Louise Cora Clough Dunn (1840-1896) - Miner’s Wife

 

PCA Archive

Louise Cora Clough was born in Maine around 1840.  When she was a young girl, she appears to have been known as Caroline.  The family eventually moved to Douglas County, Kansas, where her father, the Rev. Mace Richard Clough, was a Methodist circuit preacher and farmer.  Judging from the birthplaces of their children, the move took place between 1850 and 1857.  At the time, Douglas County was at the epicenter of “Bleeding Kansas”, with settlements sharply divided between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions. 

 Louise married William B. Walling on November 22, 1857, in Lawrence, Kansas.  Like herself, Walling was a New Englander, born January 31, 1835, in Vermont.  Walling seems to have been in the lumber industry, so it was only natural that, around 1859, the couple would leave treeless, windswept Kansas for the mining towns of Colorado. 

The Wallings settled near Central City, Colorado, where William built a sawmill.  Over the following years, he and Louise had several children:   an unnamed child who died at birth around 1858, Frederick A. (1859-1946), Herbert Benjamin (1864-1947), Edward (~1867-), Addie (~1868-), May (1870-1953), and Elmer Ellsworth (1871-1965).

After a dispute with his business partner which culminated in a shooting in self-defense, Walling moved his sawmill to Caribou, Colorado, and branched out into cattle-raising and real estate sales.  He constructed a small steamboat and, on the Fourth of July, 1872, launched it at a popular amusement park built on a small lake south of Central City.  Residents appreciated the novelty and lined up to buy tickets for excursions.

 But all was not well with the Walling marriage.  They divorced on June 16, 1875, and Louise married John Casper Dunn in Denver just thirteen days later, on June 29, 1875.

Dunn was a miner and a Union veteran of the Civil War.  The year 1880 found the Dunns living in Denver, where Louise’s youngest child, Elmer Ellsworth, had adopted the Dunn surname.   None of Louise’s other children, who had continued to use the Walling surname, were in the household. 

The Dunns may have moved to Phoenix, Arizona, after Louise developed pulmonary tuberculosis.  The family was living near Five Points when she died quite suddenly on September 9, 1896.  She had reportedly eaten a hearty supper and was washing dishes afterward when stricken with a hemorrhage from which she died a few minutes later.

 Louise was buried in Loosley Cemetery, Section 11, Grave 7.

 - by Donna L. Carr

Wong Fong (abt. 1891 - 1914) - Barber

 

Photo by Donna Carr

Late on the night of February 12, 1914, a shadowy figure loitered behind the house at 220 East Madison in Phoenix’s Chinatown.  While he waited for the people in the house to retire, he smoked a cigarette, emptied several spent cartridges from his revolver and reloaded.

Around midnight, he pried open the door to the screened porch and crept inside.  A man was sleeping there, bedclothes drawn up to his chin against the nighttime chill.  From only a few feet away, the gunman shot the unarmed man in the head, then fled into the darkness.

Awakened by the sound of the gunshot, neighbors summoned law officers.  They identified the victim as Wong Fong, a 23-year-old barber.  The house on Madison was the home of a prosperous Chinaman named Wong Fie, who may have been a relative of the deceased man.  At the time of the murder, Wong Fie was not at home.  The third occupant of the house was Wong Fie’s twenty-year-old wife, Quock Young.   So who had killed Wong Fong, and why?

Born in China, Wong Fong had been in the United States for at least six years.  While living in Globe, Arizona, he had converted to Christianity and had attended a Lutheran mission school there.  His facility with both English and Cantonese was such that he had even been considered for a post at a Lutheran mission school in Shanghai.  For the past eleven months, however, he had been living in Wong Fie’s household in Phoenix--long enough for him to have fallen in love with his kinsman’s much younger wife.

Presumably, Quock Young returned his affections, for she claimed that she had asked Wong Fie for a divorce.  She recounted that Wong Fie, furious at his possible ‘loss of face’, had withdrew a large sum of cash from the bank and gone to Morenci, ostensibly to consult the marriage broker who had arranged his match with Quock Young. 

When the coroner’s jury was empaneled the next day, Rev. Frey, a local Lutheran minister, presented a letter which he said he had received from Wong Fong on the very day of his death.  It read, “When I am killed, arrest Wong Fie.”  But Wong Fie had an alibi; he was visiting a friend at the time that Wong Fong was murdered.

