John William & Virginia Pearl Coffee Voris

John William Voris
All Photos are courtesy of
Jennifer Hoy Orton

John William Voris was born in Kentucky on Apr. 14, 1868.  His parents have not yet been identified.

He left Kentucky sometime before Dec. 23, 1898 when he was married to Virginia Pearl Coffee in Albany, Shackelford Co., TX.

"J. W. Voris and bride, nee Pearl Coffey, who were married December 23, at Albany, Texas, are expected to arrive tomorrow night.  Mr. Voris, who is a well known resident of Globe, will receive hearty congratulations from his many friends.  Mr. Voris will serve as deputy to Sheriff-elect W. T. Armstron."¹[sic]

He and Virginia appeared in the 1900 census in the Globe Pct., Globe, Gila Co., Arizona Territory. In March of that year he was a deputy sheriff in Gila Co. and covered the county collecting taxes on, among other things, sheep and cattle.²

Virginia Pearl Coffee Voris

John, or William as he was apparently called by friends, was one of the lawmen who attempted to arrest a pair of Apache warriors for trial in 1895.  The two Indians had been earlier indicted for robbery.  The particular band of Apaches were part of the White Mountain Apaches and lived on the San Carlos reservation - sometimes called the Fort Apache reservation - along the Cibecue creek.  According to local news stories, they were known to be cattle thieves and said to have robbed and murdered a number of ranchers in the area.

When Voris and other deputies appeared at the camp to take the Indians into custody a skirmish broke out and Voris ended up killing one of the Indians known as Nock-ay-det-Klinne and referred to in local newspaper articles as Nan-tan-go-Tayz.  He was acting chief in place of his brother Cooley who was apparently away at the time.  According to newspaper reports, the lawmen had given up on arresting the two Indians and were attempting to leave the encampment in peace.  They were set upon and in the course of defending himself, Voris shot and killed the acting chief.

John William Voris continued to work as a lawman from time to time but spent more time raising cattle.  He quit law enforcement in 1905 and went to work in Pinal Co., AZ Terr. for the A. C. Sieboth mines.  In 1910 he and Virginia were raising cattle on their ranch in the Tonto National Forest near Gila.  He died on Jun. 18, 1917 of an apparent heart attack while driving in an automobile near Globe, AZ.  He was buried on the 21st at the Globe Cemetery.³

Kentucky Mildred Voris

Virginia Pearl Coffee was a daughter of Robert Marion and Emma Gaines Reynolds.  She was born on Jun. 12, 1871 in Lavaca Co., TX and died on March 9, 1966 in Globe, Gila Co.  She and John William were parents of four children:

Kentucky Mildred was born Oct. 28, 1899 in Globe  According to her death certificate, she died of Typhoid Fever on Apr. 29, 1918 in Tucson, Pima Co., AZ.  Descendants say she died of "Spanish Flu" and was never married.  She is buried at the Globe Cemetery in Gila Co.

Robert Edward Voris

Robert Edward, born 1902 in AZ and died there in 1981. He too is buried at Globe.  Robert married a widow (apparently) with three children and a tad older than him.  She was Zella Ruth Kinsey, born Nov. 11, 1901 in Bartlesville, Osage Co., OK and died in Los Angeles Co., CA on Sep. 21, 1945. She had been previously married to Chester Lester Ferguson with whom she had three children:  Cline Elizabeth, Clemmie Beatrice and Winifred Fay. She and Robert apparently had no children together. The burial place of Zella Ruth is not known to me.

Emma Marie, born c1905 in AZ, died unknown.  She married Oscar Elihu Clendennen [sic] who was born in Haskell Co., TX on Oct. 24, 1900.  He died in Jan., 1964 at Midland, Midland Co., TX and was buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Odessa, Ector Co., TX.  I have not yet found Emma's death date or place of burial.  There were at least three children born to this union:  Marion Bradford, born 1925; Melba Marie, born 1926; and Minnie Charlotte, born 1927.

