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.