Evidence at the crime scene suggested that someone had lain in wait for Wong Fong for at least an hour.  On the strength of his alibi, Wong Fie was released from custody.  While the newspapers made much of the ill-fated romance, Coroner C. Johnstone had no choice but to rule that Wong Fong had met his death at the hands of an unknown assailant.  

On March 10th, Wong Fong was buried in the Chinese section of City/Loosley Cemetery.   His murderer was never apprehended.  Quock Young seems to have reconciled with her husband, for she was seen in Phoenix months later, wearing several gold rings and necklaces. Evidently Wong Fie still held her—and her silence?—in high esteem.

 

- by Donna Carr

 

Ivy H. Cox (1825-1898) - Methodist Minister and Judge

 

PCA Archives

Ivy Henderson Cox was born December 29, 1825, in Dungannon, Scott County, Virginia.   He was the son of James Longhollow Cox and Nancy Finney, originally of Russell County, Virginia.

Upon graduating from William and Mary College, Ivy Cox was ordained a minister. He then went to Texas, where he was eventually elected the presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal circuit.  He married Mary Jane Cook of Alabama on July 5, 1852, in Fayette County, Texas.   They had eight children, the first six born in Texas and the last two in California.

Notwithstanding that he was a family man approaching the age of forty, Ivy Cox felt it his duty to serve during the Civil War.  Accordingly, he became a chaplain in the 8th Texas Infantry (Hobby’s Regiment), C.S.A.  The regiment was charged with defending the seacoast installations at Galveston and Port Bolivar.  Cox’s military career ended in May 1864 when he took an extended leave and did not return to his regiment.

After the war, the Coxes moved to California.  By 1877, they were in Florence, Arizona. Shortly thereafter, they came to Phoenix.  The federal census of 1880 records Cox as a lawyer but, because he was also a minister, he continued to officiate at weddings.  Cox was said to be a pure soul, a lover of justice, but quite tolerant in public matters.  He served on County Board of Supervisors from 1879 to 1880 and again in 1895.   He also became a judge.  

By the time they arrived in Phoenix, most of the Cox children had reached adulthood.  Sons Melancthon and William went into the construction business, while Franklin Ivy became an attorney for the Southern Pacific Railroad.  The five Cox daughters married into local families.  Most of them were still living In the Ivy Cox household in 1880.

Judge Cox’s wife Mary Jane died 29 December 1886 and was buried in Loosley Cemetery.   Sometime thereafter, Cox went to Quitman, Texas, to marry a woman named Ann, who survived him.

The last years of Judge Cox’s life were spent on the family ranch four miles north of Phoenix, where he engaged in growing fruit and keeping bees.  Late in 1898, he was living at the residence of Joseph DuPree Reed.  He died there on December 20, 1898, of congestion of the brain and paralysis.  He was buried in Loosley Cemetery next to his first wife.

- by Donna L. Carr

 

Martha Tannehill Evans (1846-1903) - Pioneer Grit

 

PCA Archives

Martha Tannehill Evans was born in September, 1846, in Logan County, Ohio, the daughter of James Tannehill and Ruth Patterson.  The Tannehills’ first two children were born in Ohio but, around 1847, the family had moved to Davis County, Iowa, where their last six children were born.

Possibly it was the promise of abundant farmland that attracted the Tannehills to Iowa, as James was a farmer and his sons became farmers.

On November 30, 1876, Martha married John Robert Evans in Davis County, Iowa.  Surprisingly, she was thirty years old by then and probably would have been considered a ‘spinster’.  However, since Martha’s younger sister Lovena was blind, perhaps she was needed at home until then

John Robert Evans was a farmer, like the Tannehills.  A widower, he was twenty years older than Martha and had been married previously to Louisa Adeline Miller, who died in 1875.  John Robert often appears in the public record as J. R. Evans.

Martha very likely raised J. R.’s two youngest children, and they did have a ‘late in life’ son of their own, Robert James, born in 1885 when J. R. was nearly sixty.

The Evanses farmed near Bloomfield, Iowa, until November 22, 1898, when they moved to Phoenix, Arizona.   Martha’s younger brother Joseph Edgar Tannehill had moved there around 1896, and perhaps the Evanses found the idea of a warmer climate appealing as they grew older.  Nor were they alone in that, as Martha’s widowed father and four more of her Tannehill siblings either accompanied them or joined them soon afterward in Arizona.

The Evanses were Presbyterian and Martha was active in church work during the last years of her life.

