Mary Blevins - Holbrook, AZ
N 34° 54.550 W 110° 09.450
12S E 576965 N 3863294
A memorial to Mary Blevins, one of Holbrook's first citizens, is near the gate on the south side of Holbrook Cemetery, Holbrook, AZ.
Waymark Code: WM15KP6
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/17/2022
Views: 0
This is a cenotaph, not a headstone.
This small town cemetery is exceptionally well-maintained, and this is one of quite a few such markers that have been created either as a replacement for an original headstone, where there was none, or here, as a memorial to someone who is buried in the cemetery whose grave location has been lost to us.
The memorial is a little short of two feet tall, a piece of tile attached to a well-shaped slab of concrete. At the top is a steel plaque reading "Holbrook Old West Cemetery". The inscription was done by hand and filled in with black paint, and it reads:
In Memory of
Mary Blevins
whose husband and 4 sons died violently within 6 weeks in 1887. She lived in Holbrook, dying in 1911 at 66, grief-strickened [sic] to the end.
...buried here, but site is unknown ...
She was loved by everyone.
-----
Her Findagrave has what appears to be an earlier version of the headstone, and the obituary there glosses over the husband and four sons who died in 1887: Her husband, Martin ("Mart"), and their sons were casualties in the Pleasant Valley War, a territorial feud initially between the the Graham and the Tewksbury families that took place in this area between 1882 and 1892. The Grahams had as their allies the Blevins family, who themselves had a reputation as cattle rustlers and killers. Mart went out in August of 1887 in search of horses he believed had been stolen by the Tewksburys, only to disappear and never be found. An attempt at revenge, led by one of the sons, Hampton "Hamp" Blevins, resulted in his death and that of one of his associates. More violence ensued, with Andy Cooper (an alias for Andrew Arnold Blevins) claiming to have killed John Tewksbury's friend and one of his associates.
At the Blevins home, lawman Commodore Perry Owens attempted to serve a warrant for Andy Cooper's arrest, only to be greeted by gunfire. In a brief exchange, Owens killed Andy Cooper, his brother, Sam Houston Blevins, and a family friend, Mose Roberts. Those three are buried just a few feet away, and the fourth son, Charley, followed them to the grave in September of the same year. Like Hamp Blevins, he is not buried here.