Charles H. Knapp (1845-1898) - Veteran, Court Clerk, Mason

 

PCA Archives

Charles H. Knapp was a longtime court clerk in frontier Phoenix, Arizona.

Knapp was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1845, to Charles Knapp and Susan Ludlow. While yet a child, he moved with his parents to Terra Haute, Indiana in the spring of 1850.   He was subsequently educated at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

He was but 19 when he accepted a bounty to enlist in the Union army on March 11, 1864, for a term of three years.   Assigned to Company I, Eleventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer infantry, he was promoted to corporal on May 2, 1865, and discharged on July 26, 1865, the Civil War having ended. 

Following the war, he lived for a time in Chillicothe, Missouri, before moving to McPherson, Kansas.  On October 8, 1873, Knapp married Anna Rezzer in Newton, Kansas.  They had one son and four daughters.

In April of 1881, the Knapps moved to Phoenix.  Charles served as either deputy clerk or clerk of District Court for the rest of his life.  He was said to have been a popular and capable official, discharging his duties in a most satisfactory manner.

In 1884, the Knapps had a fourth daughter, Anne, but she died on June 26, 1886, at the age of two.  Mrs. Knapp died on January 30, 1889, ten days after giving birth to a fifth daughter.  Both was interred next to little Anne in the family plot in Masons Cemetery. 

Two years later, Charles Knapp married Mary Ann Davidson.  She was twenty years his junior and from Alexander, Louisiana.

Charles Knapp was a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, (GAR) and became a commander of the Phoenix Knights Templar.  Being only 53 at the time of his death on November 28, 1898, he had not yet filed for a military pension.  He was laid to rest with his first wife and children in the Masons cemetery, Block 10, Lot 2, Grave 2.  His grave has a military headstone.

His widow applied for a widow’s pension, but her application was initially rejected.   She tried again later and it was accepted on October 19, 1916.

- by Val

 

 

Newton Jasper Coyle (1843-1912) - Veteran and miner

 

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Coyle was born in Estill County, Kentucky, probably in March, 1842.  He was one of several children born to Tilford Coyle and Malvina Alcorn. Although he was mistakenly indexed as Andrew on the 1850 federal census on FamilySearch, it is obvious that the entry was for Newton Jasper.  Coyle’s father died in 1858, and his mother remarried twice thereafter.

On September 4, 1861, young Newton enlisted in the Union Army and was assigned to the 4th Kentucky Mounted Infantry.  This unit saw action in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.  Early in 1864, he fractured his clavicle and was placed on leave.  He was formally discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, on June 16, 1865.

By February 24, 1864, Newton Coyle was back home in Irvine, where he married 17-year-old Susan Williams.  Their first two children were born in Kentucky. 

The Coyles then moved to Arkansas by 1877 and on to Montgomery County, Kansas, by 1880.  Apparently Coyle could not make a go of farming in Kansas, and the family returned to Benton County, Arkansas, the following year.  Susan bore three more children before her death in 1887.

Perhaps fed up with farming, Newton Coyle seems to have struck out alone for Montana, leaving his by then adult children to care for the younger ones.  On October 13, 1891, he married a widow, Lizzie Perry, in Missoula County.  The marriage didn’t last; by 1900, Newton was divorced and working as a silver miner.

Montana’s winters and hard work in the mines took a toll on Coyle’s health.  In 1904, he checked into the Old Soldiers’ Home in Leavenworth, Kansas.  After applying for an invalid pension, he was moved to a veterans’ hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee.  Records show that he was blind in one eye and had significant hearing loss.  The 1910 census found him back in the Old Soldiers’ Home in Leavenworth.

By 1912, Coyle’s youngest son Joseph was in Phoenix, Arizona, trying to find work on a ranch.   Joseph and Newton were sharing a dwelling on Cave Creek Road when Newton passed away on October 5th of pneumonia.  He was buried in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery.  Records do not indicate whether this was the old K of P Cemetery at 13th Avenue, between Madison and Harrison Streets or the Knights of Pythias section of Forest Lawn north of 23rd Avenue and Van Buren.

Afterward, Joseph returned to his wife and children in Arkansas.  When their next baby was born in 1913, he was named Newton Jasper, for his grandfather.