Martha died of pneumonia on December 15, 1903 at the family home about a mile west of the Indian School.  She was buried in the family plot in City Loosley Cemetery, Block 6, Lot 5, next to her little step-grandson, Otto Evans. 

-          - by Donna L. Carr

Andrew Jackson Brawley (1835-1884) - Stock Raiser

 

AI Generated

Born April 14 1835 in Carroll County, Tennessee, Andrew Jackson Brawley was one of eight children fathered by Milton Braley (sic).   His mother was Milton’s first wife, name unknown.  Around 1840, the Braley family moved to Franklin County, Arkansas, and took up land there.  After the first Mrs. Braley died sometime after 1843 (her last child was born then), Milton married a widow, Mary Catherine Green Moffett, in 1847.  They had two more children.

The second Mrs. Braley seems to have brought a considerable amount of property to her new marriage.  But Milton fell ill and died, probably early in 1852.  His estate consisted of 320 acres of farmland, farm implements, quite a number of cattle and one male slave.  Settling Milton’s financial affairs took years as lawyers worked out how to divide the assets between Milton’s heirs and Mary Catherine and the children of her first marriage to Mr. Moffett.

A guardian was initially appointed for Andrew and his younger brother Dennis but, by the time they reached the age of 21, they were living with their older brother Ephraim’s family.

Of the Braly siblings, only Andrew moved west, before the beginning of the Civil War.  By 1865, Andrew—or A. J. Brawley, as he had taken to calling himself--was in Fresno, California, where he married Arza Jane Stroud on September 10th.  Arza was the daughter of Ira Stroud and Rebecca Williams. 

Brawley evidently knew cattle, as he became a successful rancher.  When the 1870 federal census was taken, he was a stock raiser worth $2000.  He and Arza had seven children in quick succession.  Late in 1878, the Brawley family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and it appears that the Strouds came with them.

Once in Phoenix, Brawley opened a general store and became a butcher.  By 1882, he was supplementing his income by acting as night watchman and special constable.  Mrs. Brawley was busy, too; early in 1884, she and her oldest daughter Alice had opened an ice cream parlor on Washington Street across from the Phoenix Hotel. 

By 1884, Brawley was the proprietor of the Dublin Corral, where he boarded and rented horses.   A little after 6 AM on December 5th, he was going about his work when he was stricken by a sudden heart attack and died at the age of 49.   He was buried in City/Loosley Cemetery.

Brawley’s widow was left with several young children to raise.  Fortunately, her parents were also in Phoenix and she could count on their support.  In 1886, she married Eugene Bridgeman.

Arza died in Los Angeles on July 3, 1910, while visiting her adult children.   Her remains were returned to Phoenix for burial next to her first husband in City/Loosley Cemetery.

-  - by Donna L. Carr. 

George F. Parks (1856-1888) - Waiter at the Commercial Hotel

Photo:  Donna

George Fremont Parks was born in California in 1856.  His parents were Charles Parks and Irene Taylor, and he had a younger brother named Charles.

Following the death of George’s father, the Parks family moved to Phoenix, Arizona.  In 1879, Mrs. Parks married George Patterson, an immigrant from Norway.

Young George Parks worked as a waiter at the Commercial Hotel in Phoenix during the winter months.  During the summers, when there were fewer travelers lodging at the hotel, he would go up to Prescott to work.  Like many local men, he was a member of the volunteer Phoenix Fire Department, Hose Company.

On October 12, 1882, George married Mary Agnes Thompson Lucas, but the marriage may have been of short duration, as nothing more is known about her.

On the evening of December 10, 1888, after serving supper to the hotel’s guests, George and three other waiters sat down to enjoy their own meal in the dining room of the Commercial Hotel.  They were apparently talking and joking among themselves when the hotel’s Chinese cook, Wong Lee, passed by.  Thinking that they were making fun of him, he made some profane remarks, to which George took exception.

George and the cook took their dispute outdoors, where they probably exchanged a blow or two.  Evidently George considered the incident resolved, for he came back to the dining room and resumed his seat.  But the cook’s anger had not been appeased, for he followed George and, drawing a knife, stabbed him.

George exclaimed, “He’s knifed me; look out for him!” and ran into the bar where he seized a pistol and went after his assailant.  However, Constable McDonald caught George as he collapsed and carried him back to the dining room.  Dr. McGlasson was summoned, but the knife had penetrated to the heart.  George lingered for two or three hours, remaining conscious long enough to bid farewell to his grief-stricken mother.

