More Facts on Smurthwaite House!

PCA Archives

 

More facts on Smurthwaite House!

Robert Plumridge (1845-1906) - Gambler and Bookmaker

PCA Archive - Rosedale Cemetery

Robert Plumridge was born on December 1844 in New Zealand.  This would have been barely three years after the local Maori chieftains signed a treaty and New Zealand was made a British colony. 

It is possible that Robert was the son of George Plumridge, born in England, and Catherine Norris, born in Ireland.  The 1852 state census of California lists a boy by that name, living in the household of R. Watson and his wife Catherine.  Watson, a hotel steward, might have been Robert’s stepfather.

Plumridge was working as a waiter in California when the Civil War began in 1861.   On September 20, 1861, he enlisted at Coloma, El Dorado County, California, for a term of three years.  He mustered in at Auburn, Placer County, on October 16 and was assigned to Company F, 4th California Infantry.  The regiment never saw battle; instead, its soldiers were assigned as support personnel to posts along the west coast of the United States.  By September of 1862, Plumridge was working in the bake house of a military hospital.   At the expiration of his term of enlistment, he was discharged at Fort Yuma on September 20, 1864.

Fort Yuma was on the California side of the Colorado River, across from the Arizona Territory.  Plumridge seems to have chosen Arizona over California, for he was recorded as voting in Prescott in 1876.  In 1880, he was listed as managing a hotel in Tombstone.

On November 10, 1883, Plumridge wed Isabel Acedo in Tucson, Arizona (she also appears in several records as ‘Elizabeth’).   Isabel was twenty years his junior.  They settled in Phoenix, where they had five children.

Instead of employing his skills as a baker, Plumridge made his living in Phoenix as a gambler and bookmaker.  According to his obituary, he was an ardent ‘sporting man’ and an authority on card games, horse races and boxing.  Nevertheless, he had such a reputation for honesty and fair play that even those who lost their bets could not complain.  He was employed for several years by the Capitol Saloon as a faro dealer, although he sometimes took time off to attend sporting events where money was likely to change hands.

On September 7, 1895, Plumridge applied for an invalid pension due to respiratory problems contracted during his service.  He was awarded Pension # 938,379.  

Plumridge died on June 19, 1906, of carcinoma of the bowels.   Following an Episcopal funeral service, he was buried in Rosedale, Section: R-N.

Plumridge’s wife Elizabeth received widow’s pension # 852,345, based on his military service.  She died August 1, 1927, in Los Angeles, California.

 -by Donna Carr

 

Women of Grit: Business Owners at the PMMP

Ford Hotel - Location of Mary Lee's Ford Hotel Restaurant

Arizona Memory Project

 

In the 1800s, women were often limited to a narrow set of occupational roles which included teacher, servant, housekeeper, Sunday School instructor, or professions like saloon girl or madame. However, with the settling of the West, more opportunities developed for women, and many could start and own their own businesses.   

Here at the PMMP lie remarkable women who defied the norms of their day. 

🍨 Caroline Goodhue ran an ice cream shop
🍽️ Mary A. Lee operated her own restaurant
🍸 Edna Laziola kept a saloon
🖼️ Mary Florence Mann offered private lessons as an art teacher
🛠️ Saloma Newland owned and mined her own claims throughout Arizona

We also honor two of our cemetery owners.  Lulu Porter owned Porter Cemetery.  She sold and managed plots of land from it for burials.  Hortense Peery owned a large portion of Rosedale Cemetery, while in her late teens, no doubt, from California.

These women weren’t just business owners. They were barrier breakers, paving the way for generations to come.

Stay tuned for more stories about these entrepreneurs! 

 

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.

George Frank Breninger (1865-1905) - Naturalist

 

Masons Cemetery with Masonic Memorial - PCA Archives

George Frank Breninger was born September, 1865, probably in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  From age fifteen, he manifested an intense fascination with nature, collecting specimens, pelts and eggs.  His collection of birds’ eggs was at one time considered the fourth largest in the country.

Breninger became an ornithologist and expert taxidermist, mounting many of his specimens himself.  As a naturalist, he had traveled widely in the continental United States from the Rockies as far south as the Isthmus of Panama to locate and collect rare species.  Some of his work was sent to the Smithsonian Museum and Field Columbian Museum in Chicago.  Another of his collections was at Colorado State University. 

He married Margaret J. Hoag, daughter of Addison Hoag in Fort Collins, Colorado, on September 19, 1888.  Although he and his wife had five children, only their oldest son, David Addison, had a somewhat normal lifespan.  Juvenile diabetes seems to have run in the family, as son Walter and daughter May both died of it before insulin became available to treat it.  Another child died in infancy, and daughter Luella Ruth died of scarlet fever in 1903.

The family moved to Phoenix around 1897.  In 1900, Professor Breninger spent six months in the Rockies, collecting specimens for the Foote Mineral Museum in Philadelphia.  He published several scholarly papers about birds.

In 1903, Professor Breninger traveled to Guatemala and Nicaragua for four months to secure 500 bird specimens for the Field Columbian Museum.   The conditions of the trip were rather primitive and Breninger’s team was regarded with some suspicion by the locals, who feared they might be a filibustering expedition intent on destabilizing the Mexican government.  Breninger collected many parrot specimens and even some ocelots.  He also brought back an orchid plant.  It survived the six-week journey back to Arizona and bloomed in 1904.

