Her stone says Maria E. Neahr. Nobody agrees on the rest.

In Section B of Yuma's Pioneer Cemetery, there's a stone for Maria E. Neahr.

1842 to 1891. Aged 49 years.

That's what a volunteer recorded when they photographed it for the Arizona Gravestone Photo Project in 2003. That's about all it says.

Her husband is a lot easier to find.

The man everybody wrote down

David Neahr's stone is in the same section. It says he died March 26, 1884, at 56.

He shows up all over Yuma's history.

His family's account says he was a steam engineer from New York who came to Fort Yuma in 1859 and worked as chief engineer for the Colorado Steam Navigation Company.

University of Arizona archives show he was the main forwarding agent for a Tucson merchant family, moving goods off Colorado River steamboats at Yuma and onto freight wagons headed east across the desert.

When the territory voted to build a prison at Yuma, Gov. A.P.K. Safford named him to the first board of prison commissioners.

Upriver at Picacho, he built a stamp mill out of hand-cut stone in 1877 and 1878. He went bankrupt after his manager embezzled $7,000. The ruin is still there.

His adobe house still stands on Madison Avenue, in the Brinley Avenue Historic District.

He's in the old newspapers. He's in the territorial records. His name is on a house downtown.

The woman almost nobody wrote down

Here's what the record says about Maria. All of it.

Her family's account, in a 2021 obituary for one of David and Maria's great-granddaughters, calls her Maria Epsas, also Hupchas, and says she was Cocopah. A family history page says she and David had 10 children.

The Yuma County Library's biography collection has a file on the family. It's indexed as "Neahr, David and Maria (Hupchauss or Epsas) and Family (Quechan)." The Arizona Historical Society's Rio Colorado collection lists it the same way.

So: Epsas. Hupchas. Hupchauss. Hupchess, on another family page.

Cocopah, says her family. Quechan, says the library's index.

I can't settle which is right from what's online, and I'm not going to pretend I can.

What isn't in dispute: she lived 49 years. She outlived her husband by seven. Her family stayed. Her son William Freeson Neahr served as a sheriff in Arizona, according to the family. Other Neahrs are buried in the same cemetery, including a Mary Lopez Neahr, 1898 to 1955.

A couple of puzzles

The dates don't line up. Pioneer Cemetery opened in 1895, according to the date on its entrance sign as recorded by visitors. David's stone says 1884. Maria's says 1891. Either they were moved from an older burial ground, or the stones went up later. I couldn't find a public record that says which.

Neither does the house. The historic district listing says David Neahr built a small adobe on Madison Avenue in 1899, for his daughter Fryda Mary when she married ferryman Mateo Pancrazi. David had been dead 15 years by then. Somebody built it. The record just has the name wrong, or means a different Neahr.

Gaps are gaps. I'd rather show you where they are.

Why her

This year, a new nonprofit called Yuma Neighbors United took on the job of restoring Pioneer Cemetery. Volunteers held their first cleanup in May and kicked off the full restoration in September. Co-founder Allan Marx described the cemetery as a reminder of "the men and women who built this community from the ground up."

Maria E. Neahr was one of them. We just don't know for sure who she was.

If you're family, or you know the history, I want to hear from you. Send it in writing with whatever records you have, and if it holds up, I'll add it here.

Where this comes from

• Maria E. Neahr gravestone, Arizona Gravestone Photo Project, contributed 2003. Volunteer gravestone record. Source for her dates, age and section.
• David Neahr gravestone, Arizona Gravestone Photo Project. Volunteer gravestone record. Source for his date of death and age.
• Mary Lopez Neahr gravestone, Arizona Gravestone Photo Project. Volunteer gravestone record.
• Jacklyn Rohlfing obituary, Legacy.com, 2021. Family-written obituary. Source for David's background, Maria's names and Cocopah identity, and William Freeson Neahr's role as sheriff.
• ENR profile: Neahr history, a descendant's business website. Family account. Source for the 10 children and the "Hupchess" spelling.
• Yuma County Library biography collection index, Yuma County Library District. Archive index. Source for the "Hupchauss or Epsas" and "Quechan" listing.
• Rio Colorado Biography Collection, Yuma, Arizona Historical Society. Archive index. Same listing.
• Jacobs family papers, University of Arizona Special Collections. Archive description. Source for David's role as forwarding agent.
• Yuma's Territorial Prison, Arizona Highways archive. Historical magazine. Source for the first board of prison commissioners.
• Picacho, California, Wikipedia. Encyclopedia summary. Source for the stamp mill and the embezzlement.
• Brinley Avenue Historic District, Wikipedia, summarizing the historic district listing. Source for the Madison Avenue houses and the 1899 Pancrazi cottage.
• Yuma Neighbors to revitalize Pioneer Cemetery, Yuma Sun. Reporting. Source for the September kickoff and Allan Marx's quote.
• Yuma Neighbors United striving for cleaner cemetery, KYMA, May 28, 2026. Reporting. Source for the first cleanup.
• Yuma Pioneer Cemetery, visitor photo journal. Personal account. Source for the entrance sign's 1895 date.