Wong Lee, George’s assailant, was swiftly apprehended and jailed amid muttered threats of lynching.  Nevertheless, he stood trial in early February before Judge DeForest Porter and was adjudged guilty of manslaughter.  Late in May, 1889, Wong Lee was conveyed to the penitentiary in Yuma to serve a six-year sentence.

George F. Parks was initially buried in City Loosley Cemetery.  Scarcely a year later, his mother passed away and was buried next to him.  In 1918, their remains, as well as those of George Patterson, were removed to Greenwood Cemetery.

- by Donna L. Carr

  

John Wren Owen (1822-1877) - Union Veteran and County Treasurer

 

PCA Archives

John Wren Owen was born December 16, 1822, in Franklin County, Illinois, the son of Thomas Harvey Owen and Mary Paine Wren, hence his middle name. 

In 1850, shortly after the beginning of the California Gold Rush, his parents moved their family to Solano County, California, where they engaged in farming.  By 1860, John Wren Owen was working as a real estate speculator at Suisun, Solano County.  

On November 30, 1864, Owen enlisted in the Union Army at the Presidio in San Francisco, California.  He was commissioned a captain and given command of Company F, 7th California Infantry, on December 15, 1864.  He transferred to Camp McDowell in Arizona Territory on August 2, 1865, after the Civil War had ended, and mustered out with his company at the Presidio on April 18, 1866.

Apparently, Owen’s time in Arizona had made an impression on him for he returned to Pima County. He was elected to the Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1868. The 1870 federal census shows him working as a clerk at Camp Crittenden in Pima County.

In 1874, Owen was elected treasurer of Maricopa County and reelected in 1876.  As treasurer, he was responsible for paying certain bills out of the county taxes; however, he seems to have exercised those responsibilities loosely.  He made no quarterly report of the funds in his possession to the territorial treasurer on June 30 or on September 30, 1877.

When Owen requested money for the public schools, the territorial treasurer authorized him to use the funds already in his possession, promising that he would be compensated later.  On October 11, 1877, Owen replied that he did not have the money to hand but would have it by the end of the month.  He then fell ill and died on November 4th.  When his body was prepared for burial in the first City Cemetery, he had only $2 in his pocket.

His fellow veterans turned out for his funeral and he was eulogized as "a man of few faults and many virtues."  It appears that John Wren Owen never married, and his obituaries did not mention any next of kin.

Following his death, a thorough search of his dwelling did not turn up any of the county's money.  His friends speculated that perhaps Owen had loaned the money to someone and that that individual was keeping mum about it.  A less charitable speculation was that he had spent it himself.  At any rate, no money was ever recovered.

Notwithstanding the missing County funds, the late Captain Owen seems to have enjoyed a good enough reputation that, when Union veterans established a post of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in Phoenix in September 1885, it was named in his honor.

 - by Donna L. Carr

 

Jensen Vault - Then and Now

Photos:  PCA Archives

Then & Now: The Jensen Vault (City/Loosley Cemetery)

This vault belonged to John Jensen, who once ran a roadhouse along the old Tempe Road and Maricopa Canal. Originally, the vault had five compartments and was domed in brick. Part of the dome can be seen in the older photo. By the 1940s, the roof had already collapsed, and today it is completely gone.

Jensen’s son Fred was buried here in 1888. John is believed to have been interred after 1912, and his headstone was found and returned to the vault in 1940.

These “then and now” photos show how time reshapes even stone.

Click on photos to get a closer look.

Ida Emma Guenther (1853-1904) - Shrew

 

Generated AI

According to the federal census of 1900, Ida (maiden name unknown) was born in Denmark April 1853 and arrived in the United States in 1865.  One can only guess what contributed to her fondness for conflict and drink.

Mrs. Ida Bailey first came to the attention of Phoenix authorities when she was charged along with Fred Steffans with “mutually maligning each other and the employment of language which is not admissible to mail bags” on April 2, 1893. 

Shortly after that incident, Ida married Joseph P. Murray, a blacksmith, on April 23, 1893.  Witnesses to the marriage were Frankie Hill and H.C. King. Frankie Hill (aka Minnie Drum) was a known madam in Phoenix.  At the time of their marriage, Ida was 40 years old and Joseph was 57 years old. 