Georgia Virginia Voris

The last child born to John William and Virginia was Georgia Virginia on Jan. 6, 1911 in Gila Co., died May 5, 2000 in Kansas.  In c1929 she married Richard Toliver, sometimes Tolliver, Underwood.  To that union was born two daughters, Mildred Elizabeth in 1931 at Flagstaff in Coconino Co., AZ and Margaret Voris in Gila Co. in 1933.  Mr. Underwood appears to have married and divorced a number of times and finally passed away in Arizona on Aug. 5, 1987.  He was buried at the Hall Cemetery in Howe, Grayson Co., TX.  Georgia later remarried to Louis Lieber Weinstein. born 1910, died 2001.  They apparently had no children together.  Both she and Louis are buried at the Meriden cemetery in Meriden, Jefferson Co., KS.




Additions and corrections are welcomed!

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Sources:

¹The Daily Arizona Silver Belt, Globe City, Pinal Co., AZ, Dec. 22 [sic], 1898, Page 2, Col. 3.
² The Oasis - Arizola, Pinal Co., AZ 1893-1920, Mar. 10, 1900, Page 10, Col. 2; citing the Globe Silver Belt newspaper,
³ William Voris, death certificate No. 527 (18 June 1917), Arizona Department of Health Services, Health Services, Phoenix, Maricopa Co., AZ. http://tinyurl.com/o5fyv2c

For context see: http://tinyurl.com/oepozyg, ttp://tinyurl.com/muenm47, and http://tinyurl.com/nyaofb6

“The Cibicu Affair.”

“Lawless Character of the Blood Thirsty Cibicus.”

“Globe Silver Belt:  The actual casualties and losses arising from Indian depredations and conflicts between citizens and Indians are less harmful to the good name and interests of Arizona than are the many exaggerated, and ofttimes [sic] false, reports which emanate from press correspondents and, not infrequently from official sources.  The propensity of the irresponsible correspondent to draw the long bow is so well understood that his alarming statements are usually discounted. The case is different, however, with dispatches bearing the stamp of official authority, for the public has a right to expect reliable information, whereas dispatches from military sources often convey a wrong impression without any intention of being unfair, perhaps.

“Press dispatches of December 12 announce the receipt at the war department, Washington, D. C., and by Adjutant General Ward, at Denver, of telegrams sent by the command officer at Fort Apache, in reference to the killing of the Indian on Cibicu creek, December 5, which, to say the least, contained many inaccuracies and, b asserting that the man who killed the Indian, and two others of the posse, gave themselves up for trial on the charge of killing the Indian, leaves the impression that the officers had committed a criminal act, which is wholly at variance with the facts.

“Deputy Sheriff Benbrook and his three companions were sworn officers, bearing a warrant for the arrest of two Indians regularly indicted by the grand jury of Gila county, on the charge of burglary, and their right to enter the reservation and make the arrest can not be questioned.  They went to Cibicu peaceably, and explained the object of their visit through an interpreter, and, even after the Indians opposed the arrest of the guilty parties the officers attempted to withdraw quietly, without their prisoners, but were prevented by the overt acts of the Indians.  Deputy Voris shot the Indian in self defense, when the latter was in the act of wresting his guy from him, and not until one of the band fired upon the posse.  It was then only a question of self-preservation with the officers, and their escape from a band of forty or fifty murderous Apaches was miraculous.

“The evidence again[s]t the two Indians for whom the officers held the warrants is positive, and the burglary is not denied.  They were caught in the act, with their arms full of plunder.  They had left their guns with their horses, and were surprised by Frank Ketcherside in his cabin, who, with six-shooter in hand, compelled them to disgorge.  Had he killed them then and then [sic] he would have been justified and any jury would have exonerated him.

