Encarnacion Guerra was a miner in Bisbee, Arizona at the turn of the 20th century. He migrated from Zacatecas, Mexico, a region with its own history of mining. In Bisbee he and Blasa Araujo (after marriage Blasa Araujo Guerra) had four children. The fourth child, Baby Guerra, was a still-born and the complications of his birth would later result in Blasa’s death at the age of 26. According to the original certificate of death, Blasa Araujo Guerra died July 16, 1929 at 10:20pm from “acute endocarditis following post postpartum infection.” Encarnacion’s P.O. Box is printed in F.A. McKinney’s Bisbee District directory as “Guerra Encarnacion lab C Q h*51 Zacatecas P O box 2213,” along with with the job tittle of “Nipper”in the 1929 edition. However on Blasa Araujo Guerra’s death certificate, the address simply listed as 51 Zacatecas.

Their of daughter, Soledad Guerra Quezada, would have just seen her second birthday at the time of their deaths.

Post parental deaths, Soledad Guerra Quezada is moved to Lerdo Durango, but Blasa’s herself was born in Parral, Chihuahua Mexico, as was her mother before her. On the paternal side, Jose Encarnacion Quezada (born September 7, 1946 in Lerdo Durango) served in the Vietnam War of the 1960s and he would be the first of Soledad’s children. Next would be Sofia, Guadalupe, Rosa, Maria, Pedro y Soledad.

The Quezada family came back into the United States in the 1940s, and Soledad Guerra Quezada’s older brother would fight in the Korean war during the 1950s. During that same era in the United States, Soledad Guerra Quezada worked at Queen of Angels–located at 2301 Bellevue Avenue, Los Angeles, California. The hospital looms high over the Hollywood Freeway (US 101) adjacent to the Echo Park neighborhood and Silver Lake area. At the time of her death (April 15 1927 – February 3, 1999) she was a mother, a grandmother, great-grandmother, and widow of Eugene Quezada.

Soledad Guerra Quezada’s mother, Blasa Araujo Guerra, is buried in Bisbee’s historic Evergreen Cemetery in Arizona, while Soledad’s resting place is the Calvary Cemetery of East Los Angeles, California.

Please note: The Bisbee city’s website has the name Balsa A. Guerra, but the dates are sync with the death certificate. (Need to reach out to City to update.)

Although Blasa passed in 1929, records suggest that her husband Encarnacion Guerra lived for several more years. During the time frame that he and Blasa would have lived in Bisbee, it would steadily become the largest city in the state. According to the Arizona Mine Accident Index (updated 24 Mar 2014), E Guerra was injured May 23, 1925. Shortly after the mining incident, there was a fire in Tin Town, this fire was reported by the Arizona Daily Star, and according to the Bisbee Fire Department, the damage affected an entire block “before it was placed under control” due to lack of “fire fighting equipment” in the area; this latter incident is archived by the Tuscon Fire Foundation. The Guerra clan would have survived this incident, however, the proximity to the fire would have left them shaken, if not all together un-housed.

At the time of his wife’s death in 1929, Encarnacion would have been about 42. The Mines which he likely worked in include the Cooper Queen and the Lavender Pit. Today, these locations serve as memories to a different era of Bisbee’s history, one in which the town’s economy was centered on. The Arizona State Mine Inspectors of that boom era would have been John F. White (1921–1923) and Tom C. Foster, (1923–1945). At this time, there is no clear data as to when Encarnacion migrated to Bisbee from Zacatecas, however, what is clear is that both cities have a cultural legacy involving mining. Bisbee is know for its Azurite and Copper, but the mines of Zacatecas, Mexico renown for silver, gold, and other precious minerals.

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Resource links for Arizona

Cochise County | https://www.cochise.az.gov/about
A helpful site to locate county-level information, including public records.

Bisbee County Library | https://www.bisbeeaz.gov/2155/Copper-Queen-Library
Cited as the best small library in the U.S.A. The library itself is over 100 years old.

Cochise County GIS Portal | https://gis-cochise.opendata.arcgis.com
Maps! Maps! Maps, maps, maps!

Library of Congress | https://www.loc.gov/search/?in=&q=bisbee+arizona&new=true
Filter searches of media–including photos, newspapers, maps and more.
Search terms I’ve used include “Cochise” “Cochise County” “Bisbee”, and a date range of 1900 – 1930.

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