The Arizona Republican paper reported that the newlyweds were off to the World’s Fair on honeymoon.  However, the romance—if romance it was—didn’t last long.  Barely two months later, Ida was living in a crib in the alley behind the Central Hotel in Phoenix.    That area was known for all sorts of criminal behavior, the main problem being prostitution. 

On June 23, 1893, one of Ida’s neighbors, Annie Marchand, complained to Night Marshal Blankenship that Ida had tried to fire a shot at her with a Smith & Wesson handgun. Ida was arrested and fined.  “Inspired by whiskey and morphine”, Ida retaliated by charging that Annie had been calling her names.

On July 1, 1893, a fire swept through the residences in the alley behind the Central Hotel.  The flames were so intense that they threatened the hotel.  It was learned that Ida had moved all her belongings out of her shack prior to the fire, but Annie lost everything.  Although Ida had openly boasted that she “was going to make it hot” for Annie Marchand, there was no direct evidence linking her to the fire.

Ida Murray next married Herman Guenther, a gunsmith, on September 18, 1899 in Phoenix.  Herman had been born in Germany in December 1835 and arrived in the United States in 1871.  He had been previously married and had two sons who were in California.  

The Guenthers invited Nicholas Brecht and his wife Maria Gilmore to their home on July 11, 1899 for a drink.  The affair became a two-hour drinking contest before everyone said their goodbyes.  Sometime later Maria realized her purse was missing and returned to the Guenthers.   A fight broke out and police were called.  All were brought to court and fined.

Ida died in Phoenix on May 5, 1904 at the age of 50 and was buried in Loosley Cemetery.  Herman died on August 10, 1904 at the age of 69.  He had attempted to walk to the cemetery where his wife was buried and lost his way.  He was found unconscious and brought back to his residence where he later died.  He is also buried in Loosley Cemetery.   Neither Guenther has a grave marker.

 - by Patricia 

 

Harvey Reid Leonard (1826-1896) - Civil Engineer and Architect

 

AI Generated Generic Image

An architect and bridge builder, Harvey Reid Leonard spent most of his professional life on the Pacific Coast.  Born in Illinois, he seems to have used the names Harvey and Henry interchangeably, at least at first.  The federal census of 1860 records him as a simply a carpenter in Sacramento, California, where he was living with his wife Amanda and infant son.

Between at least 1860 and 1869, Leonard partnered with other architects who were active in the city at the time.  According to San Francisco city directories, he maintained offices at 432 Montgomery Street and, later, 240 Montgomery Street.

Between 1871 and 1873, Leonard was in Portland, Oregon, with offices located at the corner of 1st and Ash Streets.  While in Portland, he designed an engine roundhouse and a railroad bridge.  By 1882, he was back in California as an employee of the Pacific Bridge Building Company, specializing in railroad bridges.

It appears that, sometime after 1880, Leonard’s wife Amanda died and he remarried.  Perhaps it was not a happy match, as his second wife, E. M. De Lisle, eventually divorced him on grounds that he had deserted her when he moved to Arizona. 

H. R. Leonard relocated to Phoenix about 1890, probably with the intention of retiring.  However, he found ample scope for his talents in the Salt River Valley and continued to work well into old age.  In 1890, he was working with William Hancock to map sites for reservoirs.  He designed a schoolhouse in Mesa in 1890 and one in Tempe in 1891.

Brick was a popular building material in Phoenix, as very little lumber was available locally.  Initially, manufacturers used molds of different sizes.  In January 1893, Leonard joined with several other Valley architects to call for the standardization of brick sizes. 

On May 6, 1893, Leonard undertook a reclamation expedition to see about the feasibility of building a water reservoir for northwest Yuma County.  It must have been an arduous undertaking for a man in or approaching his seventies.

In February 1894, concerns were expressed about the structural soundness of the Phoenix Opera House for an upcoming performance.  Architects Leonard and Petit were appointed to examine the structure.  Leonard ruled that the performance could proceed, but the building should be remodeled with more exits and safety features incorporated.

When H. R. Leonard died on February 2, 1896, of cirrhosis hepatitis at the age of 85, he was buried in City/Loosley Cemetery.  There is no grave marker.

- by Donna Carr

 

Why Are There Single Graves at PMMP?

 

Restoration of Rev. Emerson's Grave

A Single Grave Near

the Rosedale Fenceline - PCA Archives

When you look at the historic maps of Rosedale and City/Loosley Cemeteries in Pioneer & Military Memorial Park, you’ll notice something unusual: rows of single graves with large plots. But why?

