in a family group of three in the northeast corner of the adjacent Block XVIII. The presence of these markers suggests that Blocks XVII and XVIII were considered part of the “city Potter’s field” mentioned by Loosley and contain unidentified remains from the OPT cemetery."

Here are just a few of the early burials:

🕯️ Cassandra Smith – 1872, age 3
🕯️ William Morrell – 1876, age 52
🕯️ Josiah Phy – 1877, 6 weeks
🕯️ Melvina Morrell – 1877, age 38
🕯️ John Wren Owen – 1877, age 54
🕯️ Henry “Harry” Sayers – 1879, age 47
🕯️ King S. Woolsey – 1879, age 47
🕯️ Luke Monihon – 1879, age 38
🕯️ Hiram Dunham – 1880, age 52
🕯️ Carmen Alvarez – 1881, age 35

the oldest original standing grave marker in the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park is Cassandra Smith.  In September 1872, little Cassandra Smith, daughter of William and Fanny Smith, passed away after just two days of illness. Described as intelligent, pretty, and affectionate, she holds a solemn place in Phoenix history.  

It is beyond amazing that after 150 years, her grave marker still stands.  We welcome you to tour our grounds to see the other original markers.

George Frank Breninger (1865-1905) - Naturalist

 

Masons Cemetery with Masonic Memorial - PCA Archives

George Frank Breninger was born September, 1865, probably in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  From age fifteen, he manifested an intense fascination with nature, collecting specimens, pelts and eggs.  His collection of birds’ eggs was at one time considered the fourth largest in the country.

Breninger became an ornithologist and expert taxidermist, mounting many of his specimens himself.  As a naturalist, he had traveled widely in the continental United States from the Rockies as far south as the Isthmus of Panama to locate and collect rare species.  Some of his work was sent to the Smithsonian Museum and Field Columbian Museum in Chicago.  Another of his collections was at Colorado State University. 

He married Margaret J. Hoag, daughter of Addison Hoag in Fort Collins, Colorado, on September 19, 1888.  Although he and his wife had five children, only their oldest son, David Addison, had a somewhat normal lifespan.  Juvenile diabetes seems to have run in the family, as son Walter and daughter May both died of it before insulin became available to treat it.  Another child died in infancy, and daughter Luella Ruth died of scarlet fever in 1903.

The family moved to Phoenix around 1897.  In 1900, Professor Breninger spent six months in the Rockies, collecting specimens for the Foote Mineral Museum in Philadelphia.  He published several scholarly papers about birds.

In 1903, Professor Breninger traveled to Guatemala and Nicaragua for four months to secure 500 bird specimens for the Field Columbian Museum.   The conditions of the trip were rather primitive and Breninger’s team was regarded with some suspicion by the locals, who feared they might be a filibustering expedition intent on destabilizing the Mexican government.  Breninger collected many parrot specimens and even some ocelots.  He also brought back an orchid plant.  It survived the six-week journey back to Arizona and bloomed in 1904.

Breninger grew different varieties of crops on his farm to determine whether they could survive in desert conditions.  His wife Margaret had a fine flower garden and sold cut flowers in season.  It is not known whether they had a greenhouse for their more delicate plants, although there were greenhouses in Phoenix by 1913.

For years, Breninger was exposed to arsenic in the course of his taxidermy work.  Although he knew it was detrimental to his health, such was his devotion to his nature studies that he accepted the risk.  He suffered three strokes, with each one leaving him weaker. 

He died on December 2, 1905, at his home at 386 North Sixth Avenue.  After a Christian Science funeral, he was buried in Masons Cemetery. 

-by Donna Carr

 

Generated with AI Bing Image Creator

A Bird’s-Eye View of History: Comparing PMMP from 1930 to 2025

 

A New View of Our History!

On April 25, 2025, a drone soared above Pioneer & Military Memorial Park, capturing stunning high-resolution aerial photographs of the entire cemetery from just 50–60 feet above ground. Using precise parallel flight paths, every inch of both the north and south cemeteries was documented in detail.

But the real magic? We're comparing these 2025 drone images to aerial photos dating as far back as the 1930s! Take a look at these shots and see how the landscape has changed!

Photographs: City of Phoenix

Volunteer Spotlight: Meet Donna!

 

PCA Archives

When Donna Carr first met Marge West in 1985, both were working at Cholla Branch Library. Like Marge, Donna was a librarian and family genealogist well before personal computers were widely available.  From time to time, Marge would mention her work at the pioneer cemetery near the State Capitol and how she was reading rolls of newspaper microfilm, searching for obituaries of those buried there.  Still, it wasn't until 2004 that Donna had enough free time to actually join the Pioneers Cemetery Association, becoming its first webmaster.

In addition to long-time PCA member Marge, Donna then met Diane Sumrall, Frank Barrios and Reba Grandrud.  She assisted with major projects such as the 2012 Inventory of Arizona's Historic Cemeteries and the compilation of a burial list for nearby Cementerio Lindo.  Between 2015 and 2017, she was on the team that revised the burial list of the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park in light of additional information that had been unearthed since the publication of the first edition in 2005.  And she sometimes donned period-appropriate dress for the PCA's annual Memorial Day observances.

