Photo courtesy The Plain Dealer, June 1, 1913, p 14D.
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Frances Allison at age 59. Photo taken from a Brazilian visa dated 1946.
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Photo courtesy The Idaho Statesman, Monday Picture Page, May 4, 1925.
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Frances Allison, Grand Canyon’s Heiress
By Kern Nuttall
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don’t fence me in1
Frances Allison’s unassuming marker can be seen in the South Rim Cemetery at Grand Canyon National Park. To read her obituary2 you might believe there was not much to say about her life; certainly, no husband was mentioned. Frances’s older daughter probably wrote the obit, and she was most likely tired of the controversies and rumors that often followed her mother throughout their lives. Children are not uncommonly embarrassed by their parents, but in this case the daughter might have had more cause than usual. From another viewpoint, however, Frances led a most interesting and adventuresome life, one deserving recognition as among the true characters buried in the Park cemetery.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Born in 1887, Frances was the daughter of William Outis Allison (1849-1924), a successful publisher and the first mayor of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.3He published Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter; The Druggists’ Circular; and The Painters’ Magazine, popular trade journals in their day. He also invested profitably in real estate and finance.
Being born into wealthy New Jersey society, Frances was sent to Europe during her formative years to study voice. At the young age of 17, she married 21-year-old Arnold M. Probst in Manhattan, New York, on July 20, 1904. The New Jersey State Census in 1905 showed the household of William O. Allison included his wife and younger children, as well as Frances, her husband, and their newborn daughter. The 1910 Census saw Frances and Arnold in their own home in Englewood Cliffs, along with two daughters and several servants.
The Opera Diva
A number of years after her first marriage, Frances surfaced in the newspapers with a new name and occupation. On April 29, 1913, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reviewed a performance of Carmen given by the Aborn English Grand Opera Company.4 “Miss Frances Allison Hess, a new aspirant for vocal honors, made her debut as Michaela. Miss Hess possesses a light soprano, sweet and true, her upper tones being markedly clear and pearly, but weak in the middle register. For a first performance, however, she sang remarkably well, with few traces of the nervousness to be expected on such occasions.”
The Plain Dealer, June 1, 1913, p 14D.
On June 1, 1913, the Cleveland Plain Dealerpublished the following note: “Mrs. Frances Allison Hess has gone on the stage. She is singing with one of the Aborn companies in Brooklyn. Mrs. Hess is the daughter of W.O. Allison, a banker. Last November she married a Mr. Hess, who is a trainer of horses. The marriage created something of a sensation in the circle of her society friends. Now they are astonished again by hearing she has gone on the operatic stage. Mrs. Hess has a good voice, which has been carefully trained, and she thinks she ought to use it.” The popularity of such gossip was emphasized by an identical note published a few days later in The Oregonian. Almost nothing was said about her new husband, not even his first name. They apparently lived for some time in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The Rock Island Argus, an Illinois newspaper near Chicago, reported August 8, 1916,4 “When Mrs. Frances A. Hess decided to return from Colorado Springs to New York City, where she resides, she adopted horseback riding as the means of conveyance because she likes to ride and believes it is a healthful form of traveling. She was traveling with her two daughters, Julia, aged 11, and Caroline, aged 9. Each was astride a horse. They have been riding nearly continuously for six weeks.” It was not all hard riding, since they planned to stay for three days in an unspecified local accommodation. The article goes on to say they intended to complete their journey from Chicago to New York City via steamboat. Also mentioned was a horseback ride of several hundred miles Frances made a year earlier from the west coast of Florida to the Everglades. Long distance horseback riding was presumably an activity acquired during her marriage to the “trainer of horses.”
Williams, Arizona
Frances Allison Hess married Richard M. Scott in Chicago on January 24, 1917, several months after completing her horseback ride to Chicago. The couple then moved to Williams, Arizona, 60 miles south of the Grand Canyon. On June 21, 1917, The Williams News mentioned the new veterinarian from Chicago, Dr. Scott, was setting up a practice in town.5 His draft registration card, it was during the Great War, showed he was a Canadian citizen born in Quebec, six foot two-and-a-half inches tall, slender, with blue eyes and brown hair.
