Typescript of October 19, 1961 letter from Jeanne Devere to Rabbi Floyd Fierman

October 19, 1961

Dr. Floyd S. Fierman
Temple Mount Sinai
900 North Oregon Street
El Paso, Texas

Dear Dr. Fierman:

I did so enjoy talking to you today and I am sorry that I did not acknowledge your very nice letter and the book. I enjoyed your book on the life of the Bilbos so very much.

Before I get into the material I have for you about early Tombstone I thought I would relate a story which has always been very interesting to me.

One of the very dearest friends that I have ever had was a man that became a Federal Judge and died in Los Angeles several years ago. When he first came into Arizona as a young attorney he came into the Solomonville area. While living there he knew all of the Solomon family and was very much in love with one of the daughters. I would say that this would be about the turn of the century. He was determined that he would marry this girl (I do not know just which one of the Solomon girls it was) and she wanted to marry him. Her brother came to talk to him and he told him that the whole family were very fond of him and as far as he personally was concerned they could not ask for a finer man to marry their sister -- but she was a Jewess and he was not. For this reason the family were all opposed for they felt that the marriage would bring unhappiness because of the difference in the religious backgrounds. They did not marry -- both went their own ways married and became very successful people but I know that as far as my friend was concerned she was the girl he was never able to forget. His name was Albert M. Sames.

I am sending you the only picture that I know that in any way shows the Jewish cemetery. I do not want to mark the picture but I know you will never find it if I do not identify it for you. I am going to put a piece of tissue paper over the picture and I will draw a circle around the cemetery. Just to the right of the circle and just a little higher in the picture you can see headstones of Boothill. Remember Boothill was discontinued in 1884. I would say that the majority of our Jewish family left Tombstone within the 80's. With the first slump in the mines the town started down hill and people started to leave. It did boom again about 1900 but nothing nearly so spectacular as the first boom. The Jewish cemetery was over the crest of the hill from Boothill and north. It was not large, as my Mother can remember it was approximately 75 feet long and not quite so wide. She is sure there was only three graves in the cemetery -- all with wooden headstones, and the only one she remembers was the Harris child, who Father was a tailor. This was a little girl. The cemetery gates faced to the East and where wooden gates large enough for the hearse to go thru. Over the gate was a Star of David. Mother does not know if this was in wood or metal.

The Jewish population of Tombstone moved away and about 1910 a Chinese merchant gave a Mexican adobe maker the contract to build him a store. The Mexican torn down the wall around the Jewish cemetery and used the adobes in the walls of the Chinese store. About eight years ago one of the walls of this store collapsed in a very bad storm and the old building was torn down. The spot where the cemetery stood has just gone back to the brush of the country side.

I am inclosing Sol Israel's letter that I spoke of to you. I hoped that the letter head might be of some interest to you. The organization that this letter was sent to was the Ancient Order of United Workman. This was a national organization that had a very good life insurance policy that all members took out with their dues. In looking over the list of members here in tombstone I find men of every nationality and religion. In 1884 Sol Israel was living in Tombstone according to the records, but the 1889 he apparently had moved to Tucson. I am also inclosing the little story about the stage coach holdup. All of these I would like returned when you have finished with them. Sol Israel was a merchant according to the bills that were sent from time to time to the city.

Another small item of interest found in the City Council records: October 5, 1880 P. W. Smith, B. Solomon and J. B. Fried petitioned the city for permission to supply the "Village of tombstone" with gas. This gas was manufactured here and the streets were lit by gas lights and all homes had gas lights.

I will keep you constantly in mind from time to time as I work on old records and will certainly send you any material at all that I might come across.

Oh yes, the Schoenfield family of Seattle were once residents of tombstone. Do you know anything of this family? My understanding is that they became a large furniture firm in Seattle.

Thank you again for your story of the Bilbos. Because of my limited amount of time and money I have had to concentrate my efforts and interest into just a small corner of Arizona. I have not even tried to reach too far into the Tucson area but history is my first love and I am always so happy to get some new reading. My Father was raised in the Kingston New Mexico area, so I do have a lot of interest in both new Mexico and Arizona. I have known so many of these old families all my life too. My Grandparents arrived in tombstone on Christmas Eve of 1880. My Mother was born here in August of 1881 and has lived all her life here in Tombstone. Mother has always had a deep interest in Tombstone and the history of the West and it was really her wonderful ability to collect things that are now very valuable that was responsible for me developing this interest. I was quite proud to be able to tell some Jewish friends of mine a year or so ago in Tucson that I knew Dr. Marcus, even if it had been a correspondence friendship.

Please write again and if you should ever come this way please stop by to see us. I am certain that Mother could tell you things of interest that I do not know.

Very sincerely,

Jeanne Devere
(Mrs. Burton Devere)
Box 555
Tombstone Arizona