Caroline Myrick Goodhue: Phoenix’s Ice Cream Pioneer

 

Photographs: Ad - Arizona Republic, 1883 Ice Cream - Library of Congress

In 1883, Caroline Myrick Goodhue made her mark on early Phoenix by purchasing Lots 6, 8, 10, and 12 in Block 31 from the Common Council of the City of Phoenix. This block was located near 4th Street and Jefferson, placing her in the heart of the growing town. Around the same time, she opened her Ice Cream Parlor near 1st Street and Washington, a central location close to both the Arctic Ice Works and the Phoenix Ice Factory, two businesses that were vital to preserving perishables in the desert climate. The proximity of her shop to the ice houses made perfect sense, as ice cream was still a luxury in frontier towns.

An 1883 newspaper article celebrated her return from visiting family in Canada, recalling with fondness the “happy associations in the hearts of our belles and beaux” and how her parlor was known for its tastefully arranged rooms, ice cream, cake, and social gatherings. Mrs. Goodhue’s establishment was more than a business—it was a social hub, offering Phoenix residents and visitors a refined place to gather in the Territory’s rough early days.

Her presence in the business district reflects the entrepreneurial spirit of pioneer women, who contributed to the cultural and social life of Phoenix as much as its economic growth. Through her ice cream parlor, Caroline Goodhue helped bring a touch of sweetness and civility to a frontier community carving its identity in the desert.

Anne Morrison Perley (1865-1932) - A Teacher in Puerto Rico

Pinterest Post Card - 1907

Anne Morrison Perley was born January 28, 1865, in Henry County, Illinois, to Peleg Stone Perley and Nancy Eliza Morrison.  Anne had three siblings:  Bruce, Grace and Harriet (known as Polly).  

Anne came from a family of teachers.  Her grandfather, Nathanial Perley, had been an educator for over 30 years, and her father Peleg was a teacher prior to becoming a lawyer and practicing law in Henry, Illinois.

  Peleg Perley was the postmaster of Henry, Illinois, in the early 1880s.  In 1883, he employed Anne as a postal clerk.   She was attending Washington University’s College of Fine Arts in St. Louis in 1887.

 The Perley family moved to Arizona where Peleg continued his legal career in a milder climate.  Anne travelled to Tombstone to fill the position of assistant principal at Tombstone High School in January, 1892. It was a temporary appointment, and she returned to Phoenix at the end of the school year in June.  Having acquired some administrative experience, she was then hired as the assistant principal for the old Central School at 201 North Central Avenue in Phoenix. 

Anne remained in Phoenix, teaching, until after the death of her parents--her father in 1898 and her mother in 1900.  Thereafter, she went to teach in Bisbee, returning to Phoenix in 1903.  A few years later, Anne departed Arizona for New York and accepted an offer to teach in Puerto Rico.  She arrived there in September 1909 aboard the Steamship Coamo.   The 1910 federal census recorded her as a schoolteacher living in Pueblo Norte, Aibonito. 

Anne may have learned to speak Spanish during her years of teaching in Tombstone, Bisbee and Phoenix.  Acquired by the United States from Spain in 1898, Puerto Rico had a need for bilingual teachers, especially after the Foraker Act of 1901 mandated that English should be the language of instruction in Puerto Rican high schools.

It is not known how long Anne remained in Puerto Rico teaching.  However, by 1920 she was back in Brooklyn, New York, and working as a translator for an export business.  Presumably, she was by then fluent in Spanish. 

Anne was still living in Brooklyn in 1930 when she fell ill and was sent to a private sanitarium in Stamford, Connecticut.  She died there on May 23, 1932.[i]  Her sister Grace arranged for her cremains to be returned to Arizona where she was buried in her parents’ cemetery plot in Porter Cemetery.

 - by Patricia 

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.