On February 14, 1918, The Williams Newsreported that Mrs. Frances A. Scott was instructing the Junior Singing Club in a production of the fairy opera Hansel and Gretel. Over the next year or so, she and her husband showed up regularly in the local paper, often participating in fundraising events for the Red Cross to support the war effort. One such event reported June 7, 1918, described Mrs. Scott singing in a quartet at the Grand Canyon. On August 23, 1918, the cast of “the standard American Opera, Robin Hood” included Dr. Scott as “Little John,” Mrs. Scott as “Allan A’ Dale,” and daughter Julia Scott as “Sir Guy of Gisborne.” Apparently still on speaking terms with her father, William O. Allison of New York visited his daughter and son-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Scott, February 28, 1919.
A brief news note May 9, 1919,5 reported that Frances “had the misfortune to fall and break her arm.” Whether due to an episode of domestic violence is a matter for speculation, although her husband’s temper was documented June 20, 1919, when Dr. Scott was fined ten dollars for getting into a fistfight with another gentleman. The subject of the fight was not mentioned. For whatever reason, by the 1920 Census,6 Frances Scott was divorced, living with her two daughters in the house that had previously been the husband’s place of business. Dr. Scott himself had apparently left town for California.
Many years later, Frances Allison’s remarkably uninformative obituary featured an odd fact, that she had written a history of the town of Williams during the time she lived there.2 (This was apparently considered a safe subject.) She did write a book while living in Williams, Adventures in the Arid Zone, published by her father in 1920, but it is a collection of stories, more fiction than fact, probably written in part to amuse her father. A copy can be seen in Special Collections at the Cline Library in Flagstaff.
The Idaho Statesman, Monday Picture Page, May 4, 1925.
Artic Explorations
At age 35, Frances Allison married the younger arctic explorer Harold H. Noice in Manhattan, New York, October 27, 1923. The marriage made for a minor subplot in Jennifer Niven’s true adventure story of Ada Blackjack,7 an Inuit woman who was the only survivor of a misguided attempt to colonize Wrangel Island in the Arctic ocean in 1921. Noice led the much-reported expedition to rescue the survivors in 1923, about the time he became entangled with Frances. She jealously believed Noice had become romantically involved with Ada during the voyage back to Nome. Throwing considerable mud on Ada, Frances insisted her husband do the same, much to her discredit. The Noice couple originally planned to spend two years among the Inuit in the Canadian arctic, where her intent was to study native music, but they never made it past Brazil, the first leg of their world tour. By 1925, Frances sought a divorce in Reno, Nevada,8while Noice suffered a nervous breakdown.
William Allison Estate
William O. Allison died in 1924 at the age of 75 from a stroke, leaving an estate worth several million dollars.9 His wife and three children, Frances included, were left with trust funds estimated to be worth $150,000 per year, but the bulk of the estate was donated for the “beautification of that section of the Palisades located along the Hudson River in Englewood Cliffs.” The heirs tried to have the will overturned by declaring William Allison insane, but they eventually settled for a tiny fraction of the estate years later in 1931. The remainder was given to the state of New Jersey for the purpose William Allison intended. The Palisades Interstate Park Commission now administers public lands along the Hudson River, including Allison Park.
Frances married Hendrik Schouten in San Francisco on June 25, 1925, the year of her divorce from Noice. She obtained another Reno divorce on January 21, 1931.9Filed and tried within an hour, the case listed the grounds of desertion and non-support. Her attorney commented there “were other grounds on which the suit could have been based,” but those issues were felt unnecessary to bring up.
The Sheik
Forty-five-year-old Frances Allison married Khalil Ben Ibrahime El Raoif, a Saudi Arabian sheik, in a Bagdad mosque in 1933.10 They met in Bagdad during Frances’s world tour. During another tour in 1935, the couple was interviewed at the Marion Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, where Frances reported they were “completely happy.” While her husband did not speak English and she did not speak Arabic, they communicated through a personal language composed of French and sign language, sprinkled with English and Arab phrases.
When Frances divorced her Arab husband in 1936, it made frontpage news in papers like The Augusta Chronicle. She reported being variously “poisoned, stoned and beaten by his people.” All she wanted to do “was to promote inter-racialism and inter-religionism. I don’t believe in differences between religions or lines of demarcation between the races.” She also said she expected to live the rest of her life “in the desert.” Which mostly she did.
