December 2020 – The Exasperated Historian

Historic Pinal Cemetery

Posted on December 30, 2020January 16, 2022 by nickssquire12

Informational Sign Near the Cemetery Entrance

Over the Christmas 2020 weekend, I hit the road once again, this time with my mom, dad, and brother with me.

Okay, to be fair, my dad drove while he and my brother took my mom and I out to the Historic Pinal Cemetery. This graveyard is located about forty miles from our house, just outside Superior, Arizona, and is definitely not as easy to find as our last stop at Adamsville/Butte View outside Florence. To get to Historic Pinal, you need a vehicle equipped to drive off road and some good old fashioned sense of direction. Google Maps gets you kind of close, but you need to know what you're looking for in order to actually find the spot.

My dad and brother last visited the cemetery around fifteen to seventeen years ago by their best estimation, but typical of my dad, he was able to find the cemetery after a quick five minute walk from where we parked.

I took a quick reference photo for all of you, in case you need some help finding the place. For one thing, the entire cemetery is surrounded by a wire fence, and there is the one big metal sign at one end (see the top photo of me standing beside it). However, if you approach the cemetery from the opposite side, like my family did, you might not see the sign. Therefore, this image will probably be helpful. To find the cemetery, you first need to locate this:

If you see this power line juncture, you know you're close. You're literally within sight of the cemetery, by the way.

Once inside the actual graveyard, you'll quickly notice there are very few actual graves that are identifiable today. Most of the graves are only marked with a circle of stones, some of which are marked with white paint. The majority of those buried in the cemetery are women and children, and no one has been buried in the graveyard since 1916, when another cemetery opened in the actual city limits of Superior.

The following photos are all from within Historic Pinal. These are the graves I spotted that are better marked. Unfortunately this cemetery is less cared for than those outside Florence, but I am glad the limits are at least fenced off now.

One of the better marked Historic Pinal graves

This marble grave marker is nearly impossible to read in the Arizona sun

This is the most intricate marker in the cemetery as of 2020

Despite signage requesting no new additions or flowers being added to the cemetery, it is clear someone ignored that request with this marker.

This poor marker is cracked and hidden under a bush

The vast majority of visitors to Historic Pinal are there for one reason: to see the grave of Mattie Blaylock, who was the girlfriend of famed gunslinger Wyatt Earp. Unfortunately, though Mattie is buried somewhere within the confines of Historic Pinal, her actual gravesite has been lost.

Today, a memorial cenotaph has been placed at the entrance to Historic Pinal, pictured below in a photograph I took while visiting.

This marker was placed by the overseers of the cemetery

Unfortunately that's about all there is to see at Historic Pinal. Maybe someday Mattie Blaylock's actual gravesite will be rediscovered. Maybe someday the little cemetery hidden behind the abandoned railroad tracks will be kept up better once again. For now though, this little graveyard really does belong under the banner of "Abandoned Cemetery of the Old West."

Hopefully soon we'll be able to take another trip to visit another burial ground. None of the others on our list are as close as Historic Pinal, Butte View, or Adamsville are to where we live, so we'll have to wait and see. For now though, I hope you enjoyed reading and virtually visiting this historic graveyard.

Celebrating 1,000 Women (And Counting!)

Posted on December 24, 2020January 16, 2022 by nickssquire12

Just a quick note to celebrate this historic milestone. After gathering data and stories for five years, I am now proud to say the first 1,000 women have been posted to this website, where their stories will live on forever. We have seen criminals, victims, scientists, mathematicians, lawyers, advocates, survivors, artists, musicians, actresses, innkeepers, warriors, royalty, and so much more.

I now know I have over six hundred more women to go, but I wanted to mark the date as the first 1,000 appeared. Today, Christmas Eve, 24 December 2020, officially marks that day. Entry number one, Hypatia of Alexandria, and entry number one thousand, Claressa Shields, have led completely different lives than just about anyone, but that's even more perfect in a way. These two women represent how varied and wonderful the human story is, and how each story impacts the world in such a different way.

Thank you, to anyone reading this, to anyone who has supported me over the years, and to everyone who will continue or begin to support me in the future. None of this would have been possible without you, and I will always be grateful.

To 1,000 more eventually! (And a special note of appreciation for the 200 men who have active profiles on this site as well. We won't forget you either, and I'm proud to say I have about twenty more on the way...)

-The Exasperated Historian Herself, Zoë

Adamsville and Butte View Cemeteries (Florence, Arizona)

Posted on December 2, 2020January 16, 2022 by nickssquire12

In October of 2020, I casually purchased a copy of Graveyards of the Wild West: Arizona by Heather L Moulton and Susan Tatterson from my local Barnes and Noble. After thumbing through the book, my mother and I decided it would be fun to take several road trips around our state to visit these Old West cemeteries to see what we could find. Yes, we are those kind of people (the kind that find visiting cemeteries fun!).

