A negative can be a positive

I just got back from our trip to Bisbee, AZ, trying to find information on my grandmother's aunt Sarah Ann and young cousin Elsie Maud that died there. Bisbee is only a few hours away from where we stay for a few months in the winter, so why not go? I could have emailed, but I am the kind of person I like to see and look for things for myself if I can. 

We combined going to Bisbee with exploring all over the area south of Phoenix in our RV.  My husband is a good sport and he happily sat with our dog in the RV while I did my thing.  I first went to the office of Public Works. They take care of burials in the city cemetery and have info on past burials. The woman I spoke to was very nice and helpful. She took me back to her office and we looked at the database.

In 1908 there was a big fire in Bisbee and the town offices were burned down, with all the records.  The Public Works were able to put together a database with info from newspaper accounts, family papers and other documents. There was not information on all burials.  The database did show the cousin, Elsie Maud was buried there in 1896 in Section E, but no date, no plot number and no headstone. Same as on Ancestry. 
Nothing on her mother Sarah Ann. 

My husband thought I had wasted my time because I didn't find what I wanted. But a negative answer is also a positive.  If I didn't go to Bisbee I would always wonder if I would have found something. I was able to see for myself in the database that Elsie was buried in Section E, and I was able to go to Evergreen Cemetery and take a photo. Sarah Ann and Elsie are most likely both buried there. 

I got to look around the old town of Bisbee and get a feel for how it was to live there, under the shadow of the mountain and the booming copper mine above, which was probably noisy with equipment and blasting.

So now I can positively cross off checking records at Bisbee from my list, and try other methods of finding the dates of death.