In the late 1800s, cemeteries needed flexibility. Single graves were mapped out and sold for many reasons:

•     Urgent Burials: Epidemics and sudden deaths meant families needed immediate options. In 1884, when burials were moved into City Loosley, some blocks were even divided into single spaces to make room for the large amounts of reburials taking place.
•     Cost-Effective: A single grave was far more affordable than a family plot, making burial possible for working-class families and newcomers.
•     Frontier Populations: Phoenix was a town of transients.  There were miners, railroad workers, and travelers who often didn’t plan on staying long term…but did anyway.
•     Benevolence:  Different organizations bought graves and then donated them to low-income individuals or families. 
•     Efficient Land Use: Cemeteries could manage revenue and space more effectively by laying out single rows, especially along fence lines or open areas.

Some “single” graves are even present in our lots or blocks.  Some people would buy graves from families or individuals who had a plot.  Many undertakers in town bought blocks of graves.  They also used these graves as “holding places”.  Before refrigeration, single graves sometimes served as short-term resting spots until loved ones could be claimed. Some were never moved, and those individuals remain here today.

These are just a few reasons that we know.  In any case, our cemeteries show a city that was adapting to change in an evolving frontier town.

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

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.

 

Mary Florence Mann (1841 - 1897) - Educator (reposted)

 

West End School 

Library of Congress

Industrial Drawing - 1894

Library of Congress

We are highlighting some of our business leaders in territorial Phoenix who were women.  Meet Mary Florence Mann!

Mary Florence was born about 1841 in Oswego, New York. She was the fourth of five children born to Daniel and Jane C. Shapley Card, farmers.  She entered the Oswego Normal and Training School in her late teens, graduating in 1863 with a teaching degree. By 1867, she was earning $500 a year as a schoolteacher in Cuba, New York. Sometime in the 1870s, she married Henry D. Mann, a physician and surgeon. The young couple moved to Tiffin, Ohio, where Henry attended Heidelberg College. Later, he did his residency at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before graduating from the Medical College in Albany, New York. He practiced for a short time in Ohio and Illinois before settling in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Florence continued to teach for a few years after marrying, but she is listed as a housewife on the 1880 federal census of Terre Haute. At some point thereafter, she and Henry separated but did not divorce.

In 1890, Florence came to Phoenix and was hired to teach in the Phoenix school system. Based on newspaper articles, she became well known as an educator. Besides teaching in the elementary schools, she often provided professional council and training at the Maricopa County Teachers’ Institutes, where she excelled in mechanical and industrial drawing.

She even persuaded the Phoenix school board to open a free night school for children over the age of 10 who were unable to attend day classes because of family obligations.

In 1893 Florence was appointed to the Maricopa Advisory Committee on Textbooks and School Law. Her duties included selecting the textbooks to be used throughout the district.

After retiring from teaching, she opened an art studio in Phoenix. A gifted artist, she painted many scenes of animals and the “wild and untamed west” in oils and watercolors. And she continued to volunteer at the night school she had started.

Florence died unexpectedly around 8 PM on March 22, 1897, while on her way home from seeing her students at the night school. Passersby heard her cry out in the alley beside the Ford Hotel on Washington Street and 2nd Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona, but she was gone before medical help arrived. Her doctor opined that she had died of an apoplexy—probably a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a burst aneurysm—as there were no signs of any trauma. She was 56 years old.

She was buried in City Loosley Cemetery and has no marker.  

- by Val

Early Burials at the PMMP - Who Were They?

 

Cassie Smith - City Loosley Cemetery - PCA Archives

Early Burial Locations - PMMP

Ed Dobbins

Ed Dobbins in his research has revealed the following:

"The City/Loosley burial records contain the names of 133 individuals who died prior to the cemetery’s opening. With a few exceptions, most of the people on the list are believed to have been first interred at the Original Phoenix Township (OPT) cemetery.  Location information is available for thirty of the graves. Fifteen are marked by original monuments and nine by memorials recently placed by the PCA.

On the accompanying map (above), the red filled lots contain graves that were relocated from the OPT to City/Loosley Cemetery. Most are in the northwest quarter of Loosley. Two units with the OPT burials are in the southern portion of City Cemetery in Blocks XVII and XVIII.