- by Donna Carr

Edward O. Schwartz (1842-1904) - Civil War Veteran and Adjutant General of Arizona

 

PCA Archives

Edward O. Schwartz was born in New York on February 19, 1842, to Louis Schwartz and Catherine Boese.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Schwartz enlisted in the 8th New York Militia in April 1861 and mustered out in August of that year. He then enlisted in the 4th New York Cavalry in January 1862.  Although he fell ill with typhoid fever later that year, he recovered sufficiently to achieve the rank of lieutenant.  A year later, he was promoted to captain and, in March 1864, he became a major. 

Schwartz fought in several major battles which included the battle of Cross Keys, Virginia; Second Bull Run (Manassas); Chancellorsville; and Gettysburg.  In 1864, he participated  in General Philip Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley campaign and was present at the June 11-12 battle of Trevilian Station.  He was honorably discharged at the end of the war.

After the war, Schwartz went West. He was part of a military detachment that escorted engineer and geologist Clarence King through northern Arizona and other parts of the West in the Fortieth Parallel Survey of 1867-1873. Schwartz later relocated to New Mexico where he left service and married Angeline Flint in Santa Fe in 1880.  Their union produced one daughter.

A few years later, the family moved to Phoenix, where Schwartz engaged in various business enterprises.  An engraver by trade, he was elected recorder of the City of Phoenix in 1890, a post he held for six years.  In 1891, he joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), becoming commander of the Arizona GAR that same year.  In April 1893, the new territorial governor, Louis Cameron Hughes, appointed Schwartz Adjutant General of Arizona. He served for six years and was regarded as an able commander.

The Schwartzes left Phoenix in 1897 and moved to Seattle. From there, they went to San Francisco before returning to Phoenix in 1899.  In a newspaper article, Schwartz declared, “Not until one leaves Phoenix does he appreciate the business advantages it presents.”

One of the last services Schwartz performed for his community was organizing the Decoration Day service for the GAR which took place on May 29, 1903, at the city cemetery.  There was no march, as it was deemed too much of a strain for the old soldiers, but Major Schwartz did invite veterans of the Confederacy to participate in the ceremonies too.

Major Edward Schwartz died at home on March 1, 1904.  On March 3rd, he was interred in the Porter Cemetery with full military honors.

 - by Mark Lamm

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

 

#4 John “Sailor Jack” Twentyman, 1824-1901 An English Seaman in Arizona

 

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John Twentyman was born England in September, 1823.  In his youth, he had been a sailor, landing in California just as the Gold Rush was beginning.  Thereafter, he engaged in mining, ranching and driving a stagecoach.  He was said to have discovered the Sailor Jack mine in Oregon.

Around 1876 he came to Phoenix, where he was employed by ranchers such as W. W. Cook, the Alkire brothers and Jack Miller.  During the 1890s, he appears to have moved to Prescott for a couple of years, for he registered to vote there.

In early November, 1900, Sailor Jack, then aged 76, was assaulted and robbed by two gunmen who held up Goddard’s Station on the Black Canyon road.  This incident seems to have weighed upon his mind and he decided to move into a room in Phoenix.  Jack was said to have been a kind-hearted soul; although he had no known relatives, he had many friends and acquaintances with whom to pass the time of day.

With advancing age came ill health.  Despondent, Sailor Jack committed suicide on December 27, 1901.  While at the Anheuser Saloon in Phoenix, he slipped out back for a moment to ingest a lethal dose of strychnine.  He then reentered the saloon and sat calmly until a single convulsion signaled his demise.  According to the coroner, a bottle of strychnine was found in his pocket but no money, although he was known to have had some the day before.  Possibly he had given it away.

Mr. Twentyman was buried in Rosedale Cemetery, Block 12, Grave 6.

-by Donna Carr

#5 Alexander D. Cole (1839-1907) - Union Veteran

 

PCA Archives

Alexander D. Cole was born May 17, 1839, in Moosup, Connecticut, to Caleb Cole and Hannah Crandall.  The Coles were fairly prosperous farmers.

