It is always good to visit cemeteries if you are needing to gain a little perspective on life. Many pioneers of Casa Grande are buried here, including several Pearts. There are also quite a few Weavers, who apparently originally came from a buffalo farm in Minnesota. There are very old graves, graves of veterans and infants and many with no markers at all. Apparently, they spelled cemetery differently back then…
You do not need to enter the cemetery to answer the questions required to obtain the final coordinates, so don't worry if the fence is locked. This cemetery is fenced with a locked gate but the local Historical Society has a key and with permission you can go in. In case it is locked when you stop by, here are some interesting points about some of those who are resting here.
Edna Coffelt, 1896-1976. Veteran of WWII, PFC US Army, served in the Women’s Army Corps.
John Randolph Hamlin, 1833-1903. Served in the American Civil War in Company K of the 5th Minnesota Infantry Regiment.
Thompson Rodney Peart, 1847-1925. A founding father of Casa Grande, AZ. He was a son of English immigrant Thomas Peart and Irish immigrant Charlotte Reay. He and his wife moved here in 1907 and were pioneer settlers of the newly formed town of Casa Grande. Peart Road and Peart Park are named for Thompson Peart.
Daniel Sharp Weaver, 1834-1912. Weaver enlisted in the military on Apr 29, 1861. He was 26 years old when he was mustered in as a private in Company I, First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment and was mustered out with the regiment on May 5, 1864. He was wounded in the knee at Gettysburg, PA.
Walter Earl Weaver, 1876-1916. His obituary: After the sermon the services were in the hands of the Masonic order, of which deceased was a member. His interment was in the family burying ground near Arizola. Mr. Weaver was made Mason at Yuma in 1904, and was steadily advanced until 1907 when he became a 32 degree, or Scottish Rite Mason. He was also made a Mystic Shriner in 1911.
William K Weaver, 1830-1913. Early in his life he moved from the place of his birth to a place in southern Minnesota and did so much toward the upbuilding of the town that a grateful people named the town after him (Weaver, Minnesota). In Minnesota he was engaged in the hotel and livery business. The brick hotel that he built in Weaver still stands.
From Minnesota, Mr. Weaver moved to North Dakota and for eighteen years operated one of the largest farms in the great northwest, this farm containing over 4,000 acres. While on this farm he went into the breeding of buffalo on a large scale and in addition to a great number of pure-blooded buffalo he raised hundreds of half-breed buffalo. During a San Francisco Exposition, he took his entire herd of buffalo to the exposition and spent a fall and winter there. The following spring he sold the herd and many of them are still to be found in the Golden Gate Park at San Francisco.
It was while in San Francisco that he first became interested in Arizona. Meeting Peralto Reevis, who is well known to all who have lived in the Gila Valley, he was induced to come to Arizona and contracted with Reevis for a large body of land in what is now the Casa Grande Valley, with the view of colonizing the same. Going back to North Dakota as soon as he made his contract with Reevis, he sold his entire holdings and in the year 1894 returned to Casa Grande. He brought with him besides other stock, ten head of famous Poliangus cattle and there can now be found in the valley hundreds of these fine cattle.
This is a simple two-stage multi cache that will take you all of five minutes to complete.
At Stage I there is a brown rectangular object with white letters on it. Make observations there to find the missing coordinates. BYOP. Thanks to tugies for help with the placement of this cache.
N 32° 51.8AB
W 111° 43.3CD
A = count the number of Vs
B = count the number of As
C = count the number of Es
D = count the total number of vowels, subtract 2
Checker: Add A+B+C+D and you should get 17.
FTF: Team SW&L !