 Charles H. Knapp, 1845-1898 Veteran, Court Clerk, Mason Buried in the Masons cemetery, Block 10, Lot 2, Grave 2 (Grave marker photograph courtesy of Pioneers’ Cemetery Association) 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. © 2016 by Val Wilson. Last revised 27 April 2026. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!
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 Newton Jasper Coyle, 1843-1912 Veteran and miner Buried in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery, exact location unknown. Memorial marker in the PMMP memorial garden. (Image generated with Bing AI) 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. © 2026 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 18 February 2026. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!  Annie McMurtry Trott, 1859-1906 Surveyor’s Wife Buried in IOOF Cemetery, Block 22, Lot 2, Grave 7 (Grave marker photo courtesy of the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association) Margaret Anna McMurtry is believed to have been born on July 8, between 1856 and 1858, in White County, Illinois, to James Harrell McMurtry and Martha McMurtry neé Sharp. While the inscription on Annie’s grave marker says that she was born in 1859, her death record gives her birthyear as 1858.
The 1860 federal census found the widow McMurtry living in the household of a George W. Overton and working as a seamstress. Ten years later, the McMurtrys were farming in Gallatin County, Illinois, and Ann was recorded as being 13 years old. On February 22, 1879, Annie married Franklin P. Trott, in El Dorado, Saline County, Illinois. Trott was a civil engineer. Their first child, a daughter named Nellie, was born about five months later. The 1880 federal census recorded Annie and her baby daughter living with Martha, who was managing a boarding house in El Dorado. Franklin, a station agent for the Santa Fe Railroad, was not in the household (he was temporarily in Benton, Franklin County, Illinois), although he must have rejoined it shortly thereafter, since the Trotts had another daughter, Bessie, born in 1881. Shortly thereafter, the Trotts, accompanied by Annie’s widowed mother, moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where Franklin worked by turns as a civil engineer, county surveyor, deputy sheriff and water commissioner. As head of the zanjeros in Maricopa County, Trott was generally well-regarded. The Trotts had a home at 472 North 2nd Street in Phoenix and seem to have enjoyed some years of relative prosperity during the 1880s. Sadly, both of their daughters fell ill with scarlet fever in 1890. Nellie recovered, but Bessie, aged nine, died in December and was buried in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery. Like so many others of the time, Annie was eventually diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. Not wanting to spend the summer in Phoenix, she traveled to Los Angeles in 1906, accompanied by her daughter Nellie. Annie died there on August 11, and her remains were returned to Phoenix for burial in the family plot. Franklin P. Trott lived until May 2, 1936. He and his daughter Nellie are buried in the Encanto Mausoleum at Greenwood Memory Lawn in Phoenix. © 2025 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 14 February 2025. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!  Norma Jackson Helm, 1863-1891 Southern Belle Buried in Porter Cemetery, Block 12, Grave B (Grave marker photo courtesy of Donna L. Carr) Norma Jackson was born December 1863 in Madison, Morgan County, Georgia, to newlyweds Jesse Wade Jackson and his wife, Julia Tunnell. Although Madison is near Atlanta, it escaped destruction during General Sherman’s March to the Sea in 1864 because it was home to a pro-Union congressman, Joshua Hill.
Surprisingly for a white Southerner, Norma’s father was a Republican. As a matter of fact, he became a personal friend of Ulysses S. Grant, who arranged an appointment in the U. S. Revenue Department for him in 1881. The Jacksons resided in Washington, D. C. until March 1887, when Jesse passed away. His body was returned for burial in the family plot at Buckhead, Georgia. As her parents’ only child, the move to Washington had benefitted Norma. Raised in the genteel traditions of the Old South, she was expected to act as a gracious hostess at the tea parties and social events befitting her station in society. When she came down with consumption, she travelled to Los Angeles to visit an aunt. While there, she met Dr. Scott Helm and became engaged to him. In February 1890, a Los Angeles newspaper reported, “Miss Norma Jackson, of Capitol Hill, the only child of the late Jesse W. Jackson, was married on the 12th instant, at Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, to Dr. Scott Helm, a native of Kentucky, a graduate of Princeton College and Rush Medical College, [and] of Heidelberg, Germany. Miss Norma is well-known in Washington, where her grace, beauty and accomplishments won her many admirers. She was on the Pacific Slope visiting her aunt, where she was wooed, won and wed by the fortunate doctor.” As the wife of Dr. Helm, the foremost surgeon in the Arizona Territory, Norma entertained frequently and became known for her charm and hospitality. Her circle of acquaintances included her half-aunt, the much-married Mary Taylor Woolsey Sullivan Fry Baxter. Norma’s health took a turn for the worse late in 1890. In February 1891, the Helms celebrated their first—and last—wedding anniversary with an excursion to the Hole in the Rock near Scottsdale, where the party was serenaded by a local singer known as “Monsieur Mumm." Despite Dr. Helm’s expert ministrations, Norma died on April 30, 1891, at the age of 28, and was buried in Porter Cemetery. Dr. Helm did not remain a widower for long. In November, 1892, he married Miss Jane Beeler of Kentucky. © 2025 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 4 January 2025. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!  Louise Cora Clough Dunn, 1840-1896 Miner’s Wife Buried in City Loosley Cemetery, Section 11, Grave 7 (Photo courtesy of her descendants) Louise Cora Clough was born in Maine around 1840. When she was a young girl, she appears to have been known as Caroline. The family eventually moved to Douglas County, Kansas, where her father, the Rev. Mace Richard Clough, was a Methodist circuit preacher and farmer. Judging from the birthplaces of their children, the move took place between 1850 and 1857. At the time, Douglas County was at the epicenter of “Bleeding Kansas," with settlements sharply divided between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.