Visible remains at City Cemetery of this final effort to empty the old cemetery include an impressive row of five original monuments in Block XVII in the southeast corner. A more recent marker appears in a family group of three in the northeast corner of the adjacent Block XVIII. The presence of these markers suggests that Blocks XVII and XVIII were considered part of the “city Potter’s field” mentioned by Loosley and contain unidentified remains from the OPT cemetery."

Here are just a few of the early burials:

🕯️ Cassandra Smith – 1872, age 3
🕯️ William Morrell – 1876, age 52
🕯️ Josiah Phy – 1877, 6 weeks
🕯️ Melvina Morrell – 1877, age 38
🕯️ John Wren Owen – 1877, age 54
🕯️ Henry “Harry” Sayers – 1879, age 47
🕯️ King S. Woolsey – 1879, age 47
🕯️ Luke Monihon – 1879, age 38
🕯️ Hiram Dunham – 1880, age 52
🕯️ Carmen Alvarez – 1881, age 35

the oldest original standing grave marker in the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park is Cassandra Smith.  In September 1872, little Cassandra Smith, daughter of William and Fanny Smith, passed away after just two days of illness. Described as intelligent, pretty, and affectionate, she holds a solemn place in Phoenix history.  

It is beyond amazing that after 150 years, her grave marker still stands.  We welcome you to tour our grounds to see the other original markers.

Original Phoenix Township Cemetery Burials at City/Loosley Cemetery

 

Luke Monihon - Died 1879

City/Loosley - Block II Grave 6

Map - Ed Dobbins

Did you know that the Original Phoenix Township (OPT) Cemetery was moved?  The “Old City Cemetery” was between 5th and 7th Avenues, Jackson to Madison Streets.  By 1884, it was considered unsightly and too close to the growing business district.  

Ed Dobbins, one of our historians at the PCA, has shared the following in several talks:

"The new City/Loosley Cemetery in the current Pioneer and Military Memorial Park was opened in October 1884. It took three and one-half years to complete the transfer of burials from the old cemetery to the new in early 1888. We do not know the exact number of burials that were moved but Enrique Garfias was credited with exhuming 295 graves and John R. Loosley was reimbursed almost $700 for expenses he incurred removing an unspecified number of remains.

John R. Loosley, owner of Loosely Cemetery, contributed to the clearing of the OPT through newspaper advertisements appealing to the families and friends of those buried in the old cemetery. He offered liberal terms for lots in his new cemetery while informing the public of “the contemplated removal of occupants of the old cemetery to the city Potter’s field.” The grouping of pre-1884 graves in the northwest part of Loosley Cemetery may be evidence of responses to his advertisements. OPT burials were relocated to Blocks II, III, VI and X which were areas also favored for contemporary burials in the earliest years of the cemetery. 

After three years of discussions and proposals, the city in late 1887 decided to use its own employees to clear the OPT. Much of the work was accomplished in January 1888 by a crew supervised by Enrique Garfias, the first city marshal of Phoenix, serving at the time as City Zanjero. In April 1888 the OPT cemetery was declared cleared."

Stay tuned!!!  Who were the "original residents" of the old cemetery that were moved?  Find out here at Behind the Epitaph!

 

Early Old Phoenix Cemetery Monuments - Who Were They?

City Loosley Cemetery Looking East - PCA Archives

When settlers first arrived in the Salt River Valley in the 1860s and early 1870s, the area was still very much a frontier. In the early years, there were no formal cemeteries, no mapped burial grounds, and very little infrastructure beyond irrigation ditches and adobe homes. When someone died, they were often buried quickly in small, informal family plots, ranch sites, or near settlements along the canals and river. Graves might be marked with simple wooden crosses, piles of stones, or homemade markers, if marked at all.

These early burials reflected both the urgency and isolation of pioneer life. Disease, accidents, violence, and childbirth took lives unexpectedly, and there was no central burial ground to bring the community together in mourning. As the settlement that would become Phoenix began to grow with the construction of canals and a platted townsite, it became clear that the community needed a formal cemetery where loved ones could be laid to rest with respect and where families could visit and remember them.

By the early 1870s, town leaders recognized this need and selected land on what was then the southwestern edge of Phoenix, bounded by Seventh and Fifth Avenues and Jackson and Madison Streets.   By today's standards, it was rudimentary, as burials were not always mapped or marked, and records were sparse.  However, this first city cemetery provided a designated space for burials and included early pioneers of Phoenix.

