The Elgin Cemetery is located on private property about .25 miles north of the Elgin bridge in the NWSE quarter of Section 29, Township 20S, Range 18E. It was most likely established in 1912. Two other Elgin area cemeteries exist—Fruitland, established in 1915, and Black Oak established in 1917. Approximately 19 graves are evident at the cemetery, but only four have headstones. [State of Arizona. Historic Property Inventory Form for Cemeteries and Graves, 2012]. To memorialize those likely buried at the Elgin Cemetery, searches of the Arizona State Board of Health and Arizona County Coroner death records were conducted. When the place of burial is listed as Elgin, and no record of burial at another cemetery exists, then burial at Elgin Cemetery is presumed. Special thanks are due to Elgin resident Sue Downing for sharing her research records.
The earliest grave documented by a headstone is for Pearl Powell Holden, who died April 20, 1912, age 31, of a postpartum infection. Pearl had given birth to her sixth child, Nancy Mae, in January. Her father, Benjamin T. Powell and her husband, Mortimer Thaddeus Holden, each had a 160-acre homestead in Section 29, so Pearl’s grave was located on one of their properties.
In July 1912 Victor P. Hanson purchased Benjamin Powell’s property which was adjacent to his homestead claim. Victor, age 72, and his wife, Permelia, moved to Elgin from Utah where he had been a merchant. By the end of the year Victor had established a store, a hay warehouse and the 14-room Elgin Hotel. [The Oasis, 7/6/1912, 11/23/1912]. Victor was a leading member of the Elgin community until his death from cancer on Feb. 14, 1920, age 79. A headstone confirms his burial at the Elgin Cemetery.
Headstones exist for Willie Downs Lavelle and Refugio Solano, who both died in 1922. Willie was 49 when she died of a malignant fever. She was born in Texas and taught school there until 1908 when she married Michael T. Lavelle. The couple homesteaded in Elgin near the cemetery location.
Refugio Solano was born in California in 1858. Refugio, his wife Elisa, and their nine children were living in Tucson in 1900 where Refugio was a storekeeper. By 1908 they had moved to Elgin to homestead in Section 33.
The presumed burials include Mary Elizabeth Gentle, age 33, who died Dec. 13, 1912. She and her husband Fred Gentle and their four daughters had a homestead in Rain Valley. Two-year-old Francisco Tarivena died April 25, 1913. His place of death is the “Mexican section house,” so his father, Francisco Tarivena, may have worked for the Southern Pacific railroad.
Christian Leibfritz, age 77, died of heart failure on Nov. 5, 1914. Christian emigrated to the United States from Germany around 1860. In 1911 he and his youngest daughter Clara and her husband Edward Hummel moved to the Sonoita area to homestead. [The Oasis, 9/30/1911].
Ellen Susan McCarty, age 78, died on December 28, 1914, of stomach cancer. She and her husband, James McCarty, and their children moved to the Elgin area about 1885 and ranched in O’Donnell Canyon.
Infant Edward Vance Turner died on July 20, 1917. His maternal grandfather James Robb Beaty and other members of the Beaty clan had homesteads near the cemetery. Tom Turner, Edward’s grandfather, had ranching property in Elgin.
Velencia Reynaga (housewife) and Eusebio Dome died on Oct. 12, 1918; their cause of death is not specified. Eusebio worked for the Southern Pacific Sonoita crew headed by W. E. Driskill. Velencia’s death was reported by Mrs. Driskill.
Harrietta May Caldwell died of influenza on Feb. 22, 1919. Her father, Joseph A. Stewart, reported her death and listed his residence as “Hanson,” possibly the Elgin Hotel. Harrietta and Joseph may have been traveling through the area when she became ill.
Clara Edith McDowell, age 5, died March 12, 1921, when she fell into a 25-foot grain silo. Clara’s death certificate lists her place of burial as Saur’s Cemetery. Fruitland Cemetery was established on land donated by Daniel Saur, so Clara’s grave could be there, although there is no headstone at Fruitland.