VAN VOORHIES, Elizabeth

Prescott Evening Courier, Prescott, Arizona Friday, May 10, 1957, page 1, column 8 Former Mine Cook Is Dead Mrs. Elizabeth Jones Van Voorhies, 92, famous mining camp cook and noted for furnishing grubstakes for down and out miners, died here this morning at the Pioneers Home. Mrs. Jones is remembered for her delicious meals at such mining camps as the Vulture, Senator, Crown King, Walker and Humboldt camps. Many a broke miner was grubstaked by her until he could make a strike in the early days. As Mrs. Elizabeth Jones, she came west in 1882 on what she termed 'a nightmarish trip' on the train to Maricopa Junction. Enroute, cowboys shooting up the car and eying attractive small Welsh figure, made life miserable for her. Adding to her distress was a fire on the train at Deming N.M., which destroyed all her clothing, cherished linens and household goods which she was bringing from Plymouth, Pa., to her new home. Things didn't rapidly get better for her either. She was met by her husband, and Mr. and Mrs. William Zent, her brother-in-law and sister. (Zent was a law enforcement officer at the time.) She and her husband, William J. Jones, proved up on land near where Mesa is today and lived the primitive life of the time. Water had to be hauled, supply wagons were often raided by Indians, and things were so rough they moved to the Vulture mine in 1884. There she ran a boarding house and prevailed on her husband to pass up his turn as guard on the bullion stage as she was expecting a child. This he did, and all guards, drivers and others were killed on the stage which took the gold shipment out. Life was spent in many of these camps until his death in 1920. She lived at the Home for 10 years. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Monday with Dr. Charles Franklin Parker officiating. Burial will be in the Mountain View cemetery.