Grand Canyon Days
Sometime in the 1930s, Frances began staying frequently at the El Tovar Hotel, although she also continued to travel widely.11 Destinations included such diverse places as Brazil and Liberia. Interested in Native American crafts and culture, she often visited the local reservations to see how rugs and similar items were made. She also gave many gifts, generally encouraging artistic pursuits among the Hopi and other tribes. After being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis about 1940, she began staying at the Bright Angel Lodge to reduce the pain associated with climbing the steps at El Tovar.
Fred Kabotie watercolor donated by Frances Allison in 1944. Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection.
On November 10, 1944, Frances donated fourteen Hopi cultural objects to the Grand Canyon Natural History Association: eight kachinas, four watercolors of kachinas, one watercolor of three Hopi women, and one basketry plaque.12 Several of the kachinas are presently on display at the Tusayan Museum, in the first cabinet on the right as you enter. Of the six in the cabinet, the four larger ones are her donations. The Museum Collection houses the remaining objects. Five of the artists are known: Sam Pemahinge (Mudhead kachina), Fred Kabotie (watercolor of women), Leroy C. Kewonyama (two watercolors), and W. Polelonema and Ed Nequartewa Jr. (one watercolor each).
Allison, Frances Cornelia: 23 Nov 1887 - 19 Feb 1954, age 66
Frances Allison died from pneumonia at Marcus Laurence Hospital in Cottonwood, Arizona, having suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for 14 years.13 Well recognized for its many complications, the disease often includes a shortened lifespan. The death certificate reported her occupation as “heiress” and her marital status as “widowed,” although widowed might be a stretch. Death certificates, like obituaries, sometimes include a degree of fiction.
The Cottonwood funeral home mailed her ashes directly to Grand Canyon Superintendent Harold Bryant on March 1, 1954.11 Jim Wescogame dug the grave, probably with the help of one or two fellow Havasupai, for which they earned $15 paid by check from the older daughter, Julia Meardon of Albuquerque. Burial took place around 2 pm Saturday, March 6th. If you are at the cemetery gate looking into the grounds, the gravesite is close to the righthand fence, toward the far righthand corner. About twenty-five people attended the informal service, including the older daughter. Frances’s younger daughter, Caroline Hardmeyer, lived in Switzerland with her organist husband and was unable to attend. Rosa Lauzon, the widow of Ranger Bert Lauzon, was probably among those at the ceremony, and it seems likely that a number of other long-term residents of the Canyon also turned out. The Park Service provided the rock for the headstone and the older daughter supplied the bronze plaque.
Longtime resident Mary Hoover made several comments about Frances during an interview in 2014.14 Mary came to the Canyon as a Harvey girl in 1946, staying to work more than 40 years. She reported that Frances often came for several months at a time, particularly during the summer. Although quite demanding, she was also free with her money. Her morning grapefruit had to be specially prepared or it would be sent back. Each section of fruit had to be properly separated, the top sprinkled with powdered sugar, then grilled briefly to blend with the juices. Mary herself never waited on Frances because that was the purview of more longstanding Fred Harvey employees, her regulars. Mary remembered Frances still being able to walk on her own, although she had to be helped up steps. She always entered the Bright Angel Lodge from the side entrance on the west, where the restrooms are currently, the location of a beauty shop and barbershop back then. When Frances came to the steps, a couple bellhops would carry her up in a chair, then she would walk under her own power to the dining room. She often sat outside overlooking the rim, reading in a chair supplied by one of the staff.
The rumor that the package containing the ashes of Frances Allison sat on Superintendent Bryant’s desk for some time before it was recognized is almost certainly inaccurate. The fact is that the Cottonwood mortician had called Bryant’s office to say the remains were being mailed, and burial followed the receipt of the ashes by only a few days.11 The motivation for such rumors is a matter for conjecture. In the case of Frances, she was someone many people loved to gossip about, both because her wealth engendered envy and she did indeed have a colorful past. The rumor that she had been married nine times, once to a Native American, might even be true, although corroborating evidence is lacking. It was likely no more than six.
Endnotes
1. From the 1934 song by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter, Don’t Fence Me In.
2. The Williams News 1954 Mar 11: Final Rites Held for Mrs. Frances Allison at Grand Canyon.
3. Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, ed., 1900, New Jersey Genealogical Company, New York: William Outis Allison, p 148-150.
4. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1913 Apr 29, p 9: “Carmen” by the Aborns; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 1913 Jun 1, p 14D: She Surprises Society by Going to Footlights; The Oregonian 1913 Jun 15, p 8; The Rock Island Argus 1916 Aug 8: Horseback Trio on Their Way to Home in the East.
5. The Williams News 1917 Jun 21, p 1: Veterinary in Williams; 1918 Feb 14, p 1: Will Aid Red Cross with Fairy Opera; 1919 Feb 28, p 1: Personal and Local; 1919 May 9, p 5, column 3; 1919 Jun 20, p 1, column 2.
6. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Arizona, Coconino County, Williams Precinct, Enumeration District No. 18, Sheet No. 6: Frances Scott and daughters are on lines 18-20.
7. Jennifer Niven, Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Artic, Hyperion, New York, 2003: Frances Allison is mentioned on pages 200, 246, 272, 308-310, 324, 338, and 349.
8. The Idaho Statesman 1925 May 4, p 10: Monday Picture Page.
9. The Jersey Journal 1928 June 13, p 13: Kin Declare Allison Insane, in Fight Over Estate of Millions; 1931 Sep 23, p 10: W.O. Allison Heirs May Get $250,000; 1931 Jan 22, p 6: Reno Divorce for Mrs. F.A. Schouten.
10. The News and Courier (Charleston, S.C.) 1935 Nov 6, p 10: Sheik and Wife Visitors in City; Schenectady Gazette 1936 Apr 22 p 11: Her Marriage to Arab Sheik Not All Roses; The Augusta Chronicle 1936 Apr 22, p 1: Heiress, Married to Sheik, Was Poisoned and Stoned.
11. Grand Canyon Museum Collection cemetery file: Allison, Frances C.
12. Museum catalog records supplied by Colleen Hyde, Museum Specialist, Grand Canyon Museum Collection.
13. Arizona death certificates, Arizona Department of Health Services website (genealogy.az.gov): Allison, Frances.
14. Mary Hoover oral history interview, July 24, 2014, part 2, Grand Canyon Historical Society website (grandcanyonhistory.org): Frances Allison is mentioned in pages 27-29 of the transcript.
The above posted by permission, Kern Nuttall, Aug, 2019
By Kern Nuttall
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don’t fence me in1
Frances Allison’s unassuming marker can be seen in the South Rim Cemetery at Grand Canyon National Park. To read her obituary2 you might believe there was not much to say about her life; certainly, no husband was mentioned. Frances’s older daughter probably wrote the obit, and she was most likely tired of the controversies and rumors that often followed her mother throughout their lives. Children are not uncommonly embarrassed by their parents, but in this case the daughter might have had more cause than usual. From another viewpoint, however, Frances led a most interesting and adventuresome life, one deserving recognition as among the true characters buried in the Park cemetery.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Born in 1887, Frances was the daughter of William Outis Allison (1849-1924), a successful publisher and the first mayor of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.3He published Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter; The Druggists’ Circular; and The Painters’ Magazine, popular trade journals in their day. He also invested profitably in real estate and finance.
Being born into wealthy New Jersey society, Frances was sent to Europe during her formative years to study voice. At the young age of 17, she married 21-year-old Arnold M. Probst in Manhattan, New York, on July 20, 1904. The New Jersey State Census in 1905 showed the household of William O. Allison included his wife and younger children, as well as Frances, her husband, and their newborn daughter. The 1910 Census saw Frances and Arnold in their own home in Englewood Cliffs, along with two daughters and several servants.
The Opera Diva
A number of years after her first marriage, Frances surfaced in the newspapers with a new name and occupation. On April 29, 1913, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reviewed a performance of Carmen given by the Aborn English Grand Opera Company.4 “Miss Frances Allison Hess, a new aspirant for vocal honors, made her debut as Michaela. Miss Hess possesses a light soprano, sweet and true, her upper tones being markedly clear and pearly, but weak in the middle register. For a first performance, however, she sang remarkably well, with few traces of the nervousness to be expected on such occasions.”
The Plain Dealer, June 1, 1913, p 14D.