In 2017, the PCA coordinated with author Derek Horn and the History Press to publish a book specifically about some of the notable characters buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. As chair of the PCA's Living History team, Donna has carried on that project by researching and writing almost 200 short biographical sketches of the Cemetery's 'residents'--with more to come!  She has paid particular attention to documenting the lives of African American, Chinese, Hispanic, Native American and women pioneers who rest in the cemeteries that the PCA manages.

Thank you Donna for all you do!

Original Phoenix Township Cemetery Burials at City/Loosley Cemetery

 

Luke Monihon - Died 1879

City/Loosley - Block II Grave 6

Map - Ed Dobbins

Did you know that the Original Phoenix Township (OPT) Cemetery was moved?  The “Old City Cemetery” was between 5th and 7th Avenues, Jackson to Madison Streets.  By 1884, it was considered unsightly and too close to the growing business district.  

Ed Dobbins, one of our historians at the PCA, has shared the following in several talks:

"The new City/Loosley Cemetery in the current Pioneer and Military Memorial Park was opened in October 1884. It took three and one-half years to complete the transfer of burials from the old cemetery to the new in early 1888. We do not know the exact number of burials that were moved but Enrique Garfias was credited with exhuming 295 graves and John R. Loosley was reimbursed almost $700 for expenses he incurred removing an unspecified number of remains.

John R. Loosley, owner of Loosely Cemetery, contributed to the clearing of the OPT through newspaper advertisements appealing to the families and friends of those buried in the old cemetery. He offered liberal terms for lots in his new cemetery while informing the public of “the contemplated removal of occupants of the old cemetery to the city Potter’s field.” The grouping of pre-1884 graves in the northwest part of Loosley Cemetery may be evidence of responses to his advertisements. OPT burials were relocated to Blocks II, III, VI and X which were areas also favored for contemporary burials in the earliest years of the cemetery. 

After three years of discussions and proposals, the city in late 1887 decided to use its own employees to clear the OPT. Much of the work was accomplished in January 1888 by a crew supervised by Enrique Garfias, the first city marshal of Phoenix, serving at the time as City Zanjero. In April 1888 the OPT cemetery was declared cleared."

Stay tuned!!!  Who were the "original residents" of the old cemetery that were moved?  Find out here at Behind the Epitaph!

 

Robert John “Robin” Icke (1858-1905) - Ostrich Wrangler

Microsoft Stock Image

Robert John “Robin” Icke was born April 1858 in Attleborough, Warwickshire, England. He married Fannie Townsend in England.  However, their first child, John Henry Townsend Icke, was born April 1888 in Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa, where Mr. Icke had gone to engage in ostrich farming.  Ostrich feathers were in great demand for Victorian ladies’ millinery, and the huge birds were also raised for their meat.

The couple’s second child, Edith Winifred Icke, was born in July 1890 in Wellington, Shropshire, England.  The 1891 census of England and Wales also recorded the Ickes in Wellington, where Mr. Icke was working as a commissions agent.

By about 1893, the Ickes were in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when Mr. Icke was hired by Josiah T. Harbert to manage his ostrich farm in south Phoenix.  Perhaps the desert climate reminded the Ickes of South Africa, for they came to Arizona at once…and stayed.  The United States federal census of 1900 records them living about three miles northwest of Phoenix.

Around this time, newspaper accounts suggest that Robin Icke was of unsound mind.  He was committed to the insane asylum for a brief period in September of 1900. In April 1901, Fannie Icke contracted typhoid fever.  She died on April 13th.   Because Mrs. Icke’s doctor had been sanguine about her chances of recovery, and because of her husband’s previous mental illness, an autopsy was ordered.  It proved, however, that Mrs. Icke had indeed died of typhoid fever.

Fannie Icke was buried in Porter Cemetery, Block 17.  Shortly thereafter, the two Icke children--John, 13, and Edith, 10—were sent back to England to be raised by Fannie’s married sister.

While the exact nature of Robert Icke’s mental illness is not known, the death of his wife and the loss of his children may well have pushed him over the edge.  On March 2, 1905, he died of alcoholism in his room at the Commercial Hotel in Phoenix.  He was buried next to his deceased wife in Porter Cemetery, B17.

- by Donna Carr

 

 

Early Old Phoenix Cemetery Monuments - Who Were They?

City Loosley Cemetery Looking East - PCA Archives

When settlers first arrived in the Salt River Valley in the 1860s and early 1870s, the area was still very much a frontier. In the early years, there were no formal cemeteries, no mapped burial grounds, and very little infrastructure beyond irrigation ditches and adobe homes. When someone died, they were often buried quickly in small, informal family plots, ranch sites, or near settlements along the canals and river. Graves might be marked with simple wooden crosses, piles of stones, or homemade markers, if marked at all.

