Tobias Seelig (1850 - 1892) - Dry Goods Merchant

Microsoft Clip Art

According to his various voter registrations, Tobias Seelig was born in Germany around 1850.  The passenger list of the ship Humboldt shows that  he arrived at New York’s Castle Garden on August 18, 1865.  Except for that, his entire life prior to 1878 is a blank.

Late in 1878, he appears to have opened a dry goods store in Modesto, California.  The Mechanics Cash Store carried clothing, boots and other fancy goods on a cash-only basis.  The local newspaper listed some of the items available.

By 1880, Tobias’s younger brother Gabriel joined him in the Modesto dry goods store.  Perhaps Gabriel took over the management of the Modesto store, for Tobias was in Phoenix by June 1882.  He must have been naturalized, because he registered to vote in that year .  After a stint as a clerk for the dry goods firm of Rosenthal & Kutner, he opened a cigar store in or near the Capitol Saloon.  The cigar store burned down in 1886.

The Seeligs were Jewish.  Jewish stores were essential to life in early Phoenix, and most were subsidiaries of stores founded in California during the Gold Rush days.  Their proprietors could therefore count on financial backing from bankers in San Francisco as well as established sources of supply from the West Coast.  Phoenix’s merchants were usually ‘Reform’ Jews with German surnames who kept their religious affiliations low-key and practiced them behind closed doors.

A Freemason, Seelig also participated in the Fire Brigade and joined the Knights of Pythias.  He was generally well-liked and is said to have dressed stylishly.  By 1891, he was even investing in local mining operations.

Misfortune caught up with him early in 1892, when the Knights of Pythias charged him with defalcation in his use of their funds.  Deeply affected by the charge, Seelig took to drinking and apparently made plans to commit suicide.  He told a friend that, when he died, he wanted to be laid out in his Prince Albert suit.  On March 8, 1892, he carried out his plan in his rooming house, where he donned his suit and shot himself in the temple.

Compounding the tragedy was that his fellow Pythians had already taken up a collection of $600 to cover his debts and restore his good name.

Seelig was buried in a Phoenix cemetery.  Since he owned some property, it is likely that he was interred somewhere in the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park.  There is no marker.

-By Donna Carr

 

Margaret A Harris - Mysteries of the Cemetery

Weekly republican Jan 1, 1885

In researching pioneers, Mrs. Margaret A. Harris was found in the newspaper as having passed. She had a large family, and appears to be buried at the PMMP.  If you know about Margaret, or she is part of your family, please let Us know about her..  Thank you!

Infant Berry - Mysteries of the Cemetery

 

Weekly Republican Jan 1, 1885

While researching, a child was discovered that could have possibly been buried at the PMMP.  If anyone knows of an infant who may have been buried in the cemetery in 1885, and was possibly a member of a family named "Berry", please let us know.  We are always trying to identify everyone.  

Mysteries of the Cemetery - Marron Child

Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.), 17 April 1898. 
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020558/1898-04-17/ed-1/seq-5/

Julio Marron was married to Clara Woolsey, the daughter of King Woolsey, a territorial Arizona politician.  We recently found this article about his son while doing research, and added him to our burial book.

  Julio Marron and King Woolsey are also at the PMMP.
If anyone knows the name of this child, please let us know.

Mysteries of the Cemetery - Mary Hackney

"Woman in Black Evening Dress", 
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Mary was born in Missouri about 1871 to Newton Hackney and Elizabeth Silver.  Her parents were living in North Fork Township, Jasper County Missouri in 1870 where her father worked as a nurseryman.

Mary’s parents moved to Leadville, Colorado prior to the 1880 census.  There, her father worked as a miner during a time when Leadville was becoming a silver boomtown.  By 1885 Mary was the oldest of four children and had three siblings: Hattie, Martin and Fred.

Mary’s father moved again and in 1890 the family was homesteading 10 miles south of Mesa (the area is located near Pecos and Cooper Roads in Chandler, Arizona today).  Mary’s father decided to farm in the desert area.  His crops did not fare well because of lack of available water.  In order to support his family and maintain his land, Newton turned to mining again and went to Globe to find work. 

Neighbors were far and few surrounding the Hackney’s property.  Hattie had married Prentice Phillips in 1891 and moved into Phoenix.  Mary would go to Phoenix to visit Hattie and attend meetings of the Independent Order of Good Templars. 

Mary’s father had several disturbing dreams in early October 1892 that caused him to return home from Globe.  He had dreams for three consecutive days that there was some danger to one of his family members.  Newton saw his wife in mourning clothing in one dream and decided he needed to return home.  He found his wife and Mary at a neighbors’ house and all was fine.

The next day, Newton and his wife left to visit a neighbor a mile from their house.  Mary stayed home.  When her parents returned, Mary was in severe pain and dying.  She told them she had taken poison.  It turned out to be strychnine.

Speculation was that Mary had put the poison in a bowl of bread and milk that was nearby on a table. 

Mary had complained of loneliness with no close friends nearby, but no one thought it was enough that she would commit suicide.  She had friends in Phoenix and seemed in good spirits.  Her father’s premonition had come true.  

Was it an accident or did Mary really end her life?  No one knows....

Mysteries of the Cemetery - The Cracker Box Baby

It was reported on December 10, 1882 in the Tucson Citizen that "the remains of a white infant were found partially buried in a cracker box at the Phenix cemetery".  Could this have been a child that was buried in haste, or a unknown mystery?  And who was this child?  You are welcome to solve it!

Picture from:  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print  wy0430