On June 1, 1913, the Cleveland Plain Dealerpublished the following note: “Mrs. Frances Allison Hess has gone on the stage. She is singing with one of the Aborn companies in Brooklyn. Mrs. Hess is the daughter of W.O. Allison, a banker. Last November she married a Mr. Hess, who is a trainer of horses. The marriage created something of a sensation in the circle of her society friends. Now they are astonished again by hearing she has gone on the operatic stage. Mrs. Hess has a good voice, which has been carefully trained, and she thinks she ought to use it.” The popularity of such gossip was emphasized by an identical note published a few days later in The Oregonian. Almost nothing was said about her new husband, not even his first name. They apparently lived for some time in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The Rock Island Argus, an Illinois newspaper near Chicago, reported August 8, 1916,4 “When Mrs. Frances A. Hess decided to return from Colorado Springs to New York City, where she resides, she adopted horseback riding as the means of conveyance because she likes to ride and believes it is a healthful form of traveling. She was traveling with her two daughters, Julia, aged 11, and Caroline, aged 9. Each was astride a horse. They have been riding nearly continuously for six weeks.” It was not all hard riding, since they planned to stay for three days in an unspecified local accommodation. The article goes on to say they intended to complete their journey from Chicago to New York City via steamboat. Also mentioned was a horseback ride of several hundred miles Frances made a year earlier from the west coast of Florida to the Everglades. Long distance horseback riding was presumably an activity acquired during her marriage to the “trainer of horses.”
Williams, Arizona
Frances Allison Hess married Richard M. Scott in Chicago on January 24, 1917, several months after completing her horseback ride to Chicago. The couple then moved to Williams, Arizona, 60 miles south of the Grand Canyon. On June 21, 1917, The Williams News mentioned the new veterinarian from Chicago, Dr. Scott, was setting up a practice in town.5 His draft registration card, it was during the Great War, showed he was a Canadian citizen born in Quebec, six foot two-and-a-half inches tall, slender, with blue eyes and brown hair.
On February 14, 1918, The Williams Newsreported that Mrs. Frances A. Scott was instructing the Junior Singing Club in a production of the fairy opera Hansel and Gretel. Over the next year or so, she and her husband showed up regularly in the local paper, often participating in fundraising events for the Red Cross to support the war effort. One such event reported June 7, 1918, described Mrs. Scott singing in a quartet at the Grand Canyon. On August 23, 1918, the cast of “the standard American Opera, Robin Hood” included Dr. Scott as “Little John,” Mrs. Scott as “Allan A’ Dale,” and daughter Julia Scott as “Sir Guy of Gisborne.” Apparently still on speaking terms with her father, William O. Allison of New York visited his daughter and son-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Scott, February 28, 1919.
A brief news note May 9, 1919,5 reported that Frances “had the misfortune to fall and break her arm.” Whether due to an episode of domestic violence is a matter for speculation, although her husband’s temper was documented June 20, 1919, when Dr. Scott was fined ten dollars for getting into a fistfight with another gentleman. The subject of the fight was not mentioned. For whatever reason, by the 1920 Census,6 Frances Scott was divorced, living with her two daughters in the house that had previously been the husband’s place of business. Dr. Scott himself had apparently left town for California.
Many years later, Frances Allison’s remarkably uninformative obituary featured an odd fact, that she had written a history of the town of Williams during the time she lived there.2 (This was apparently considered a safe subject.) She did write a book while living in Williams, Adventures in the Arid Zone, published by her father in 1920, but it is a collection of stories, more fiction than fact, probably written in part to amuse her father. A copy can be seen in Special Collections at the Cline Library in Flagstaff.
The Idaho Statesman, Monday Picture Page, May 4, 1925.
Artic Explorations
At age 35, Frances Allison married the younger arctic explorer Harold H. Noice in Manhattan, New York, October 27, 1923. The marriage made for a minor subplot in Jennifer Niven’s true adventure story of Ada Blackjack,7 an Inuit woman who was the only survivor of a misguided attempt to colonize Wrangel Island in the Arctic ocean in 1921. Noice led the much-reported expedition to rescue the survivors in 1923, about the time he became entangled with Frances. She jealously believed Noice had become romantically involved with Ada during the voyage back to Nome. Throwing considerable mud on Ada, Frances insisted her husband do the same, much to her discredit. The Noice couple originally planned to spend two years among the Inuit in the Canadian arctic, where her intent was to study native music, but they never made it past Brazil, the first leg of their world tour. By 1925, Frances sought a divorce in Reno, Nevada,8while Noice suffered a nervous breakdown.