In October 1862, Cole enlisted in Company A, 12th Rhode Island Infantry, for a period of nine months.  His regiment took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg that December.  After that, it was on guard duty in Kentucky and Ohio.  Cole reenlisted at the end of his initial hitch and served until July 29, 1865.

On January 16, 1868, Alexander Cole wed Ella Augusta Lord in Boston, Massachusetts.  The young couple was living in Southbridge, Massachusetts, when their first child, Fannie, was born on November 20, 1869.   Alexander was employed in a woolen mill.

Although little Fannie thrived, the Coles’ next three children—Charles, Henry and Gertrude—did not live long enough to see their first birthdays.  It wasn’t until October 28, 1876, that Ella gave birth to a son, George Elbert, who would grow to adulthood.  One more child, Nellie, was born May 26, 1882.

Over the years, Alexander and Ella seem to have parted ways, as he is listed as divorced on the federal census of 1900; he gave his occupation as ‘landlord’.  He and his two daughters had moved to Phoenix around 1895, possibly because Fannie was suffering from a malady which caused her joints to ossify, limiting her mobility (may have been something like rheumatoid or osteoarthritis). 

At first, Fannie was active in the local Presbyterian church and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.T.C.U.).  In time, however, she was confined to bed, unable to bend her arms and legs.  On September 17, 1901, her doctor tried a surgical intervention to ‘break’ her joints, but Fannie died of shock following the operation.   After a funeral conducted by Rev. McAfee of the Presbyterian Church, she was buried in Rosedale Cemetery.

While living in Phoenix, Alexander Cole joined the John Wren Owen G.A.R. post.  In March, 1907, he applied for an invalid pension and received Certificate #969811.  He passed away on October 5, 1907, of cardiac dilation, and was buried next to his daughter Fannie in Rosedale.

Nothing further is known of Cole’s younger daughter, Nellie; likely she married.  Cole’s son George Elbert lived in Phoenix for a brief time, at least.  In 1910, his nine-year-old daughter Ella died of tuberculosis while residing at 716 West Madison.  She too was buried in Rosedale, probably in the Cole family plot.

by Donna Carr

 

 

 

#6 Sgt. John Fraser Cameron (1878-1905) - Veteran of the Spanish American War

 

PCA Archives

John Fraser Cameron, born January 1878 in Memphis, Tennessee, is believed to have been the son of Col. John Fraser Cameron, Sr. and his wife Mary A. Myers.  Since John Sr. and his wife died in 1882 and 1883 respectively, it is likely that their six orphaned children were raised by relatives.  Three of the Cameron daughters—Mary Belle, Chloe Ann, and Nancy Louise--made advantageous marriages.

John F. Cameron was working as a telephone lineman when he enlisted in the U. S. Army at Galveston on April 28, 1898.  It was just a few days after President McKinley had declared war on Spain. 

Cameron was regarded as a very good soldier.  He rose to the rank of sergeant in Company C, 30th U. S. Infantry and might have made a career in the military, had it not been for his contracting tuberculosis.

He was at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, when he was discharged on May 16, 1905, as unfit for duty.  Fort Bayard was a decommissioned frontier fort which was being used as a tuberculosis sanitarium for Army personnel.  A week later, Cameron was awarded a disability pension.

 Cameron then traveled to Arizona to join his older brother Allen, who was living in Sayer.  However, he died in Wickenburg, Arizona, on December 26, 1905, and was buried in Porter Cemetery. 

 -by Donna Carr

Honoring Valor: The Restoration of a Veteran's Grave Site

 

PCA Archives

Amer DeShane McGinnis was born around 1849 to John and Laura McGinnis.  He enlisted in the military in 1867 when he was a farmer at 21 1/2 years old, and participated in the Indian Wars, as a soldier in Company A, 32nd United States Infantry. He was discharged June 28, 1870.  He married Annie Pickering, the widow of William L. Pickering on November 27, 1890 at Vulture City, Arizona. William had died in Vulture City. He was the owner of a saloon there. Unfortunately, Annie died on July 23, 1891.

Later, Amer would be appointed as a U.S. Postmaster at Calderwood, Maricopa, Arizona on January 26, 1892. Amer died on November 8, 1905, and is buried next to his wife Annie in City Loosley. 

