Kinfolk From Bisbee

Jerry Hulse’s Jan. 5 article on Bisbee, Ariz., was particularly fascinating to me because that is where most of my kinfolk come from. My grandfather came into Tombstone, Ariz., in 1875, and married a very marvelous and strong Irish gal by the name of Julia Sullivan, and they raised four kids during the heyday of the Tombstone activities, including the shoot-out at the OK Corral. Characteristically, they lived on a street called Tough Nut Street, and as most of the Irish Miners did, they moved to Bisbee when the mines played out in Tombstone.

My grandfather was killed at the age of 45 in the Copper Queen Mine, leaving my grandmother to raise a family of five.

In the evening when you look over the big open-cut area where the Copper Queen was, the color turns to a pure lavender. Many people think this is the reason it is named the Lavender Pit. However, by sheer coincidence, the geologist who masterminded the open-cut pit was named Lavender. He is buried next to my grandfather in the Bisbee cemetery.

ARTHUR F. KELLY

Los Angeles