So with the long Thanksgiving weekend in sight, we set out to drive down to Florence, which is about forty minutes from where we live. Down in Florence you will find two cemeteries that lay back to back: Butte View and Adamsville (named after the town of the same name that no longer exists--Adamsville was washed away when the Gila River flooded in the early 1900's!).

Most of the graves date to before Arizona became a state in 1912, but several others are from much later. Adamsville covers more land area and has more graves, but they are spread out and not as well kept up as Butte View. Butte View has a gravel path linking all of the graves, the majority of which are marked with a plain white cross and the words "Unknown Grave" with a number and any information about the deceased that might be known. While in Butte View, my mother and I noticed a baby girl buried there was celebrating her 120th birthday that very weekend (gravesite pictured below).

Margaret's grave has a white cross and a small placard explaining her name, birth and death dates.

Margaret Truman was only a few months old when she died in 1900. Her gravesite was recently restored in time for us to visit near her 120th birthday.

The other notable grave in Butte View, at least according to Graveyards of the Wild West, is the three Butte View "Witches". I must confess, the witches are the reason my mom and I were most interested in visiting the cemetery. According to the book, the three witches are buried outside the confines of the cemetery; their graves are unmarked but were later adorned by visitors. Interestingly enough, this is not at all what you see at Butte View today. After comparing photos from the book with the graves in the cemetery while we were there, my mother and I discovered the three graves now have markers indicating the birth and death dates, along with the names of those buried there. So now the question is, are the graves really those of "witches" and someone created fake names and identities for the graves, or were the authors of the book fed false information? If I'm ever back in Florence when the local historical society is open, I'll have to stop in and ask a few questions...

Three graves marked with concrete slabs surrounded by a white fence

According to the book, these graves are of the three Butte View "Witches", but according to the graves themselves, these three individuals are men of the same family

The three "witches" graves at Butte View cemetery, as shown in Graveyards of the Wild West

Heading over to Adamsville, you'll find another notable grave. Way out here in the middle of nowhere (practically anyway), you'll find the grave of a Confederate Veteran, the only veteran of the War Between the States in this area of Arizona. His name was Granville Oury, and he has a traditional marker as provided by the United States Government for veteran graves (note the pointed tip at the top; Union veterans have rounded tops to their headstones). Besides the traditional grave marker, Captain Oury also has a rock engraved with the Confederate Battle Flag and more information about his life. The two markers are side by side out there in the desert.

Captain Oury's government issue marker is on the top of this image while the engraved polished stone is beneath. I took both of these photos in November of 2020

Located in the Adamsville Cemetery, Captain Granville Oury is the only Confederate veteran buried in either of these cemeteries.

Some of the other graves in Adamsville I took photos of include a judge, two children buried back to back, and a hand engraved stone with little information. Another marker has completely broken off the original pedestal and now lays flush with the ground. Adamsville is a stark contrast to Butte View, to say the least. What's remarkable about the two cemeteries is the fact that they are side by side, only a few hundred yards apart. One (Butte View) is well cared for, clean, and welcoming to visitors. Adamsville is the complete opposite; surrounded by sharp wire fencing, with dilapidated headstones that are nearly worn away and no one there to clean them up or restore them.

This simple headstone marks the final resting place of a judge from before Arizona became a state

The headstone in front is for a young girl who died before her third birthday. Directly behind her stone is a small marker in the shape of a box for a boy who died at one and a half years old (the box is peeking out to the left of the girl's stone in this photo)

This simple headstone is a concrete slab with a hand engraved marker that lists the deceased's name and years they lived

This grave marker has broken off the pedestal base. The majority of the upright stone now lays behind the base on the desert floor

I'll end this short tour of the headstone back at Butte View Cemetery. Right in the center is a large wagon wheel made of rocks. Why the wagon wheel is there, other than being decorative, I have no idea. The only explanation is a sign saying the design is a wagon wheel. Whatever reason, I thought it looked cool and snapped a photo, so here it is for you all to enjoy as well.

Located in Butte View is this artistic wagon wheel circle made of rocks

Someday soon we hope to also visit the following historic cemeteries in Arizona:

Historic Pinal (Outside Superior)
Pearce (Outside Tombstone)
Boothill (Tombstone)
Jerome (Jerome)
Arizona Pioneers (Prescott)
Grand Canyon Pioneer (Outside the Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona)

Hopefully once the Covid health scare calms down and we're able to travel more, I and other members of my family will be able to visit other historic cemeteries around the United States.

There are two other "historic" cemeteries I've also visited: Arlington National in Arlington, Virginia, where our nation's heroes are laid to rest, and the City of Mesa Cemetery in my hometown of Mesa, Arizona. I now have fifteen relatives and friends buried in the City of Mesa Cemetery, and I try to visit them all once a month if not more often. Visiting cemeteries is a great way to learn local history and also say hello to some of history's forgotten every day people.

So the next time you drive by a scenic or abandoned cemetery, stop in and say hello. You never know whose story you might learn by doing so.