William Allison Estate
William O. Allison died in 1924 at the age of 75 from a stroke, leaving an estate worth several million dollars.9 His wife and three children, Frances included, were left with trust funds estimated to be worth $150,000 per year, but the bulk of the estate was donated for the “beautification of that section of the Palisades located along the Hudson River in Englewood Cliffs.” The heirs tried to have the will overturned by declaring William Allison insane, but they eventually settled for a tiny fraction of the estate years later in 1931. The remainder was given to the state of New Jersey for the purpose William Allison intended. The Palisades Interstate Park Commission now administers public lands along the Hudson River, including Allison Park.
Frances married Hendrik Schouten in San Francisco on June 25, 1925, the year of her divorce from Noice. She obtained another Reno divorce on January 21, 1931.9Filed and tried within an hour, the case listed the grounds of desertion and non-support. Her attorney commented there “were other grounds on which the suit could have been based,” but those issues were felt unnecessary to bring up.
The Sheik
Forty-five-year-old Frances Allison married Khalil Ben Ibrahime El Raoif, a Saudi Arabian sheik, in a Bagdad mosque in 1933.10 They met in Bagdad during Frances’s world tour. During another tour in 1935, the couple was interviewed at the Marion Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, where Frances reported they were “completely happy.” While her husband did not speak English and she did not speak Arabic, they communicated through a personal language composed of French and sign language, sprinkled with English and Arab phrases.
When Frances divorced her Arab husband in 1936, it made frontpage news in papers like The Augusta Chronicle. She reported being variously “poisoned, stoned and beaten by his people.” All she wanted to do “was to promote inter-racialism and inter-religionism. I don’t believe in differences between religions or lines of demarcation between the races.” She also said she expected to live the rest of her life “in the desert.” Which mostly she did.
Grand Canyon Days
Sometime in the 1930s, Frances began staying frequently at the El Tovar Hotel, although she also continued to travel widely.11 Destinations included such diverse places as Brazil and Liberia. Interested in Native American crafts and culture, she often visited the local reservations to see how rugs and similar items were made. She also gave many gifts, generally encouraging artistic pursuits among the Hopi and other tribes. After being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis about 1940, she began staying at the Bright Angel Lodge to reduce the pain associated with climbing the steps at El Tovar.
Fred Kabotie watercolor donated by Frances Allison in 1944. Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection.
On November 10, 1944, Frances donated fourteen Hopi cultural objects to the Grand Canyon Natural History Association: eight kachinas, four watercolors of kachinas, one watercolor of three Hopi women, and one basketry plaque.12 Several of the kachinas are presently on display at the Tusayan Museum, in the first cabinet on the right as you enter. Of the six in the cabinet, the four larger ones are her donations. The Museum Collection houses the remaining objects. Five of the artists are known: Sam Pemahinge (Mudhead kachina), Fred Kabotie (watercolor of women), Leroy C. Kewonyama (two watercolors), and W. Polelonema and Ed Nequartewa Jr. (one watercolor each).
Allison, Frances Cornelia: 23 Nov 1887 - 19 Feb 1954, age 66
Frances Allison died from pneumonia at Marcus Laurence Hospital in Cottonwood, Arizona, having suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for 14 years.13 Well recognized for its many complications, the disease often includes a shortened lifespan. The death certificate reported her occupation as “heiress” and her marital status as “widowed,” although widowed might be a stretch. Death certificates, like obituaries, sometimes include a degree of fiction.
The Cottonwood funeral home mailed her ashes directly to Grand Canyon Superintendent Harold Bryant on March 1, 1954.11 Jim Wescogame dug the grave, probably with the help of one or two fellow Havasupai, for which they earned $15 paid by check from the older daughter, Julia Meardon of Albuquerque. Burial took place around 2 pm Saturday, March 6th. If you are at the cemetery gate looking into the grounds, the gravesite is close to the righthand fence, toward the far righthand corner. About twenty-five people attended the informal service, including the older daughter. Frances’s younger daughter, Caroline Hardmeyer, lived in Switzerland with her organist husband and was unable to attend. Rosa Lauzon, the widow of Ranger Bert Lauzon, was probably among those at the ceremony, and it seems likely that a number of other long-term residents of the Canyon also turned out. The Park Service provided the rock for the headstone and the older daughter supplied the bronze plaque.