These early burials reflected both the urgency and isolation of pioneer life. Disease, accidents, violence, and childbirth took lives unexpectedly, and there was no central burial ground to bring the community together in mourning. As the settlement that would become Phoenix began to grow with the construction of canals and a platted townsite, it became clear that the community needed a formal cemetery where loved ones could be laid to rest with respect and where families could visit and remember them.

By the early 1870s, town leaders recognized this need and selected land on what was then the southwestern edge of Phoenix, bounded by Seventh and Fifth Avenues and Jackson and Madison Streets.   By today's standards, it was rudimentary, as burials were not always mapped or marked, and records were sparse.  However, this first city cemetery provided a designated space for burials and included early pioneers of Phoenix.

Curious about who these early burials were, and how they were carefully moved to their new resting place (otherwise known as the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park)? Stay tuned for the next part of our story!

Happy Fourth of July!

 

Happy Fourth of July!  Stay safe!

A Thursday Funny for You!

Doesn't everyone have this hobby? 😀😀

 

How Old Do You Think is the Oldest Grave Marker In Our Cemetery? Old Station Subs Weighs In.........

Find out next week!  Stay tuned to our blog, Facebook, and Instagram accounts to find out how old the oldest grave markers are in our cemetery, and the story behind them!

Facebook:  Pioneers' Cemetery Association

Instagram:  @pcacemeteries

 

Henry “Harry” Sayers (1832 – 1879) - The Dublin "Sportsman"

 

Henry “Harry” Sayers was born in Ireland around 1832, in a time when many people sought new lives across the sea. He made that journey himself and found new opportunity in the American frontier.

Also known as “Dublin” or “Dublin Tricks”, Sayers carved out his place in history not only as an early Phoenix settler but also as a United States Army soldier. His path to citizenship came through military service, Records show he was naturalized thanks to that service and at least one record shows him registered to vote in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona Territory, on October 14, 1876.

Sayers’ military service appears to have begun in New York in 1858, when he enlisted at the age of 23 in Company E, 5th United States Infantry. A plumber by trade before donning the uniform, he served through the challenging years that included the Civil War era, though his own term concluded before its end. He was discharged at Los Pinos, New Mexico Territory, in 1863.

After his Army years, Sayers eventually settled in Arizona, Known to be a “sporting” character, he appeared in a local newspaper in 1873 offering to fight any man in the Arizona Territory in a prize match under London Prize Ring rules, with $1000 wagered on each side. By 1878, he had established a feed, exchange, and sales stable with a bar attached to it advertising the “best liquor and cigars”.  Henry appeared to be a colorful and savvy part of the gritty fabric of pioneer life.

Henry “Harry” Sayers died on June 28, 1879. He was 47 years old, though records vary slightly on his exact birth year. He is buried in the Loosley section of Pioneer and Military Memorial Park. Originally, his grave was among the earliest in the Old Phoenix Cemetery but was relocated to Loosley when the new cemetery was established.

During the 2025 preservation event, our historian, Patty, reported that his headstone was found in Loosley with its top portion broken off and lying face-up on the ground. The base was discovered about a foot underground using careful probing and was brought back to the surface to restore the marker's presence. The headstone itself was made in Tucson, as confirmed by the maker’s markings, adding another historic layer to this pioneer’s enduring story in Arizona.  Watch the video above to see this restoration.  

-by Val W.

Did You Know? Fact Series - Introducing Smurthwaite

 

Grace Curns (1877-1894) - Beloved by All

 

AI Bing

Grace was born in 1877 in Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas.   She was the second child of John Wesley Curns and his wife, Frances Virginia Hulse.  In 1880, John Wesley was a real estate agent. Grace’s older brother, John Frank, had been born in 1871, and a younger brother, Edison Speed Curns, was born in 1879.  Edison died at the age of seven and was buried in Winfield, Kansas. 

The Curns family moved to Phoenix sometime between 1887 and April 1893.  Though newcomers, they evidently moved in the best circles and were considered relatively cultured.   The Curnses were members of the Presbyterian Church whose pastor, Rev. Preston McKinney, they had previously known in Kansas. 

As a member of the Phoenix high school class of 1895, Grace belonged to the Ionian Literary Society and Philomathean (musical) Society.  Both societies often performed at community events.   In August 1894, she joined several others in a trip to Mogollons to escape the summer heat.

Grace fell ill early in November and died on November 21, 1894, of cerebritis or a swelling of the brain resulting in severe headaches and seizures.  It is often found in persons with lupus although it may also have been caused by a bacterial infection. 

Her obituary describes her as a dutiful daughter, kind sister, affectionate friend and a young lady of high intellect and industry.  Schoolmates draped her desk in black and covered it with flowers.  At the Presbyterian church, a thirty-six string harp with one broken string symbolized the loss of a favorite Sunday School student.   Rev. Preston McKinney conducted the funeral service, after which the remains were borne to Porter Cemetery.  Grace’s coffin was deposited upon a carpet of flowers that lined the grave in the east half of Block 18.

A few years after Grace’s death, Mr. and Mrs. Curns moved to Willow Creek in Yavapai County. The federal census of 1900 records Mr. Curns as a farmer.  Grace’s surviving brother was a bookkeeper.

- by Donna Carr