Mary Jane (Pemberton) Joyce |
| Posted 2011-11-07 by Judy Wight Branson |
| The Prescott Courier, Prescott, Arizona Wednesday, September 20, 1933 Mrs. Joyce, 89, Passes To Rest Mrs. Mary Jane Joyce, 89, one of the real old-timers of this county, passed to rest today at her home in Mint Valley, the place where she had lived since coming to Arizona from Missouri by wagon train when she was 29 years of age. Not only had Mrs. Joyce made her home in the valley, but in the sixty years she resided in Yavapai county, she never once had crossed its county lines. Her husband, who was a logger, miner and farmer of the district, preceded her in death by 35 years. Surviving Mrs. Joyce are one brother, Sam Pemberton, living at Mint Valley, a nephew, Walter Cox of the same district, and three nieces, Mrs. Marian Weston and Alice and Lizzie Stringfield. No arrangements had been made today for the funeral. ---------------------- The Journal – Miner, Prescott, Arizona Thursday, September 20, 1933 Rites Planned for Yavapai Pioneer Funeral services for Mrs. Mary Jane Joyce, 89, who passed away quietly yesterday at her home in Mint valley, will be arranged this morning, it was announced last night. Among Yavapai’s earliest pioneers, Mrs. Joyce had lived in the same spot for 58 years, never leaving the county since coming to Arizona from Missouri in the spring of 1875. She had been an invalid for several years. Her husband farmed, mined and logged in Mint valley until his death 35 years ago. Mrs. Joyce is survived by a brother, Sam Pemberton, and a nephew, Walter Cox, with whom she made her home. Three nieces, Mrs. Marion Weston, Miss Alice and Lizzie Stringfield, are in Prescott. Mrs. Joyce had recently qualified on the county’s old age pension list. ------------------------ The Prescott Courier, Prescott, Arizona Thursday, September 21, 1933 Rites Arranged For Mrs. Joyce It was fifty eight years ago last August 10 that Mrs. Mary Jane Joyce, who died in Mint Valley yesterday, arrived in Prescott by wagon train, drawn by oxen, from Arkansas, it was learned from her brother-in-law, B. H. Bowen, guest of the Arizona Pioneer’s Home, who was in the same party. He married Mrs. Joyce’s sister, Rachel Pemberton, now dead many years. She and Mrs. Joyce were born in Missouri, removed to Arkansas when young girls, and set out in the ox train from Rogers, Ark., on either April 5 or 6, Mr. Bowen could not recall exactly. He was just a young married man them. Tomorrow afternoon Mrs. Joyce will be laid to rest in the Citizen’s cemetery, following four o’clock services in the Lester Ruffner chapel, the Rev. Harry Branton of the north Marina Street Methodist church officiating. Appropriately, too, will be her burial in Yavapai soil, because not since her arrival in the county, it was said, had she ever crossed its borders. The wagon train bearing the Bowens and Mrs. Joyce numbered 97 units part of the way, most of them headed for Arizona via the old Fremont trail. On occasion the train had to make its own trail, all the while being on the lookout for hostile Indians. Mr. Bowen was in charge of the train a good part of the way. “I had been acquainted to some extent with the ways and customs of the Indians,” he said, “and I never allowed any fires or lights at night and consequently we got through without any but minor clashes with the Indians and not a man killed.” Mrs. Joyce’s husband preceded her in death by 35 years. Surviving are a brother, Sam Pemberton; a nephew, Walter Cox; and three nieces, Mrs. Martin Weston and the Misses Alice and Lizzie Stringfield, all of the Mint Valley district. Mrs. Joyce was 89 years old. -------------------------- The Journal – Miner, Prescott, Arizona Friday, September 22, 1933 Hold Rites for Mrs. Joyce Today Services in the Ruffner chapel will be held at 4 o’clock this afternoon for Mrs. Mary Jane Joyce, 89-year-old Yavapai pioneer who died here Wednesday. Burial will be at the Citizens’ cemetery, Rev. Harry Branton of the North Marina Street Methodist church will officiate. Mrs. Joyce came to Arizona 58 years ago from Arkansas in a caravan of 74 covered wagons which wound slowly across the plains on the old Fremont trail. She settled with her husband in Mint Valley, just north of Prescott, and never crossed the county borders again. Note: Mary was the wife of Henry J. Joyce. See Also: Arizona Gravestone Photo Project |
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