Oatman Massacre / Fourr Cemetery, AZ

Visiting the Fourr Cemetery and Oatman Massacre site is an interesting side trip from the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site.


Fourr Cemetery
Twenty-something years after the Oatman Massacre, William and Lucinda Fourr, and their family settled in the area., where William ranched and served as an agent at the Butterfield Stage stop. Of the six children they had between their marriage in 1868, and when they left in the area in 1880, four died here. The Fouur Cemetery is where the children are buried: Seven-year-old A.F., month old F.F. -- on the same sad date in January 1877 -- and an unnamed baby, stillborn. (I'm not sure about the fourth child.) The Fourrs eventually had eight children who survived to adulthood, with William living until 1934, and Lucinda in 1942. Stanley Heisey, a Life Scout of Troop 263, has installed a bench, a logbook, and otherwise restored the site.After paying your respects to the Fourr children, it is a slippery, dusty, one-mile drive to the Oatman Memorial. As the area is a Gila River flood plain, and at least a semi-functional farm, there may be brush that has been washed/plowed into the road. You may need to stop short and walk a bit.

Oatman Massacre
The Oatman family were Mormon pioneers in a party that left Independence, MO, in August 1850. The original party of 85-93 schismatic Brewsterites, further splintered as it traveled west until the Oatman family was going it alone when they reached this area. Despite being warned about hostile Indians, they proceeded. It was not a wise choice. The parents, Royce and Mary, and four of the seven children were killed. A son, Lorenzo, 15, escaped despite being wounded. 14-year old Olive and 7-year old Mary Ann were captured. Mary Ann died during a later famine at age 10 or 11, while Olive assimilated, possibly having children, before being repatriated at age 19.

The Daughters of the American Revolution erected a memorial to the Oatman family in 1954. It, however, is not the massacre site, which is where the Oatman's who perished are buried. The actual massacre site is a quarter-mile WSW, on top of the Gila River's south bluff, a short additional walk.

2015-02-25 kingsnake