Louise married William B. Walling on November 22, 1857, in Lawrence, Kansas. Like herself, Walling was a New Englander, born January 31, 1835, in Vermont. Walling seems to have been in the lumber industry, so it was only natural that, around 1859, the couple would leave treeless, windswept Kansas for the mining towns of Colorado. The Wallings settled near Central City, Colorado, where William built a sawmill. Over the following years, he and Louise had several children: an unnamed child who died at birth around 1858, Frederick A. (1859-1946), Herbert Benjamin (1864-1947), Edward (~1867-), Addie (~1868-), May (1870-1953), and Elmer Ellsworth (1871-1965). After a dispute with his business partner which culminated in a shooting in self-defense, Walling moved his sawmill to Caribou, Colorado, and branched out into cattle-raising and real estate sales. He constructed a small steamboat and, on the Fourth of July, 1872, launched it at a popular amusement park built on a small lake south of Central City. Residents appreciated the novelty and lined up to buy tickets for excursions. But all was not well with the Walling marriage. They divorced on June 16, 1875, and Louise married John Casper Dunn in Denver just thirteen days later, on June 29, 1875. Dunn was a miner and a Union veteran of the Civil War. The year 1880 found the Dunns living in Denver, where Louise’s youngest child, Elmer Ellsworth, had adopted the Dunn surname. None of Louise’s other children, who had continued to use the Walling surname, were in the household. The Dunns may have moved to Phoenix, Arizona, after Louise developed pulmonary tuberculosis. The family was living near Five Points when she died quite suddenly on September 9, 1896. She had reportedly eaten a hearty supper and was washing dishes afterward when stricken with a hemorrhage from which she died a few minutes later. Louise was buried in Loosley Cemetery, Section 11, Grave 7. © 2022 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 16 November 2022. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!  Sophia Augusta Wall Ames, 1861-1892 Baptist Minister’s Wife Buried in Masons Cemetery, Block 9, Lot 3, Grave 5 (Grave marker photo courtesy of the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association, Inc.) Sophia Augusta Wall was born on June 24, 1861, in De Ruyter, Madison County, New York. Her parents were William Frederick Wall and Mary Jane Coon, farmers.
On June 22, 1886, she married a divinity student, John Fremont Ames, in a double ceremony with her sister Zella, who married Fred Hendee. The newlyweds honeymooned at Niagara Falls, after which John accepted a call to work as an assistant pastor in Genoa, New York. The Ameses’ first child, Francis, was born there on April 19, 1887. Ames was ordained to the Baptist ministry on December 9, 1887. He then decided to study theology at Rochester Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in June 1890. Having indicated that he wanted to serve a congregation that really needed him, even though it couldn’t afford to pay him a salary commensurate with his education, Ames accepted a call to a church in Madison, South Dakota. While in South Dakota, the Ameses had a little daughter, Mary Lorena, born on August 2, 1891. Unfortunately, Sophie developed an intractable cough and was shortly diagnosed with tuberculosis. In hopes of improving Sophie’s health, the family moved in 1892 to Milton, Tennessee, where they rented a house from relatives. However, Tennessee did not suit them. The rainy weather aggravated Sophie’s cough, and John disliked the racial segregation which forbade him to preach to whites and blacks at the same gathering. Ames was then offered the pastorate of a Baptist Church in Phoenix. It seemed an attractive offer as the dry climate of Arizona was said to be salubrious for invalids. So the Ameses moved once more. On July 31, 1892, Reverend Ames was in his buggy on his way to church in downtown Phoenix when he overtook and passed a steam threshing engine. When the driver blew his whistle twice, the unexpected noise so frightened the reverend’s horse that it took off in a mad run. As the buggy careened around a corner, Dr. Ames either tried to jump or was thrown from the buggy. He suffered head trauma and his left leg was broken. He was carried into Frakes’ Livery, where Drs. Hughes and Dameron stabilized him. However, they were not optimistic about his chances for recovery. Since Sophie herself was too ill and distraught to nurse her husband, Rev. Ames was attended by others. He died on August 12, almost two weeks after his accident. Already an invalid, Sophie was prostrated by her husband’s death. She could not bear light or sound; throughout the hot summer evenings she sat on the porch with a wet cloth over her face. Though cared for by her sister-in-law, Fannie Card Wall, Sophia declared in October 1892 she was ready to join her husband. She lingered until November before passing away. The Ameses were buried in the Masons Cemetery. The orphaned Ames children were raised by George and Fannie Wall in Woodbury County, Iowa. © 2025 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 4 February 2025. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!  Nicholas A. Connick, 1838-1898 Merchant and Accountant Buried in the ex-Confederate plot in Porter Cemetery (Image generated using Bing AI) Nicholas A. Connick is believed to have been of Irish descent, but he was born about 1837 in Pennsylvania. However, he didn’t remain there. Unlike the majority of immigrant Irish who settled in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and the industrial northwest, Connick was living in Texas at the outbreak of the Civil War.
