James Moore Hall (1838 - 1903) - Troubles Unbearable

James Moore Hall was born August 1838 in Tennessee. He was the son of John Mabin Hall and Elizabeth White Moore.

Judging from the birthplaces of James’s siblings, the Hall family moved to Mississippi around 1844. Their mother Elizabeth Moore died soon thereafter. In 1846, the family moved to Locust Bayou, Ouachita County, Arkansas, where John Mabin Hall wed his second wife, Elizabeth Jane Dowdle.

James’s father died in 1864 and his adult siblings scattered. By 1870, he was married to Mary Hudson and living in the household of his brother-in-law, Warren F. Hudson.

James and Mary remained in Texas until at least 1881, with perhaps a brief sojourn in New Mexico between 1875 and 1878. This is based on the birthplaces of their children as listed on the 1880 federal census.

The Halls moved to Phoenix around 1884. In June 1899, James, Mary and their daughter Lula Bell were among the founding members of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Phoenix. Perhaps this afforded Mary some spiritual solace, as she died 8 October 1899 of cancer.

Following the death of his wife, Hall is reported to have suffered from bouts of despondency. In 1903, he sold most of his property to his son John, then gambled away the money he had received in the vain hope of recouping his lost fortune, and died tragically in 1903. - adapted from a story by Donna carr.  

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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....