John Bolton (1866 - 1902) - Politician

PCA Archives

John Bolton arrived in Phoenix about 1890. During his short life of 36 years, he journeyed from Kansas to San Diego, California, before relocating to Phoenix for his health. 

Bolton had been born in Tennessee. African-American and a barber by trade, Bolton began his career in Phoenix by working in Frank Shirley’s barber shop, The Fashion. Bolton’s wife Hattie worked at the Alhambra on Papago.
           

Bolton was not a man to be easily intimidated. While walking home from work late in December, 1892, he was accosted by a thief. Seizing a brick, Bolton hit the footpad in the face and made his escape unscathed.
           
Soon after his arrival in Phoenix, Bolton became active in local politics. He was elected as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention from Maricopa County in April, 1896, the year in which William McKinley won his first term as president.
           
In June 1897, Bolton contracted to have a one-story brick residence built at Fillmore and North 2nd Street. A well-read man, Bolton was elected president of the Colored Literary Society in December, 1897. 
           
As Bolton prospered in his profession, he opened a barber shop in a more prestigious location, the new Adams Hotel in downtown Phoenix. In September 1898, he also took a civil service exam and became one of the first black letter carriers in the city. 
           
Bolton seems to have been a bit of a practical jokester. When he made the acquaintance of African American men recently arrived in Phoenix, he was not above engaging in a little hazing. First, Bolton would suggest that his new companion accompany him to a local park to meet some of the town’s young ladies. Once there, a confederate would jump out of the bushes and fire a couple of gunshots, causing the poor chap to take to his heels with Bolton close behind. Not until the newcomer stopped to draw breath would Bolton innocently remark that the shooter must have been the overprotective father of one of the young ladies.
           
Unfortunately, the desert air was not restorative for John Bolton and he died at his home on North Second Street of a lung hemorrhage on December 26, 1902, leaving behind his wife and son. The funeral was attended by his many friends and customers. His grave in Rosedale Cemetery North is marked with a simple headstone.

-Derek Horn and Donna Carr.

The Belt Cook Family

 

                                                                Picture Created by Val (AI)

The Belt Cook family were African Americans who lived in Phoenix from 1887 on.  Belt Cook was born between 1845 and December 1846 in Maryland.  It is not known whether he was born a slave or free.  Around 1866, he married Rebecca Hall, who had been born in Pennsylvania and was, therefore, more likely to have been born free.  He and Rebecca had fifteen children, nine of whom lived to adulthood. 

The birthplaces of the Cook children show that the family moved back and forth across the country between 1869 and 1887, living in Nevada and California before finally coming to Arizona.  Since Belt and his son Charles were barbers and one of Belt’s sons-in-law was a porter, it is possible that they were either employed by the railroads or simply followed the railroads to the next boom town out West.

1881 saw the Cook family residing in the boom town of Globe, Arizona, where their son William Thomas was born.  The Cooks owned a house on Broad Street, and Belt appears to have invested in a silver mine there.  However, as placer mining gave way to large-scale operations like the Old Dominion mine, Globe reverted to the status of a small frontier town, and the Cooks moved on to Phoenix in 1887.

In spite of having moved around the country during their formative years, the Cook children seem to have received a good education for the times.  In 1900, son Elias Belt Cook was a member of the McKinley Club, a political organization of prominent colored men that included fellow barber Frank Shirley, barber and mail carrier John Bolton, and wholesale produce supplier William Powhatan Crump.

No matter their position in the community, though, the Cooks were still subject to the illnesses of the day.  Daughter Eva, aged 27, died in 1894 of what was probably meningitis.  Charles’s wife Lola succumbed to tuberculosis in 1897.  Daughter Lillie, aged 22, passed away in 1902, and son William Thomas, 28, died of tuberculosis in 1909.  All are buried in the Pioneer & Military Memorial Cemetery, as is an elderly man named Elias Cook who might have been Belt’s older brother.

-Donna Carr

John A. Rodgers (1873 - 1908) - Spanish-American War Veteran

Army Invalid card for John A. Rodgers, 1908

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

The month of February is Black History Month.  It is a time when we honor the contributions and sacrifices of those who are African descent, and celebrate their vibrant lives.  this week we will be highlighting several residents that are honored Phoenicians.  

John A. Rodgers, African American, was born around 1873 in Senatopia, Mississippi. On July 12, 1898, he enlisted in Company E, 23rd Kansas Volunteer Infantry. It was a segregated unit drawn from several Kansas communities founded by freedmen in the post-Civil War era. Black units were being sent to Cuba on the theory that African Americans would have some immunity to tropical diseases. Unfortunately, this proved not to be the case.

By the time the regiment reached Santiago, Cuba, in August 1898, the shooting war was already over. The 23rd Kansas was tasked with guarding 5000 defeated Spanish soldiers awaiting transport back to Spain. During much of his tour of duty in Cuba, Rodgers was laid up with dysentery and then malaria.
 
On March 1, 1899, the 23rd Kansas boarded a transport ship for New York City. Rodgers was discharged on April 10 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he married a woman named Annie Pickett on October 3, 1900.
 
Rodgers’s military service had left him debilitated and unfit for heavy physical labor. Pension records show that he was 6 feet 4 inches , unusually tall for that era.  He became a tailor, possibly because readymade clothing did not fit him and he had to sew his own anyway. 
 
On May 26, 1906, Rodgers applied for and received a disability pension (Invalid Certificate #1022317). Owing to his bout with dysentery in Cuba, he was afflicted with large, protruding piles (hemorrhoids). Initially, he received $10 a month. Over the years, payment was increased to $17 a month.
 
In mid 1908, John Rodgers was experiencing heart problems, although he was only 35 years old. He left his wife in Hot Springs and went to Los Angeles, possibly to the Old Soldiers Home in Sawtelle. Thereafter, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he rented a room at 30 North 2nd Avenue. To support himself, he placed ads in the local newspaper, asking for work repairing old carpets and refurbishing used clothing.
 
John A. Rodgers died on November 14, 1908, of aortic insufficiency, mitral regurgitation, and hypertrophy of the left ventricle.  He was buried in Rosedale Cemetery.
 
Several days after Rodgers’ death, Marshal Moore of Phoenix received an urgent letter from a Mrs. Jennie Reeves, asking the marshal to take charge of Rodgers’ body and effects. She also said that the deceased was a military veteran and asked that Rodgers’ body be returned to Arkansas for burial or sent to the National Cemetery. Her request could not be accommodated, however, because Rodgers was already buried and no one could attest to Mrs. Reeves’ legal rights to Rodgers’ property.
 
- Donna Carr