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Tombstone Cemetery

Introduction

Entrance to Tombstone Cemetery with a weathered metal arch sign. A dirt path leads through an open gate, flanked by cypress trees. In the background, a desert landscape with mountains is visible under a clear blue sky.

The Tombstone City Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 1800 of our citizens who have died since 1884. The three acres were provided to the city free of charge by John Escapule, one of our city's pioneers, with the only stipulation that any citizen of Tombstone could be buried there at no cost. The cemetery is on portions of what was originally the Jennie Belle, Little Tom, and New Year's Gift mining claims. The Escapule family has lived in and around Tombstone for more than 100 years and are community leaders to this day.

In the cemetery are the graves of 97 soldiers with service from the Civil War to Vietnam; three of the soldiers have bronze stars, and 11 have purple hearts. There are 104 babies in the cemetery. People buried there died from the same things people die of today, including accidents, cancer, heart attack, drug overdose, old age, and suicide. A few unusual causes included mining accidents, animal bites (Gila Monster), and a bad cold.

Who's Who

View of Tombstone Cemetery with numerous gravestones and monuments in the foreground. The cemetery is set in a desert landscape with trees and mountains visible in the background. Graves are adorned with various decorations and flowers. The scene captures the historic and rugged atmosphere of the Old West cemetery.

Here are a few of the more interesting stories from the cemetery, in no particular order.

  • Ah Lum was the husband of China Mary, one of the leaders of the Chinese community. He was the Worshipful Master of the Chinese Masonic Lodge and co-owner of the Can-Can Restaurant.
  • Nino Cochise was the grandson of Chief Cochise. In another post I discuss the questions about this man's life and claims.
  • George, Ellie, and Eva Bufford were George Bufford's children who died of diphtheria or whooping cough in the early 1880s. He built the Buford house on Safford that later became a bed-and-breakfast but is a private residence today. The family name is spelled both "Bufford" and "Buford" in different places.
  • Samuel Barrow and Albert Blair were children who died in an early morning fire of unknown origin at the home of the adult Samuel M. Barrow. They were sleeping in a back bedroom and did not get out in time.
  • James C Burnett, was the Justice of the Peace in Charleston and known as "Justice Jim." He was shot and killed near the OK Corral by William Green who blamed Burnett for the death of his child. There is a post on this site about his death and a second one with a different view of his death.
  • George Milton Goodfellow was Dr. George Goodfellow's child. Dr. Goodfellow was a prominent physician and surgeon in Tombstone in the early days.
  • Camillus S Fly ("CS Fly") was a famous photographer whose studio was on Freemont Street behind the OK Corral, bordering the site of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. His photographs can still be seen at the OK Corral. He was also the Cochise County Sheriff between 1892 and 1896.
  • George W. Atkins won George Warren’s copper mining claims in Bisbee when Warren bet that he could outrun a horse and lost.
  • Alice Brees is reputed by local legend to be Mrs. Sitting Bull and that she and their son, Little Bull, are buried here.
  • G. E. Daves is likely the "George Daves" who took his own life over the affection of Petra Edmunds. While the marker is not clear about the name or date of death of the person buried here, George Daves was buried in Tombstone after his death and it seems reasonable to assume that this is his grave.
  • Petra (Edmunds) Lombardi, the woman who was shot by George Daves before he took his own life in 1888. Petra survived her injury and lived to be more than 89 years old.
  • William Harwood was the first mayor of Tombstone, 1879-1880, a Postmaster, and was instrumental in the construction of Schieffelin Hall.
  • Ethel and James Macia. He was the foreman of the Tombstone Consolidated Mining Company and she owned the Arcade Hotel, now the Rose Tree.
  • Rosa Schuster was Tombstone's "beloved lady," who nursed the sick during a diphtheria epidemic in 1886.
  • George Augustine Bryan Berry served in Mexican War, owned the Old Guard Mine, and was wounded by the same bullet the killed Morgan Earp at the Campbell and Hatch in 1882.

Finally, there are said to be two animals buried in our cemetery. However, these seem to be only legends since neither of the graves are marked and there is no location given in any of our archives. These are the stories of those two animals, just presented here for what it's worth.

  • Sprinkles was a cat who is supposed to be buried just inside the western fence.
  • Dewey was a Modoc stage horse for 20 years, beloved by all, especially the children. He had a friendly personality, and as children passed him every day, they slipped him fruit or a tidbit of food. When Dewey died, his owner started to drag him out into the desert to leave him for the buzzards, but he was met by a mob of crying children and irate adults. He agreed to take Dewey to the city cemetery and bury him with a suitable funeral to escape their wrath. While this may be only legend, it is also possible that Dewey was buried, but his grave was marked only with a simple wooden plaque that disintegrated over the years.

Location

This site is located at the west end of Allen Street.