Breninger grew different varieties of crops on his farm to determine whether they could survive in desert conditions.  His wife Margaret had a fine flower garden and sold cut flowers in season.  It is not known whether they had a greenhouse for their more delicate plants, although there were greenhouses in Phoenix by 1913.

For years, Breninger was exposed to arsenic in the course of his taxidermy work.  Although he knew it was detrimental to his health, such was his devotion to his nature studies that he accepted the risk.  He suffered three strokes, with each one leaving him weaker. 

He died on December 2, 1905, at his home at 386 North Sixth Avenue.  After a Christian Science funeral, he was buried in Masons Cemetery. 

-by Donna Carr

 

Generated with AI Bing Image Creator

A Bird’s-Eye View of History: Comparing PMMP from 1930 to 2025

 

A New View of Our History!

On April 25, 2025, a drone soared above Pioneer & Military Memorial Park, capturing stunning high-resolution aerial photographs of the entire cemetery from just 50–60 feet above ground. Using precise parallel flight paths, every inch of both the north and south cemeteries was documented in detail.

But the real magic? We're comparing these 2025 drone images to aerial photos dating as far back as the 1930s! Take a look at these shots and see how the landscape has changed!

Photographs: City of Phoenix

Volunteer Spotlight: Meet Donna!

 

PCA Archives

When Donna Carr first met Marge West in 1985, both were working at Cholla Branch Library. Like Marge, Donna was a librarian and family genealogist well before personal computers were widely available.  From time to time, Marge would mention her work at the pioneer cemetery near the State Capitol and how she was reading rolls of newspaper microfilm, searching for obituaries of those buried there.  Still, it wasn't until 2004 that Donna had enough free time to actually join the Pioneers Cemetery Association, becoming its first webmaster.

In addition to long-time PCA member Marge, Donna then met Diane Sumrall, Frank Barrios and Reba Grandrud.  She assisted with major projects such as the 2012 Inventory of Arizona's Historic Cemeteries and the compilation of a burial list for nearby Cementerio Lindo.  Between 2015 and 2017, she was on the team that revised the burial list of the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park in light of additional information that had been unearthed since the publication of the first edition in 2005.  And she sometimes donned period-appropriate dress for the PCA's annual Memorial Day observances.

In 2017, the PCA coordinated with author Derek Horn and the History Press to publish a book specifically about some of the notable characters buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. As chair of the PCA's Living History team, Donna has carried on that project by researching and writing almost 200 short biographical sketches of the Cemetery's 'residents'--with more to come!  She has paid particular attention to documenting the lives of African American, Chinese, Hispanic, Native American and women pioneers who rest in the cemeteries that the PCA manages.

Thank you Donna for all you do!

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!

 

Robert John “Robin” Icke (1858-1905) - Ostrich Wrangler

Microsoft Stock Image

Robert John “Robin” Icke was born April 1858 in Attleborough, Warwickshire, England. He married Fannie Townsend in England.  However, their first child, John Henry Townsend Icke, was born April 1888 in Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa, where Mr. Icke had gone to engage in ostrich farming.  Ostrich feathers were in great demand for Victorian ladies’ millinery, and the huge birds were also raised for their meat.

The couple’s second child, Edith Winifred Icke, was born in July 1890 in Wellington, Shropshire, England.  The 1891 census of England and Wales also recorded the Ickes in Wellington, where Mr. Icke was working as a commissions agent.

By about 1893, the Ickes were in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when Mr. Icke was hired by Josiah T. Harbert to manage his ostrich farm in south Phoenix.  Perhaps the desert climate reminded the Ickes of South Africa, for they came to Arizona at once…and stayed.  The United States federal census of 1900 records them living about three miles northwest of Phoenix.

Around this time, newspaper accounts suggest that Robin Icke was of unsound mind.  He was committed to the insane asylum for a brief period in September of 1900. In April 1901, Fannie Icke contracted typhoid fever.  She died on April 13th.   Because Mrs. Icke’s doctor had been sanguine about her chances of recovery, and because of her husband’s previous mental illness, an autopsy was ordered.  It proved, however, that Mrs. Icke had indeed died of typhoid fever.

Fannie Icke was buried in Porter Cemetery, Block 17.  Shortly thereafter, the two Icke children--John, 13, and Edith, 10—were sent back to England to be raised by Fannie’s married sister.

While the exact nature of Robert Icke’s mental illness is not known, the death of his wife and the loss of his children may well have pushed him over the edge.  On March 2, 1905, he died of alcoholism in his room at the Commercial Hotel in Phoenix.  He was buried next to his deceased wife in Porter Cemetery, B17.

- by Donna Carr

 

 

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!

Happy Fourth of July!

 

Happy Fourth of July!  Stay safe!

A Thursday Funny for You!

Doesn't everyone have this hobby? 😀😀

 

How Old Do You Think is the Oldest Grave Marker In Our Cemetery? Old Station Subs Weighs In.........

Find out next week!  Stay tuned to our blog, Facebook, and Instagram accounts to find out how old the oldest grave markers are in our cemetery, and the story behind them!

Facebook:  Pioneers' Cemetery Association

Instagram:  @pcacemeteries