Curious about who these early burials were, and how they were carefully moved to their new resting place (otherwise known as the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park)? Stay tuned for the next part of our story!

Henry “Harry” Sayers (1832 – 1879) - The Dublin "Sportsman"

 

Henry “Harry” Sayers was born in Ireland around 1832, in a time when many people sought new lives across the sea. He made that journey himself and found new opportunity in the American frontier.

Also known as “Dublin” or “Dublin Tricks”, Sayers carved out his place in history not only as an early Phoenix settler but also as a United States Army soldier. His path to citizenship came through military service, Records show he was naturalized thanks to that service and at least one record shows him registered to vote in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona Territory, on October 14, 1876.

Sayers’ military service appears to have begun in New York in 1858, when he enlisted at the age of 23 in Company E, 5th United States Infantry. A plumber by trade before donning the uniform, he served through the challenging years that included the Civil War era, though his own term concluded before its end. He was discharged at Los Pinos, New Mexico Territory, in 1863.

After his Army years, Sayers eventually settled in Arizona, Known to be a “sporting” character, he appeared in a local newspaper in 1873 offering to fight any man in the Arizona Territory in a prize match under London Prize Ring rules, with $1000 wagered on each side. By 1878, he had established a feed, exchange, and sales stable with a bar attached to it advertising the “best liquor and cigars”.  Henry appeared to be a colorful and savvy part of the gritty fabric of pioneer life.

Henry “Harry” Sayers died on June 28, 1879. He was 47 years old, though records vary slightly on his exact birth year. He is buried in the Loosley section of Pioneer and Military Memorial Park. Originally, his grave was among the earliest in the Old Phoenix Cemetery but was relocated to Loosley when the new cemetery was established.

During the 2025 preservation event, our historian, Patty, reported that his headstone was found in Loosley with its top portion broken off and lying face-up on the ground. The base was discovered about a foot underground using careful probing and was brought back to the surface to restore the marker's presence. The headstone itself was made in Tucson, as confirmed by the maker’s markings, adding another historic layer to this pioneer’s enduring story in Arizona.  Watch the video above to see this restoration.  

-by Val W.

Who Was Margaret A. Harris? - Cemetery Mystery

 

PCA Archives

Who Was Margaret A. Harris?

Born around 1847, Margaret A. Harris passed away on December 29, 1884, leaving behind a husband and large family according to an obituary. The primary Phoenix cemetery at that time was the City Loosley Cemetery, but there's no record of her burial there.

If you have any clues or records about where Margaret might be buried, please reach out.

(Article from Weekly Republican, January 1, 1885)

 

A Rare Glimpse: Early Chinese Mason Funeral in 1880s Phoenix

 

By Patty -  Loosley Looking West

PCA Archives - Loosley Looking South

Back in the 1880s, Phoenix was still a dusty, growing frontier town. People from all over the world were building lives here, including a small Chinese community that brought its own rich traditions. One story we came across recently gives us a rare glimpse into that time: the early recorded Chinese Masonic funeral in Phoenix.

The funeral was for a former cook from the mining town of Seymour, Arizona, who had passed away from tuberculosis. His friends honored him with traditional Chinese funeral customs.  This consisted of incense burning, white mourning clothes, and even a hired mourner to wail in sorrow. The Phoenix Brass Band led a procession through the streets, and firecrackers popped in the air to scare away evil spirits.

It must have been an amazing sight for the people of Phoenix, many of whom had never seen anything like it before.

Sadly, while tradition called for the soul to return to China, frontier realities were different. Based on the timing, it’s very likely he was buried in Phoenix’s original town cemetery and remained there. When that cemetery was moved to what is now the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park, unclaimed graves were moved into a mass grave at Loosley Cemetery.

Today, we don’t know exactly where that mass grave is. It's one of many pieces of history that have been lost to time.  We hope he was sent back to China.  We just don't know.  

Still, stories like this remind us that Phoenix’s history has always been a rich tapestry of cultures, traditions, and untold journeys. Every life mattered and remembering them keeps their spirit alive.

Note - Chee Kung Tong (致公堂) were referred to as the Chinese Freemasons in Phoenix

Historical Source:
The Phoenix Herald (Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona Territory), August 13, 1880.

(Note: Some terminology and descriptions in the original article reflect the prejudices of the era.)

-Want to help us uncover more stories and preserve Phoenix’s earliest cemeteries?
www.azhistcemeteries.org