The town of Crittenden, located about three miles north of Patagonia, was created around 1882 when the New Mexico & Arizona railroad established a stop to serve the local mines and nearby ranches. Most of the town’s buildings were located on the west side of today’s SR82; the railroad depot was on the east side. The Crittenden Cemetery is located on private property on a small hill southwest of where the town buildings stood. Approximately 12 graves are evident at the cemetery, most of which have headstones. [State of Arizona. Historic Property Inventory Form for Cemeteries and Graves, 2012]. The names (in bold) and brief biographies of those known to be buried at Crittenden follow. Photos of the cemetery and the headstones can be found on Find a Grave (findagrave.com). Special thanks to Cami Schlappy who shared her research and photography of the Crittenden historic area.
Eight of the graves at Crittenden Cemetery hold the remains of four generations of the pioneer Smith family (see the August 2021 PRT for more information on the Smith family). John Smith (1843-1916)opened the first store in Crittenden and, with his wife Helena (1855-1935), built and operated the Smith Hotel. They had three children: Helene, Oliver, and Emeline. Born in 1894, Emeline died in infancy on March 28, 1895. Helene Smith (1889-1976) married Charles Edwin May (1875-1960) in 1913. Charles was a mining engineer in Bisbee and the couple lived in Bisbee for a year before returning to the Smith family home in the old hotel building. [Tucson Daily Citizen, 5/30/1963]. Charles and Helene’s two daughters, Vivian and Argenta, were raised in Crittenden. Vivian May (1914-1995) married Richard Davis (1907-1971) in 1933. Richard worked as a carpenter for the Southern Pacific Railroad and the couple lived in El Paso, TX for many years. They had no children. Argenta May attended the Seventh Day Adventist nursing school in Los Angeles where she married Herbert Saunders and had one son, Don E. Saunders (1940-1969). The Saunders moved to Tucson about 1942 where Don graduated from the University of Arizona with an engineering degree. Don was only 29 when he died; he was survived by a wife and three children.
Newspaper articles document one of the earliest burials at the Crittenden Cemetery. Swan “Frank” M. Peterson, age 33, was killed in 1885 while carrying the mail between Crittenden and the nearby mining camps (see the February 2022 PRT for the full story). Born in Sweden about 1852 Frank had recently married Mary Donagri. Peterson was buried on July 25, “on the rising ground back of the town.” [Tucson Citizen, 7/27/1885]. There is no headstone for his grave.
Susan Allie Perrett’s gravestone records her death on July 26, 1886-age 18 years, 7 months, and 24 days. Her parents, Abraham and Lucinda Perrett, and six siblings had moved from Texas and were ranching a half mile south of Crittenden. [Arizona Weekly Citizen, 10/23/1886]. The family stayed in Crittenden until at least 1897 before returning to Texas.
Ione Hutton Piper, age 53, died March 1, 1908. Born in California in 1854, Ione married George Piper in Crittenden in 1893. George was born in Maine in 1845 and arrived in Arizona around 1880. He mined in the Patagonia district and had a 160 homestead near Crittenden. The 1900 U.S. Census has George and Ione living in Los Angeles where was working as a stationary engineer. George remained in Arizona until at least 1913 when he was shot by the Greaterville school teacher when he mistook her house for that of a friend and tried to enter late one night. [Tucson Citizen, 1/16/1913]. He survived the encounter and by 1920 was living in Minnesota where he died in 1936, age 91.