Joseph Thomas Barnum (1832-1909) - Maricopa County Sheriff

 

Thomas Barnum

Photo from Maricopa for Lodge #5

Joseph Thomas Barnum was born in 1832 in New York state, the son of Truman Barnum and Harriet Rich.  Although he is said to have been a cousin of P.T. Barnum, the famous showman (Phineas was the son of Philo, while Joseph Thomas was the son of Truman), so far no proof has been found that Philo and Truman were brothers. 

The Barnums came to Arizona in 1864 and settled first in Prescott, where Joseph Thomas met and married Jeanette Jane “Jenettie” Osborn, daughter of John P. Osborn and Perlina Swetnam, on 10 May 1865.  He was 33, almost 17 years older than his teenaged bride.

When Barnum, who usually went by his middle name of Thomas, moved his family to the Salt River Valley in 1868, his wife was one of only four Anglo women in the rough settlement.  Barnum was quick to see the Valley's potential and went into partnership with J. W. Swilling in digging irrigation ditches.   He was also one of the signers of the original Salt River Valley Town Association pact on 20 October 1870.

When Maricopa County was created in 1871 from Yavapai County, it became necessary to elect county officials for the first time.  After one candidate for sheriff, a man named Chenoweth, shot and killed another candidate, J. Favorite, in a gunfight, Barnum became the front runner for the office.  He was elected and served from May until August, 1871.

Besides enforcing the law, Barnum's duties included developing a tax roll and collecting taxes for the new county.  He also had to take convicted felons to the state prison in Yuma and transport the insane to the nearest mental hospital which was in California.  Being out of town so often made it difficult for Barnum to attend to the running of his ranch, so he resigned as sheriff in August of 1871.  The federal census of 1880 lists his occupation as ‘saloonkeeper’.

Barnum’s ranch eventually prospered but, between 1873 and 1884, he and his wife mourned the loss of five of their thirteen children. 

As he had demonstrated earlier in digging irrigation canals, Barnum was willing to invest in the future. In 1901, he was among the signers of the articles of incorporation for the Phoenix Independent Telephone Company.  Like many other Arizona pioneers, he also had mining interests and became a partner in the Gold Coin Mining Company in 1901 [8].

Barnum died on 26 January 1909 at the age of 77 [9].  Although his death certificate says he was buried in 'the Catholic Cemetery', it is believed that he was actually buried in the Catholic section of Loosley Cemetery, next to his five little sons.  The rest of the Barnum family is buried about a mile away in Forest Lawn Cemetery [10].

 -by Donna Carr

 

Georgia A. DeLoach Lewis (1872-1909) - Lineage on "Finding Your Roots"!

Bing AI

*Editor's Note:  This lineage was featured on Season 3, Episode 7, of finding your roots! 

Georgia was born on March 10, 1872, in Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio.   She was one of at least nine children of George W. DeLoach and Mary Stewart, African Americans.

She married Frank M. Hailstock on December 24, 1898, but he died only eight weeks later.  On the 1900 federal census of Ohio, Georgia was listed as a young widow, living in her parents' household.

Georgia married John Edward Lewis shortly thereafter.   John had been a Buffalo Soldier with the 10th Cavalry.   Their firstborn son was Frank Hailstock Lewis.  Both John and Georgia must have thought highly of Georgia’s deceased first husband to have named their son after him.  While in Ohio, Georgia and John also had a daughter Ruth, born in 1905.

The Lewis family moved to Phoenix because of Georgia’s health.  Her husband John became a well-known barber; he also ran a boxing gym.

Unfortunately, Georgia died on August 26, 1909, at the age of 37.  She was buried in Rosedale Cemetery, although her grave does not have a marker and its exact location is no longer known.

In 1912, John Edward Lewis married Mattie Drake in Norton, Yuma County, Arizona, and he and Mattie had several children together.  One was boxer Nathaniel Christy Lewis, biological grandfather of rap artist LL Cool J, as revealed in season 3, episode 7 of the popular TV series, “Finding Your Roots”.

John Edward Lewis died on July 17, 1947, and was buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.

-By Donna Carr

 

Rosa Santa Cruz O’Meara (1876 - 1909) - The Death of an Innocent Bystander

 

Picture Created by Val (AI)

Rosa Santa Cruz was born in Arizona, June 1876, to José Maria Santa Cruz and Espectacion Lorona.  She was the second oldest of their four children. Since José Santa Cruz was a blacksmith by trade and also involved in mining, the family moved often. In 1880, they were living in Signal, Arizona. The 1882 Arizona Territorial Census recorded them living in Maricopa County. José then moved his family to the area of Superior, Arizona, where Rosa and her sisters were attending the Silver King School in 1884. Later, the family moved to Florence. 

The Santa Cruzes were back in the Salt River Valley by the time Rosa’s sister, Ramona, married Simon Robles in 1896.  José’s wife Espectacion died in Phoenix November 15, 1897.  Eighteen months later, Rosa married Edward O’Meara on May 1, 1899.  Edward, who had arrived in Phoenix in 1895, was a bricklayer by trade and thirteen years older than Rosa. The couple had two children, Lawrence Francis “Frank”, born 1899, and Mamie, born 1902.  

While their children were still young, Edward became paralyzed and was placed in Sisters’ Hospital.  Rosa moved her family to the small town of Winkelman, Arizona. Times were hard.  during the hot summer, she and the children lived in a shed with only three walls and a blanket covering the open side. It was located behind a general store owned by merchants Akel and Tilly.  Near Rosa’s humble abode was a tent belonging to Pablo Ortega.  

Ortega had an ongoing feud with the merchants because they threw their slops out the back door of the store on to the ground in front of his tent. At 5:40 a.m. on July 31, 1909, an irate Ortega fired several shots at Akel and Tilly, striking both. However, when the shooting stopped, neighbors discovered that Rosa O’Meara had also been hit. She had been standing out of view behind the blanket covering the front of her shed when a bullet pierced her right shoulder, exiting through her left shoulder.  She died 30 minutes later.  Rosa’s sister Ramona had her body brought back to Phoenix for burial in Loosley Cemetery.  At this time, the location of her grave is unknown.

-Donna carr