-Val

 

Recently, we were honored to have volunteers from the Travis Manion Foundation help with placement of a military marker for Amer McGinnis and a weed cleanup in our cemetery. The new marker was a replacement for the old one that had weathered to the point where the Amer's name was no longer visible. Veterans of the group joined together to place the marker, which weighs 220 pounds.  The mission of the TMF is to empower veterans and families of fallen heroes to develop character in future generations.  Thank you all.

-Patty

 

Solomon Dotson (1894 - 1940) - World War I Veteran

 

Val Digital Art and AI

Although no contemporary record of his birth has been found, Solomon Dotson is believed to have been born on Christmas Day, 1894, in Jacksonville, Cherokee County, Texas.

As early as August 1916, Dotson was serving as a private in Company H, 365th Infantry, U.S. Army.  The 365th was a racially-segregated, all Negro regiment.  However, it was somewhat unusual in that, unlike most other segregated units, it had African American officers.  Dotson’s commanding officer was Captain William Washington Green.  Green was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star for his heroic actions during World War I.  Therefore, it seems likely that Solomon Dotson too saw combat during the War.

Solomon had several service tours throughout his life.  Promoted to the rank of private first class, Dotson continues to appear on the 365th ‘s roster until January 31, 1919, when he was presumably discharged.

Proud of his World War I service, Dotson was active in veterans’ organizations throughout his later years.   In 1936, he was the finance officer for the William F. Blake American Legion Post #40 (the post appears to have been renamed the Tilden White Post at a later date).   Dotson’s teenaged daughter Lonnie was president of the post’s junior auxiliary.  Dotson also belonged to the Virgil Bell Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1710, which still exists.

1940 was an election year, and Solomon Dotson was active in the ‘Wilkie for President’ club.  However, he didn’t live to see the outcome of the election as he died on October 15th of a cerebral hemorrhage associated with hypertension.  His funeral took place at the Calvary Baptist Church, after which he was laid to rest in the Maricopa County Cemetery (now Cementerio Lindo).

-story shortened, story by Donna Carr

#1 - Amos G. Randal (1825 approx. - 1897) - Mine Owner

 

Picture by Patty

Amos G. Randal was born in Cattaragues County, New York, between 1825 and 1828. He was in San Francisco when he married his second wife in 1862. Owing to his interest in mining, he even lived in South America for a time. In later years, he became an undertaker and moved to Arizona. He was overseeing the funeral of a Confederate veteran in City/Loosley Cemetery on December 1, 1897, when he unexpectedly collapsed and died. Randal was buried in Porter Cemetery.

Thank You Veterans!

Picture by Patty

Thank you all who have served and are serving. We have some very special volunteers who we think about and honor today.

Francis Eugene Lake (1845 - 1890) - Civil War Veteran

Picture Created by Val (AI)

Francis "Frank" E. Lake was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1845.  Not much is known about Frank, other than his military record and history of illness. He died in June of 1890 at the county hospital after a long struggle with consumption, and was buried with military honors in Porter Cemetery.  He served in the 72nd Illinois Infantry, Company F, known as the Chicago Board of Trade Regiment, during the Civil War.  Frank Lake served from 1862 to 1865.  The infantry lost 242 men during its time in the war to disease and battle.  

It is not known if Frank was ever married or had children.  His military records state that when he was mustered in at 17, he was a farmer in St. Joseph, Michigan.  He was single, and stood 5'5" with black hair and blue eyes.  He had apparently contracted consumption during his service in the war.  It is not known when he came to Phoenix, although an 1884 voter registration log was found with his name in it.  

The sentiments of a newspaper reporter described his funeral procession as a "sad and pitiful cortege passing down Washington" in which 15 union veterans from G.A.R. followed stepping in time to the Death March.  There were no other mourners.  The reporter went on to say "No flag was half-mast, no secession in the busy rush of trade....not many seemed to know or care that one who bared his breast to the shock of war from which they today enjoy an undivided country" was being laid to rest, reflecting a sentiment that some shared that society was forgetting about those who had fallen for freedom.  

Frank died in poverty, and was buried by his Union comrades.  He is marked with a simple military marker.

   

 

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