Fairbank Cemetery

Fairbank Cemetery

by Daryl F. Mallett

The modern—now ghost town—of Fairbank, Arizona, was founded in 1883. A suburb of booming Tombstone, Arizona, the town on the banks of the San Pedro River never reached more than 500 people in its approximately 90-year lifespan.

As in any town of the Old West, a very rudimentary cemetery was established.

A flat, untaxing ½-mile hike through a Sleepy Hollow-like tunnel of dead trees brings the explorer or genealogist to a marked turnoff. Another ¼ mile up a small hill is the cemetery, overlooking a creek. Mountains and desert are visible in a 360-degree circle around the cemetery and, aside from the telephone pole and power lines, it looks much as it would have in 1883.

Few of the graves are marked at all. Some have wooden crosses, or what is left of them, most of which have fallen over. Most of the graves are only noticeable from the pile of stones, cairnlike, atop each burial site. Only three stones were even remotely readable.

The first, a broken stone cross, reads NACIO FELIX BRESEDA MURIO / ES 10 DIAS EL 18 DE MARSO DE 1919. Research shows he was the infant son of Aurelio Breseda and Ramon Gonzalez. Born March 8, 1919; died March 18, 1919, age 10 days old, of bronchopneumonia, with contributory factors being pertussis.

Another broken stone cross beside it belongs to ANGELITA ANDRADE XXX / MARS DE LA XXX / 1919. Research shows that she was the infant daughter of Alberto Andrade and Candelaria Ariola. Born January 20, 1919, died March 18, 1919, the same day as her little friend Felix, also from the same reasons.

A third stone reads MARY NELSON. WIFE OF A. B. McCULLAR. DIED FEB 25, 1899. M. E. CHURCH. She was born June 21, 1842 in Texas, married Austin Buford McCullar on June 29, 1857 at Cherokee, Rusk County, Texas. They had at least 10 children.

The rest of Fairbank Cemetery’s residents remain unknown by visual sight at this poignant location, a beautiful resting spot for loved ones. A decorative metal and wood bench has been placed at the crest of the hill overlooking this peaceful place. The town has been abandoned since the 1970s and there is no upkeep on the cemetery, but one stone cairn is littered with faded plastic dinosaurs and horses, tattered stuffed animals and coins…

The town site and cemetery are open to the public, public from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and the gift shop is manned during the weekends. A number of educational plaques are scattered throughout the area and help visitors get a feel for what the town was like, and there are scenic, overgrown trails, reminiscent of Sleepy Hollow, from the schoolhouse north along the San Pedro to the Fairbank Cemetery and the old Grand Central Mining Company mill, another 1/2-3/4 miles north.

(Originally published in different form in THE KGVY COMMUNITY QUARTERLY, Winter 2014.)