The Early Arizona Years: Archie & Ethel
- Jan 21
- 8 min read
Updated: Mar 30
Having arrived in Arizona with their young boys, Harvey, Lloyd, Warren, and Wesley, and not much else, Archie and Ethel set out to build their new life in this unknown place.
We don’t know the exact year they arrived, but it was sometime after Charles Wesley was born in July 1922 and their next son, James Raymond was born in October 1925. Archie’s obituary states he arrived in Arizona in 1923. Whether anyone really knew is unknown.
Their granddaughter Kay Coxin (Essie Mae’s daughter) interviewed many family members. She has a note that they settled first in Higley, where Archie got a job at a cotton gin and also farmed. In her notes, she has that their second home was a rock house around Lower Buckeye Road.
We do know that they lived in the area north of the South Mountains, where Grandfather share cropped for Mr. Roger Lavine. At that point, they lived in Laveen. Where they actually lived before Laveen is not absolutely clear.
The first record I found for Arizona was the voter registration for both Archie and Ethel in May 1926 as Republicans. She registered on the 4th and was listed as a housekeeper. He registered on the 7th and was listed as a rancher. She was 5’ and 100 pounds and he was 5’ 11” and 145 pounds according to the registration records. Their residence was Broadway R.F.D. 5, Maricopa, Arizona, which was the precinct and not their home address. Per my AI query, this was probably the area that followed the path of Broadway Road to the areas now around 75th Avenue to 51st Avenue. That description fits with what we know of where they lived.
Before the 1930 census, they had expanded their family quite a bit since James Raymond was born on Oct 19, 1925. On November 27, 1927, they had another girl! (They had lost their first daughter, Lucille, as a baby in 1918 and she is buried in Hugo, Oklahoma.) Essie Mae was probably a welcome change from all those boys! Just kidding there, but I am sure they were happy to have a girl added to the growing family.
Two years later, in 1929, grandmother had her first and only set of twins! This time a boy and girl. Eugene arrived at 11:25 pm and Imogene followed at 11:40 pm on December 29. It was a late night for farmers, but they had two bundles of joy added to the family. In Kay’s notes, she wrote that grandfather would take care of Eugene while grandmother cared for Imogene. Kay noted that grandfather loved babies and would hold them and help grandmother care for them. We have a photo of grandfather holding a baby much later on, probably a grandchild, but we don’t know which child it is.
On the 1930 U.S. Census for Isaac Precinct, Maricopa County, enumerated on May 13, Archie and Ethel were recorded as living in a rented home at 2941 Avenue J in Laveen next to the Indian Reservation. He was a farmer and could read and write. An interesting question on this census was if the family owned a radio! They did not. It also indicated that neither of them had been married previously since his first marriage was at age 27 and hers at age 18.
A 1931 City Directory for Phoenix, Arizona list A O Tucker’s address as Rt 3 Box 102. Those of us who grew up in the country are familiar with this type of address. There were no other Tuckers listed at the time.
Their next daughter, Rachel Irene, was born on March 18, 1931, while they were at that address. They were catching up on girls. Now they had six boys and three girls: Harvey, Lloyd, Warren, Wesley, James, Essie, Eugene, Imogene, and Rachel.
On May 6, 1932, Archie and Ethel registered again to vote in Maricopa County. This time they registered in Laveen, still as Republicans. Her weight was listed as the same as before, but his grew by five pounds. Registering also in Laveen are Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Tucker. He was a farmer from Tennessee. I am not sure if we are related, but our Tuckers were in Tennessee before moving to Arkansas.
On December 4, 1933, when Archie was 44, he signed a lease with Ferieda Laveen, a single woman and Roger Laveen’s sister, to farm 160 acres of land from January 1, 1934, for the calendar year. Ferieda provided the land, 2-acre feet of irrigation water plus ½ of excess water, seed for planting, and her share of picking and ginning according to gin weights. He agreed to plant the land to cotton in the spring of 1934 on a 50-50 share basis and deliver it fob to the gin. He also agreed to furnish all machinery and implements necessary for the successful farming of the ranch at his own expense and to do the work in connection with the growing of the crop. Whether they continued this lease agreement for additional years is not known at this time. There are no additional lease documents with Ms. Laveen recorded that I could find. The description is NE ¼ of Section 8 T01S R2E. This land was bordered to the north by West Dobbins Road and to the east by South 51st Avenue. The Tuckers lived on this southwest corner of Dobbins and 51st Avenue in a four-room house. The Laveen Store, owned by the Cheatham family, was on the other side of Dobbins Road from their house. The only school in Laveen was the Laveen Elementary School and it was across 51st Avenue from the Tucker home. So the store was on the northwest corner of 51st Avenue and Dobbins Road, the home was on the southwest corner, and the school was on the southeast corner. Pretty convenient arrangement.
The small building on the left side of the Laveen Store was the icehouse where people would buy a block and take it home in a cardboard box. The Cheatham's Belgian draft horses pulled the hay wagon from the fields, hand stacked and loaded.
The Del Monte Market was built in 1908 at 2659 W. Dobbins Road, close to where they lived. I wonder if they also shopped there. It is still open today.
Archie and Ethel’s family continued to grow when Jon Archie was born October 11, 1934. They now had Lloyd, Harvey, Warren, