THE R.I.P. REPORT
RESEARCH, INVESTIGATION, PROTECTION
Newsletter of the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association
PO Box 63342, Phoenix, 85082-3342
www.azHistCemeteries.org; pioneercem.org
Issue 3, May 2011
President’s Message
By Sterling Foster
This newsletter is full of activities and events that the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association has recently been involved with. I want to thank all the volunteers for the marvelous work that has been
done so far this year. We have accomplished a myriad of tasks and had fun as well.
We are getting ready for our Annual Memorial Day event which will be on May 30, 2011. We
will be joined this year by not only the great organizations that attended last year but new groups as
well. If you have not been to our Memorial Day event before or it’s been awhile, I invite you to come
and join the pageantry and history.
This will be our last newsletter until the fall. Everyone have a wonderful summer and a safe
one as well.
THE R.I.P. REPORT,
May 2011
Dead Horse Ranch by Patty Gault
The brochure for Dead
Horse Ranch State Park near
Cottonwood begins the history
of the park in 1950 when the
Ireys family bought 285 acres,
naming it Dead Horse Ranch.
They sold the Ranch to the State
of Arizona in 1977. There is a
much older history to this area
and one that left a cemetery behind within the park.
A trip to Cottonwood to
locate three cemeteries led me
and my girlfriend to Dead Horse
Ranch Park. She kept telling me
there wasn’t a cemetery located
inside the Park. She’d been
there several times. When we
stopped at the park entrance to
pay our fee, I asked the ranger
where the cemetery was. I could tell the ranger was curious as to why we were looking for it. I explained I was with the PCA and documenting the cemetery for the State’s centennial. She pulled out the
park brochure and pointed to the location, which said cemetery. Needless to say my girlfriend was now
more than interested in our trip.
The cemetery is off one of the side roads and invisible to anyone driving by. It’s overgrown and
well hidden. Standing among the remaining headstones and crosses, you have a beautiful view of Mingus Mountain. With a slight breeze blowing, we took photos and walked the area wondering about the
people buried in this peaceful place. So back to the ranger station we went.
Park Ranger Max Castillo just happened to be at the station when we went back. I told him why
I was there and was curious about the cemetery. He told me he had a file filled with information and
photos and to come back to his office. According to my girlfriend, my eyes lit up.
The file Max had together with his knowledge told a story of Luis and Maria Reyes who came
from Mexico and homesteaded the area beginning in the late 1890s. The Reyes family farmed and sold
their products to the miners of Jerome and the families of Cottonwood. Mexicans were not permitted to
be buried in the Cottonwood Cemetery, so the burials started in the area that would become Dead Horse
Ranch. It is not known exactly how many people are buried here, but the last burial was in 1968.
The Reyes family put the cemetery into a trust in 1914, which is still administered by a family
member. The State of Arizona does not own that portion of the park. The cemetery was recorded as San
Leuy Cemetery, which according to Max was a misspelling of the San Luis Rey Cemetery. Max had in
his file a handwritten list from the mortuary books at the Jerome State Park of those people buried “in
the Mexican cemetery across the river.” This designation is written in the mortuary book and what we
also saw on several death certificates of people located through what few headstone we found. One person on the list was documented as 116 years old.
The cemetery was no longer needed much after 1936, when a small portion of the west part of
the Cottonwood City Cemetery was designated as the Mexican section. The west part of the Cottonwood Cemetery is now called the Azteca and is owned by an association.
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THE R.I.P. REPORT,
May 2011
Membership Report
By Ellen Edwards
Pioneers’ Cemetery Association was incorporated in 1983 although begun earlier. Four of the
early members, Dan Craig and Marge West, Virginia Allingham, are still among our 61 members. We
are pleased to welcome Patty Gault, and John and Leslie Warner, as our newest members.
Interest in and attendance at events at the Pioneers Memorial and Military Park & the
Smurthwaite House has brought most of our members, while others, searching family genealogical history, or researching Arizona history, have joined over the intervening years.
With our new museum status, we are officially open to the public on Thursdays. Our curbside ‘Open
House’ sign is encouraging to passers-by, who stop to inquire about the Smurthwaite House and Pioneer & Military Memorial Park, often returning to enjoy events, and, ultimately, becoming members.
Discovering our website, www.AZHistCemeteries.org , hearing or reading about PCA and Pioneer and Military Memorial Park, has also spurred others to join.
Centennial Legacy Project Update
By Diane Sumrall
The goal of the Inventory of Arizona Historic
Cemeteries (IAHC) is to create a comprehensive
inventory of historic cemeteries and burial sites in
Arizona as a Legacy for future generations of Arizonans. The ending date for the official project is
2012, but as part of our mission, we will collect and
update information as long as PCA continues to
exist. PCA received 11 forms from Sterling Foster
from Gila County using internet sources, making a
total of 333 forms submitted to date. Mike Riddle,
from Mohave County, recently informed us that
about 75% of Mohave and La Paz forms are ready
for submission. A disk was received from Sue Kissel in Yavapai Co., and more forms were received
from Joe Meehan in Coconino County. PCA is
maintaining a database as well as filing the forms
and photos. Our webmaster, Donna Carr, will be
updating the website with current IAHC information as her time permits.
Bacon Family/ A Cross Cemetery
Have you visited an old cemetery lately? Did you take a few pictures, look at some of the markers,
note the condition of the cemetery? Can you tell us how to get there? Did you learn some of the history while you were there? If so, you can participate in this project with us by filling out the form on
our website and emailing the form and photos. Does the form seem too complicated? Just answer the
above questions in an email and attach your photos. Can’t do a lot of traveling? You can search the
internet for cemetery sites from home and gather any available info. You’ll find, as we have, some
interesting stories resting within these sites. There is still much work to be done, especially in
Cochise, Yavapai, Santa Cruz, and Pima Counties. Please join us.
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THE R.I.P. REPORT,
May 2011
Cemetery Walk by Debe Branning
News Tidbits
The open house in February was well attended, as was the March Cemetery Walk,
planned and organized by Debe Branning.
There was no attendance at the April open
house, leading us to believe that a monthly open
house may not be necessary. On Thursdays, however, there have been two or more visitors each
day. Several had family information to share. We
also have two families interested in placing headstones for their ancestors.
Sterling is working on researching Cross
Cut Cemetery (47th St/ Van Buren); Patty is traveling around Yavapai County inventorying cemeteries for our Legacy project. Denise, Dava, Debe
and Patty are researching and answering queries.
Diane is working on the IAHC, filling forms and
building a database.
Memorial Day plans are in the works as
noted in the president’s message. A crew will be
needed to set up for the event on the morning of
Memorial Day anytime after 0600. We will also
be decorating the cemeteries with flags and flowers on the Sunday before at 0900. This is always a
special and fun thing to do. Please email us if you
can help.
Our MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN has
resigned for personal reasons, leaving an opening
for someone willing and able for the task.
Also needed is a NEWSLETTER EDITOR.
Energy from the “super Moon” cast down
on the historic Pioneer & Military Memorial Park
and the scene of the 5th historical walk in Phoenix’s early cemeteries on March 20, 2011. Two
groups of tours were escorted back in time when
Phoenix was an up and coming city and Arizona
was still a Territory. Seven cemeteries make up
the 11 acre complex that contains the burial sites
of many early Phoenix pioneers who helped shape
the way of life in Arizona. The site was used until
1914, and many old tombstones still dot the aged
graveyard.
Debe Branning organizes and heads up the
tour program. Eight dearly departed gravesites are
selected, researched and showcased on each historic tour. Volunteer actors receive a scripted biography of one of the chosen pioneers and add
their own research, props and personality to the
character. The Historic Cemetery Walk is an
event the entire family can enjoy. Each bi-yearly
tour offers a new set of tales of the dearly departed Phoenix residents. Guests have an opportunity to learn about the lives of these unique pioneers— where they came from, why they settled
in Arizona, and how they lived and died.
Calendar of Events, 2011
29 May, Sunday, 0900, decorate cemetery
30 May, Monday, Memorial Day, 0930
June, July, August– limited hours
October– Cemetery Walk
PCA Wish List
Donations of the following would be
appreciated:
Any and all office supplies.
Cases of water.
Kitchen supplies- plastic ware and paper goods.
Gift certificates– Home Depot, Walmart,
Office Max, etc.
Garden Tools– rakes, gloves, etc.
Headstone Care– soft brushes, whisk brooms.
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