Longtime resident Mary Hoover made several comments about Frances during an interview in 2014.14 Mary came to the Canyon as a Harvey girl in 1946, staying to work more than 40 years. She reported that Frances often came for several months at a time, particularly during the summer. Although quite demanding, she was also free with her money. Her morning grapefruit had to be specially prepared or it would be sent back. Each section of fruit had to be properly separated, the top sprinkled with powdered sugar, then grilled briefly to blend with the juices. Mary herself never waited on Frances because that was the purview of more longstanding Fred Harvey employees, her regulars. Mary remembered Frances still being able to walk on her own, although she had to be helped up steps. She always entered the Bright Angel Lodge from the side entrance on the west, where the restrooms are currently, the location of a beauty shop and barbershop back then. When Frances came to the steps, a couple bellhops would carry her up in a chair, then she would walk under her own power to the dining room. She often sat outside overlooking the rim, reading in a chair supplied by one of the staff.
The rumor that the package containing the ashes of Frances Allison sat on Superintendent Bryant’s desk for some time before it was recognized is almost certainly inaccurate. The fact is that the Cottonwood mortician had called Bryant’s office to say the remains were being mailed, and burial followed the receipt of the ashes by only a few days.11 The motivation for such rumors is a matter for conjecture. In the case of Frances, she was someone many people loved to gossip about, both because her wealth engendered envy and she did indeed have a colorful past. The rumor that she had been married nine times, once to a Native American, might even be true, although corroborating evidence is lacking. It was likely no more than six.
Endnotes
1. From the 1934 song by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter, Don’t Fence Me In.
2. The Williams News 1954 Mar 11: Final Rites Held for Mrs. Frances Allison at Grand Canyon.
3. Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, ed., 1900, New Jersey Genealogical Company, New York: William Outis Allison, p 148-150.
4. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1913 Apr 29, p 9: “Carmen” by the Aborns; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 1913 Jun 1, p 14D: She Surprises Society by Going to Footlights; The Oregonian 1913 Jun 15, p 8; The Rock Island Argus 1916 Aug 8: Horseback Trio on Their Way to Home in the East.
5. The Williams News 1917 Jun 21, p 1: Veterinary in Williams; 1918 Feb 14, p 1: Will Aid Red Cross with Fairy Opera; 1919 Feb 28, p 1: Personal and Local; 1919 May 9, p 5, column 3; 1919 Jun 20, p 1, column 2.
6. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Arizona, Coconino County, Williams Precinct, Enumeration District No. 18, Sheet No. 6: Frances Scott and daughters are on lines 18-20.
7. Jennifer Niven, Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Artic, Hyperion, New York, 2003: Frances Allison is mentioned on pages 200, 246, 272, 308-310, 324, 338, and 349.
8. The Idaho Statesman 1925 May 4, p 10: Monday Picture Page.
9. The Jersey Journal 1928 June 13, p 13: Kin Declare Allison Insane, in Fight Over Estate of Millions; 1931 Sep 23, p 10: W.O. Allison Heirs May Get $250,000; 1931 Jan 22, p 6: Reno Divorce for Mrs. F.A. Schouten.
10. The News and Courier (Charleston, S.C.) 1935 Nov 6, p 10: Sheik and Wife Visitors in City; Schenectady Gazette 1936 Apr 22 p 11: Her Marriage to Arab Sheik Not All Roses; The Augusta Chronicle 1936 Apr 22, p 1: Heiress, Married to Sheik, Was Poisoned and Stoned.
11. Grand Canyon Museum Collection cemetery file: Allison, Frances C.
12. Museum catalog records supplied by Colleen Hyde, Museum Specialist, Grand Canyon Museum Collection.
13. Arizona death certificates, Arizona Department of Health Services website (genealogy.az.gov): Allison, Frances.
14. Mary Hoover oral history interview, July 24, 2014, part 2, Grand Canyon Historical Society website (grandcanyonhistory.org): Frances Allison is mentioned in pages 27-29 of the transcript.
The above posted by permission, Kern Nuttall, Aug, 2019