“The residents of Pleasant [V]alley and vicinity have been wonderfully forbearing with the Cibicu Indians, who have preyed upon the settlers for years, robbing ranches, in the absence of the occupants, and killing citizens’ cattle whenever they wanted meat.  So flagrant have these depredations grown that the business of stockraising in northern Gila county has been practically ruined.  To illustrate how extensive the stealing of cattle by the Cibicu Indians has become:  When Deputy Benbrook and posse were on their way to Cibicu they struck the fresh trail of fifteen or twenty head of cattle which they followed into the Indians’ camp, and the packer with Lieutenant Fenton’s command informed Frank Ketcherside that when they arrived at the Indian’s camp he saw cattle there of the ‘flying V’ brand, going to show the cattle from the vicinity of the Vosburg ranch.

“The recent trouble on Cibicu will not be amiss if it serves to bring to an issue the arrant lawlessness of the White Mountain Apaches. 

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The last of the newspaper transcriptions for this incident.  See http://tinyurl.com/oepozyg and http://tw.gs/XYT4CV for context.

Next:  John William Voris and Family

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Source: Arizona Republican. (Phoenix, Ariz.), 25 Dec. 1895, Page 8, Col. 1. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020558/1895-12-25/ed-1/seq-8/>

“Troops from Apache.”

“Lieut. Fenton Investigates the Cibieu Affair”

 “Gila County Officers in the Right.”

“Lieutenant Fenton, Seventh cavalry, and detachment of twenty soldiers, sent out from Fort Apache to investigate the killing of the Indian on Cibieu creek, Dec. 5, arrived in Globe on Wednesday last.  They were accompanied by William Voris, Frank Ketcherside and Huse Kyle, members of the sheriff’s posse that had the fight with Cooley’s band of Indians.  They were not under arrest, but came to Globe with Lieutenant Fenton, voluntarily, as a matter of prudence, to show their good faith and to pacify the Cibieu Indians, who supposed they were to be brought to Globe under arrest.

“Lieutenant’s [sic] Fenton’s investigation of the trouble at Cibieu corroborates the statements of the Gila county officers engaged in the affray, published elsewhere, and leaves no ground for action against the officers.

“Colonel Powell, commanding at Fort Apache, was notified of the Cibieu fight on Friday, the 7^th inst., and Lieutenant Fenton and detachment left the same night for Cooley’s camp.  Upon their arrival there they found the Indians in a state of great excitement, and their demeanor was so threatening that for a time it looked as though they might attack the troops.  The Lieutenant found that the Indian killed by Voris was Nan-tan-go-tayz, tag V 7, a brother of Cooley, chief of the band.  He was shot in the right breast, four inches below the neck, and the bullet ranged downward, diagonally through the body and came out in the region of the left kidney.

“The Indians expressed displeasure at the presence of the troops and informed Lieutenant Fenton, through an interpreter, that [sic] they wanted to settle their difficulties themselves.  Cooley and two other Indians accompanied the command to Vosburg’s and Ellison’s ranches.  At Vosburg’s the lying interpreter pointed out Frank Ketcherside as the man who killed Nan-tan-go-tayz, whereupon old Chief, trembling with excitement, and with gun in hand, assumed a threatening attitude as though about to shoot Ketcherside.  A soldier, observing the move, threw a cartridge into his gun and Cooley subsided.  When the soldiers reached Canyon creek, on their way to Pleasant [V]alley, they were met by John Dazin and band of Indians, armed and mounted, who asked permission of Lieutenant Fenton to accompany them to fight the whites.  The Lieutenant informed Dazin that he was not out for the purpose of fighting the whites, and told the Indians to return to their camp.

“Lieutenant Fenton and detachment left Globe Thursday morning for San Carlos and expected to proceed to Fort Apache the next day.”

Next:  Military report to Washington

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Note: John William Voris was husband to Virginia Pearl Coffee, daughter of Robert Marion and Emma Gaines Reynolds Coffee. Cibieu is Cibecue creek where these particular Apaches lived.  It was some 45 miles or so NE of  Fort Apache AZ.  It is in what is known as the San Carlos Reservation.  I have also seen references to it being in the Fort Apache Reservation.  See http://tinyurl.com/oepozyg for context.

Source:  Arizona Silver Belt. (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.), 14 Dec. 1895, Page 3, Col. 4-5. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021913/1895-12-14/ed-1/seq-3/>