He seems to have had a fairly good education since, on August 26, 1861, he enlisted as a sergeant in Capt. Charles Mason’s Company D, Cook’s Battalion, 1st Texas Heavy Artillery. By October, 1861, he was with the Pelican Battery at Galveston, defending the Texas coast from ships of the Union Navy. Connick’s military service was short, however, as he was discharged on November 22, 1861, after being promoted to the rank of major. Thereafter, he served the Confederate cause as chief clerk in a Houston commissary. A Confederate coupon from 1864, worth two dollars in groceries, bears his signature, written in a fair hand. On April 27, 1862, Connick married Nathalia F. Gaye in Christ Church, Houston, Texas. The 1880 federal census found Nicholas Connick living in the newly-formed county of Somervell, Texas, and working as a bookkeeper. By this time, he was a widower. Sometime before 1891, Connick arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, where he opened a saloon near the train depot. The Great Flood of 1891 forced the relocation of the establishment to higher ground. Early in January, 1891, Connick joined a newly formed group of ex-Confederates. Twenty-three local men attended its first meeting. Ivy Cox was elected president and Connick became the secretary. Thomas Greenhaw and Dr. Oscar Mahoney formed a committee to look into permanent organization. The group’s goal was to promote good fellowship and assist old comrades in distress. Perhaps competition drove Connick out of the saloon business, as the 1892 city directory of Phoenix listed him as an accountant. In addition to being proficient with figures, he was regarded as being a sociable, cultured man and a brilliant conversationalist, with vivid memories of the Civil War. On November 18, 1898, Connick died of typhoid at the county hospital in Phoenix. Although his death certificate suggests that he was to be buried in the county cemetery, his old comrades arranged to have him interred as a veteran in Porter Cemetery. No grave marker survives. © 2026 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 27 March 2026. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!  Henry Sayers, about 1832 – 1879 A “Sporting” Character Buried in City-Loosley Cemetery, Block 17, Lot 20 (Grave marker photo courtesy of Tom Yount) Known as “Dublin” or “Dublin Tricks," Sayers was a colorful and savvy part of the gritty fabric of pioneer life.
Henry “Harry” Sayers was born in Ireland around 1832. He would have been a teen or young adult when the Irish Potato Famine devastated that country and he emigrated. He was working as a plumber in New York in 1858, when he enlisted in Company E, 5th United States Infantry. In 1860, he was stationed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His first enlistment concluded when he was discharged at Los Piños, New Mexico Territory, in 1863. Evidently Sayers reenlisted, as the 1870 federal census records him as a regular Army soldier, part of a large garrison stationed at Fort Bowie, Apache Pass, Pima County, Arizona Territory. The pay might not have been much, but the Army provided companionship with other Irish-born soldiers, some adventure, and a steady livelihood. After his Army years, Sayers settled in Phoenix, where he became known as a "sporting" character and amateur pugilist. In 1873, he placed an ad in a local newspaper offering to fight any man in the Arizona Territory in a prize match under London Prize Ring rules, with $1,000 wagered on each side. His military service had enabled him to become a naturalized citizen, for he registered to vote in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona Territory, on October 14, 1876. By 1878, he had established a feed, exchange, and sales stable adjacent to a local flour mill. Next door to the stable was his bar, advertising the “best liquor and cigars." Following Harry Sayers’ death on June 28, 1879, his estate was administered by R. P. Hilands, who arranged to liquidate his estate. Originally buried in the Old Phoenix Cemetery, Sayers’ remains were relocated to City-Loosley Cemetery when the new cemetery was established in 1884. Unlike many early Phoenix residents, Sayers had a grave marker that was moved with him. During PMMP's 2025 preservation event, his headstone was found in Loosley with its top portion broken off and lying face-up on the ground. After careful probing, preservation volunteers discovered the base about a foot underground. It was brought back to the surface for restoration work. The maker's mark confirmed that the marble headstone had been made in Tucson, adding another historic layer to this pioneer’s enduring story in Arizona. Watch the accompanying video to see this restoration: https://youtu.be/LT0atA4YVFY © 2025 by Val Wilson. Last revised 30 June 2025. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!  Sgt. James C. Traynor, about 1840 – 1882 U. S. Soldier Buried in City/Loosley Cemetery, exact location unknown (Generic image created with Bing AI) James C. Traynor was a native of County Monaghan, Ireland. He came to the United States as a lad, possibly during the great potato famine. Traynor being a fairly common Irish name, it has not been possible to identify him in early records.
