“This is the strangest cemetery I have ever seen,” I told my husband as we descended from the 4runner.
The Shamway Pioneer Cemetery is surrounded by lush juniper groves covered in recent snow. A stony hillside was dotted with random graves. Plastic flowers, small toys, and ceramic angels faded in the sun.
As I climbed the steep slope, I could hear the homeowners working on Saturday’s household chores. Ted crossed the property in one direction and I set off in the other, with little schnauzer Kennedy scurrying between us.
We meet again in front of the tombstone of Riley Menlo Greer, who was born April 27, 1907 and died January 31, 1929.
I have an insatiable curiosity about people’s stories and I admit I longed for a time machine to learn more about Riley’s passions, sorrows and joys.
We think he must be a distant relative of Ted, and Ted’s great-grandmother was Marie Greer Scousson, daughter of Americus Vespsius Greer.
A cemetery near Shamway, Arizona seemed like an odd place to spend my birthday, but Ted and I always encourage each other to take a trip to celebrate another year on earth.
This year, I chose the beautiful White Mountains of northern Arizona to visit Greer, Arizona, named after Ted’s great-grandfather.
Shamway Cemetery was the last stop on my birthday loop before heading home.
We spent our first night in Taylor, Arizona and left for Greer the next morning, driving through the beautiful Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, arriving at our destination in the morning.
Greer sits on the slopes of the White Mountains at an altitude of 8,400 feet. It boasted a population of 58 at the 2020 census, so I was surprised by the number of shacks as I drove down Main Street, which runs parallel to the Little Colorado River.
As I later found out, Guria turned out to be a tourist destination. That’s not only because of the nearby Sunrise Ski Resort, but also because of its beautiful forests, numerous lakes, and diverse wildlife, including the Mexican gray wolf.
The small town was originally called Lee Valley after its founder, Willard Lee, but when the townspeople built a post office, the postmaster asked him to shorten the name and helped plan the town. A tribute to AV Greer.
A small library was named after him, so we started our research there. But this petite Asian librarian lived 20 minutes away in Eager.
Knowing nothing about the town’s background, she guided us through several shelves full of Arizona history, none of which focused on Greer or Eager.
Luckily, a search of the Internet later turned up billiongraves.com, a site that contains numerous manuscripts documenting the life of AV Greer.
Unfortunately, 150 pages were missing from his most detailed diary, spanning 40 years of his life. Still, I gratefully took the time machine back to 1832 Alabama.
Americus Vespsius Greer was born 15 minutes after twin Christopher Columbus, Christopher weighing 9.5 pounds and AV weighing 9 pounds.
The AV said the two were identical “down to their teeth and nails” and that their mother “worn a ribbon around her brother’s arm” to distinguish them.
When the twins were five years old, the family moved to Texas, where their father killed 25-30 bears in their first year. The family prized bear meat and fat, but with eight children and two adults, “we struggled with clothing and many luxuries in Texas,” AV said. Even the cornbread was in short supply. ”
The family eventually carved out some farms and carved out a better life for themselves, but 17 years later, just one month before his 22nd birthday, Christopher went on a hunting trip. The weather turned unexpectedly cold and Christopher contracted pneumonia.
He died six days later. “His sudden and untimely death was one of the trials of my life,” wrote AV.
It wasn’t the last ordeal he faced, but it included a difficult trip to Utah after losing his father and brother, returning to Texas with his grief-stricken mother, and fighting in the Civil War. Hardship saved his life. polish his character.
A few years later, in the spring of 1878, A.V., his wife Polly, and a small family moved to Round Valley, Arizona, where they “layed out the town and sold the land to people who came to the Valley from elsewhere.”
Today, only chimneys, historical markers, and cemeteries mark where Amity once existed, but the Guria he designed also survived and thrived.
When A.V.’s wife died in 1882, she had to raise six children, and with the help of his daughters he took up the task.
“My father was devoted to his family and did everything in his power to be a mother and a father,” wrote her daughter Wilmarth.
When he died 14 years later, one of his admirers wrote: “With his excellent memory, his extensive reading, his knowledge of prominent people, his vastly varied experience and his unparalleled chatter, he was the finest storyteller in the county.” [sic].
“If I were an artist, I could paint a picture of him, with the hair on the top of his head, the white beard, and the deep set eyes that show intelligence and courtesy…”
Diaries preserved on the Internet provide us with a time machine into the life of Americus Vespsius Greer, Riley Menlo standing in front of his grave at Shumway Pioneer Cemetery. What about Greer?
I couldn’t find my diary, but I did find a quick sketch of my life on familysearch.org.
Carl Gibran once said, “The words I want on my grave are I live as you do…”
A short sketch brought Riley Menlo Greer to life for me.