#2 Baldomedo Peralta (abt 1852-1903) - A Christmas Eve Tragedy

 

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Descendants of Baldomedo Peralta believe that he was born in Rio De San Pedro, Cuevas de Batuco, Sonora, Mexico.  He may have been the son of a Pedro Peralta.  His birth year seems to have been somewhere between 1849 and 1854, but verifiable records do not begin until he arrived in Phoenix in 1880.

Apparently, Peralta and Guadalupe Baldenegro had been keeping company since at least 1879.  They were on their way by wagon train from Superior to Phoenix in August, 1880, when their first child, Rosario, was born at a wagon stop called La Poste (now Apache Junction).

Upon reaching Phoenix, the couple was married on September 19, 1880, in a civil ceremony—possibly because there was no Catholic priest available. 

Thereafter, the Peraltas had children at regular intervals.  Descendants think there were twelve, although only six lived to adulthood.   It is not known for sure where they were all born, although the Peraltas seem to have resided in Phoenix continuously and not migrated back and forth between Mexico and Arizona.  A two-year-old daughter, Louisa, died in 1900 and was buried in Rosedale Cemetery.  Her older sister Guadalupe, aged 9, died in 1902 and was also buried in Rosedale.

Despite the vagueness of his origins, Baldomedo Peralta seems to have had some education.   Apparently regarded as ‘white’, he registered to vote in 1884, 1890, 1892, 1894 and 1900.  He was active in a Latino mutual-aid society and was also a member of Phoenix’s volunteer fire brigade.

On Christmas Eve, 1903, the Peralta family was enjoying a festive meal at their home when a kerosene lamp exploded, setting fire to the room.  Although the family ran outside into the yard, Baldomedo and Guadalupe quickly realized that one of the children was missing.  Peralta reentered the burning house, located the child and passed him through an open window to the family outside.  He then attempted to save some of the family’s belongings.  When he emerged from the house, his hair and clothing were on fire.  Although he stanched the blood flowing from a vein in his neck and walked to a doctor to be bandaged, his burns turned out to be more severe than was first thought.  He was admitted to Sisters’ Hospital, where he died on December 27th.  He was buried in the Catholic section of Loosley Cemetery.

After Baldomedo’s death, the oldest Peralta son, Porfirio, became the head of the family.  He too would eventually join the fire brigade.  Porfirio and his family remained in Phoenix until 1921, when they followed some of the other Peralta siblings to California.

- by Donna Carr

 

 

#10 Tallman Jacob "T.J" Trask (1852-1894) - Pioneer Grocer

 

PCA Archives

Tallman Jacob Trask was born 1852 in Vassalboro, Maine, one of eleven children born to William Chase Trask and his second wife, Sophia Winslow.  By 1860, the Trask family had moved to Concord, Illinois.

When he was 17, Tallman, or T. J. as he was known, went to work for Abel Gum as a clerk in Gum’s dry goods store.  T.J. roomed with the Gum family while he learned the ins-and-outs of the mercantile trade. 

Around 1876, young Trask traveled west to Pueblo, Colorado, where he became the head clerk in the grocery store of John D. Miller..  It was there that he met Laura E. Cooper, whom he married in July of 1877.   The couple had two children born between 1878 and 1879, but both died in infancy and were buried in the Odd Fellows section of the Pueblo Pioneer Cemetery.

In 1879, T. J and Laura moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to start a new store with Lyman Putney, a business man from Lawrence, Kansas.  The store, which specialized in wholesale groceries and exotic fruits from California, was located in downtown Albuquerque on Railroad Avenue, opposite the train depot. 

T.J. and Laura had a tumultuous relationship, with Laura spending much of her time with her family in Pueblo and Kansas.  In the spring of 1884, T. J. filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion.  It was granted in October of 1884.  In December of 1884, he married Lizzie Strother of Ohio, thought by some to have been “an adventuress”.  T. J. dissolved his business interests with his partner Lyman Putney and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he opened a store with his new brother-in-law, Emory Kays. 

Still later, in 1892, T.J. opened another store with Charles Kessler and T.J’s brother Alonzo. Located on Washington between modern-day Central Ave and 1st Avenue in Phoenix, the Trask-Kessler wholesale grocery soon became one of the largest grocery stores in town.

As he prospered, T.J. took on many civic duties, becoming president of the Arizona Industrial Exposition Association and territorial fair.  His most notable exhibits were a pagoda made from grains grown on his farm, and a display of hanging tea cups and saucers from his wholesale grocery store that spelled “Trask-Kessler”.  He also served as president of the Immigration Union, vice president of the Business Chamber of Commerce in Phoenix, and was on the board of the Phoenix and Prescott Toll Road Company. 

T. J. died on December 8, 1894, from an intestinal ailment which he had fought for eight months. He was laid to rest in Porter cemetery. His headstone is of an unusual Moorish design and describes him as an “upright businessman”.

-by Val Wilson

 

Frank B. Moss (1852-1906) - Mayor and Fire Chief

Phoenix Fire Department

Frank Benjamin Moss was born on September 15, 1852, in Slades Corners, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, to Francis Maas and Christina Schmidt.  He grew up in Wheatland, Wisconsin, where he began at the age of 16 to learn the blacksmithing trade from his father.

As a young man, he moved to the boom town of Virginia City, Nevada, where he worked at his trade and also ran a lumberyard.  He moved to Tombstone in 1878, where he initially worked as a teamster.  Wagon trains crossing southern Arizona traveled mostly at night to avoid the day’s heat and attacks by Apache Indians.  Reportedly, Moss came under fire on two occasions but escaped unharmed. 

About 1880, Moss relocated to Phoenix where he set up a blacksmith and wagon-making shop at the northeast corner of First Avenue and Adams Street.  On May 31, 1885, he married Ida May Harriman in Mesa.  They had three sons: Earl, Ralph and Ernest.

Business was good and Moss prospered.  He invested in real estate, ranched and raised cattle, did some mining and owned and trained race horses.  He also joined the volunteer Phoenix Fire Department, where his skills as a blacksmith and wagon-maker were appreciated.  By 1890, he was an assistant chief and by 1892 he was the chief. After being injured on the job, he had to give up his position as fire chief.  Moss then turned his attention to city politics and, in 1894, won a seat on the Phoenix City Council.

The political climate in the growing city was sometimes volatile.  Fed up with the wrangling, Dr. Roland Rosson resigned as mayor on April 6, 1896.  Moss was appointed acting mayor, a position he held until a special election was held on June 2, 1896.   Moss returned to work in his new blacksmith shop on the corner of Washington Street and Fourth Avenue.

On December 4, 1898, for unknown reasons, Moss moved out of his home and separated from his wife.   Citing abandonment as the cause, Ida filed for divorce on June 14, 1899.  Scarcely a month after the divorce became final, she married Orrin W. Lawrence, a Phoenix policeman. 

On July 10, 1905, Moss again became acting mayor. This time, he held the seat for almost a year.  During his stint, he signed into law several progressive city ordinances.

On the evening of March 19, 1906, Mayor Moss rode his bicycle to City Hall.  While climbing the steps, he complained of chest pain and medical help was summoned.  Moss died between 9 and 10 PM, likely of a heart attack.  He was 53 years old.

 Throngs of citizens viewed Moss’s body as it lay in state at City Hall.   After the funeral, he was interred in the Odd Fellows Cemetery. 

 -by Mark Lamm and Derek Horn