In about 1862, Traynor joined the Union Army, as many Irish immigrants did, and remained a soldier for the rest of his life. When he was 38 years old, Traynor may have been stationed at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory, as a soldier born in Ireland and approximately of that name and age is listed on the federal census of 1880. In 1882, Traynor was a sergeant with Company E, 1st U. S. Infantry. Having been recalled from their post in Clifton, Arizona, his unit was passing through the Salt River Valley on the way to its new assignment at Fort McDowell. On the evening of December 3rd, Traynor assayed to climb aboard a moving wagon at the Salt River crossing near Phoenix. He put his foot upon the brake and grasped the wagon bow in order to swing up to the seat, but the bow was broken and could not support his weight. Traynor fell under the heavily loaded wagon's wheels and was killed instantly. Following the tragedy, Company E bivouacked that night in downtown Phoenix. Traynor’s body was laid out in a tent next to the Phoenix City Cemetery, located between Jackson and Madison and 5th and 7th Avenues. At 3 PM the following afternoon, an Episcopal clergyman conducted the funeral and Traynor was interred with full military honors and a farewell volley fired by his fellow soldiers. Company E then continued on to Fort McDowell. Barely two years later, the first Phoenix City Cemetery was decommissioned and families were asked to remove the remains of their loved ones and have them reburied in the new cemeteries on the outskirts of town, at 14th Avenue between Jackson and Madison. Although no written records have been found, it is likely that Traynor’s body was one of those moved—perhaps to a common grave. His subsequent resting place is therefore unknown, but his military service is hereby commemorated. © 2025 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 11 March 2026. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!  Patrick Hamilton, 1843-1888 Newspaper editor Buried in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery, exact location unknown (Obituary from the Arizona Daily Star, December 23, 1888) Patrick Hamilton was born in January, 1843, in County Cork, Ireland. According to his newspaper obituary, he and his parents arrived in New York in 1846, at the beginning of the Irish Potato Famine. He received a liberal education in New York schools.
At age 20, he went west to Colorado, where fur trapping had given way to prospecting. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hamilton claimed to have joined the 3rd Colorado Volunteer Infantry and participated in several engagements. However, no evidence of his actual enlistment has been discovered. Possibly he was employed in some civilian capacity. Hamilton was in Arizona by 1876, and the 1880 federal census records him as a miner in Prescott. He became a member of the Correspondents’ Club and went into the newspaper business, managing the Prescott Democrat before buying The Expositor. Hamilton had hoped to be named Arizona’s territorial secretary, but the legislature appointed him Commissioner of Immigration instead. His duties included compiling a comprehensive list of Arizona’s natural resources with a view toward dispelling the image of Arizona as a vast wasteland and encouraging people to settle there. Hamilton threw himself into the project enthusiastically, moving to Tombstone to report on the silver mining boom there. Having earned a reputation for colorful editorials in his newspaper, the Tombstone Independent, he got crosswise of Samuel Purdy, editor of the rival Tombstone Epitaph. In September 1882, Purdy challenged Hamilton to a duel. Since dueling was illegal in Arizona, the two men crossed the border into Sonora. The entire incident came to naught, however, as they could not come to an agreement about which pistols to use. While in Tombstone, Hamilton made the acquaintance of a widow, Mrs. Frances McBride, and they declared their intention to marry. They finally achieved their objective on September 2, 1886 in San Diego. Between 1881 and 1886, Hamilton travelled extensively throughout Arizona, first writing and then updating his 270-page book, The Natural Resources of Arizona. It was well-received and went through several editions, with over 10,000 copies printed. An inveterate Arizona "booster," Hamilton had excerpts published in Arizona and California newspapers. Like so many others, Hamilton contracted tuberculosis and died in Phoenix on December 20, 1888, of a pulmonary hemorrhage. He was buried in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery. There is no marker. © 2026 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 27 February 2026. If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers! |