View of Brewery Gulch
Today I continued my visit in Bisbee. The first order of business was a tour of the old Bisbee Queen copper mine where my grandfather had worked after the turn of the century. The mine opened in the 1870s I believe and closed down in 1943, Today, I rode the old train car or whatever they call it down 1500 feet into the mine, hardhat and all. It is truly amazing to consider the monumental work involved especially when tools were rudimentary. It almost makes you wonder if it's all worth it.
If you have ever wondered what happens when a miner needs to go while underground, here is the answer. The old-fashioned honey wagon as modeled by a young tourist.
By the way, the small Old Bisbee Brewery Company makes very good beer. Their brewewry, off Brewerey Gulch (Ave) has a small bar with brats.
My next stop was to the mine museum library, where a kind lady helped me pull up records showing my granddad's employment as well as my great-grandparents' residence in the town with a couple of old addresses. She also showed me their burial records (great-grandparents).
I then proceeded to try and find the two addresses where my great grandparents had lived. They were located on a big hill overlooking the town in an area accessible only by old stone steps. (Bisbee has numerous old homes built into the mountainsides overlooking the town.) Alas' the residences proved inaccessible and probably no longer existent. Eventually, you have to end your ascent up the steps when you come to someone's back fence. No streets service the homes.
My last stop was the Evergreen Cemetery outside town, where I found the graves of my great grandparents. Lo and behold my great grandfather had the same birthday as my son. The grave of the woman I presumed to be my great grandmother created some confusion, however. It said she was born in 1882 and died in 1907. My grandmother was born in 1884 according to my records, so I need to do some more checking on this. She may be a sister of my grandmother. There are three graves including a female who died in 1898 at age 5.
Tomorrow I will start for home and a real computer. I am considering a one night stopover in Calexico on the border across from Mexicali. Who knows? Maybe I'll see John McCain and Chuckie Schumer taking pictures.
2 comments:
In researching my own genealogy I have discovered that records over 80 years old don't always mesh. My own Grandmother was born in 1978 or 1877 or 1879 or 1876 depending which record I check. They do have her year of death correct.
So it could be that it is her grave and the date of birth could be wrong on the tombstone, wrong on the records or both.
Was your grandfather a member of the IWW local in Bisbee?
My great grandfather in Pennsylvania was a member and local organizer of the United Mine Workers of America, a Republican, and a small business owner, all at the same time.
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