Luke Monihon (1841 - 1879) - A Murdered Rancher

 

PCA Archives

Luke Monihon was born November 15, 1841, in Waddington, St. Lawrence County, New York.  He was the son of James Monaghan and Ann Martin, immigrants from Ireland who had arrived in the United States between 1833 and 1837.  The Monaghans were farmers.

James Davidson Monihon, Luke’s older brother, caught ‘gold fever’ in 1854 and went off to California to become a placer miner.

In 1860, Luke was working as a hired hand for a Rutherford family, also in St. Lawrence County.  No evidence has been found that Luke himself served during the Civil War, although his brother James enlisted in Company F, 1st California Infantry, which brought him to Arizona in 1863.  Evidently James saw potential in the Salt River Valley and invited his brothers to join him.

Of Luke’s and James’s siblings, Joseph and Christopher also came to Arizona.  While their kin back in New York continued to spell their surname as Monaghan, the brothers in Arizona were known as Monahans, Monahons and, finally-- Monihons.

Luke Monihon was in Arizona by at least August 1875, when he filed on a homestead near his brother James’s, in the new Phoenix township.  After “proving up”, he received his homestead patent in May, 1878.

He married Sarah Elizabeth Wilcoxen, daughter of his neighbor Andrew Jackson Willcoxen, although the marriage appears to have been of short duration and there were no children.  Sarah had been married previously and had a son by her first husband.

On August 19, 1879, Monihon was driving home with a load of wood when he was shot in the back by an assailant who had been lying in wait along the road.  The team of horses continued home where a ranch hand, seeing no driver, backtracked and found Monihon’s body.

Luke Monihon is buried in City Loosley Cemetery, Block 2, Lot 6, north half.  Come hear the rest of the story at the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park!

-By Donna Carr

 

Antique Photos - John Lutgerding and James Monihon

John Albert Lutgerding and James Monihon

Like many people, I like to wander through second hand stores.   That is where I was in Prescott when I found several old photographs stamped Phoenix, Arizona Territory.  Some of them had writing on the back, but many did not.

The more I dug through the photos, the more I recognized the surnames.  The most important find was of a baby, John Albert Lutgerding.  He died in 1881 and is buried in the IOOF cemetery at Pioneer Military and Memorial Park.  I continued through the photos and left with a fist full, much to the dismay of my husband.  He had patiently wandered around while I stood trying to decide what I was going to take with me.  Each one was marked $2.00 to $5.00 so the cost added up quickly.

When I got my find home, I began researching the names.  I also started going through on-line historical biographies of Arizona.  Some provided photographs that were useful.  It became apparent that the majority of the photos were from the Linvilles and extended families.

The Linville family were early pioneers of Phoenix.  A section of Phoenix from Central to 7^th Street, Jackson to Buckeye is called the Linville Addition.  Two brothers, Hiram and Alexander came to Phoenix and the Cave Creek area around 1876.  Although I am not sure if we have a photo of Hiram, I do have others related to his extended family.

One of those photos is of James D. Monihon.  James married Hiram’s daughter Josephine Linville.  The photo shows a very distinguished looking James in a Phoenix Fire Department uniform.  James, too, came to early Phoenix with his brothers and became quite influential.

A week after I began my research of these photos, an email was received by the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association.  It was from a descendant of Hiram Linville.  She and her mother were coming to Phoenix to do some family research.  They also had a family photo album with unidentified photos.  I began to wonder what the chances were that I would find photos and now the family is making contact.

 When we did meet at the Smurthwaite House, many of their photos did not match what I had.  However, others did, and it was obvious we both had photos of the Linvilles, Lutgerdings and Monihon families.  The search to identify the other photos has continued and others have been identified.

Call it kismet, luck or some divine intervention, but finding the photos and the connection with the family makes what we do worthwhile.  How the photographs came to Prescott has not been determined, and attempts to contact the seller have not been successful. (this story ran in our December 2018 newsletter, by Patty G)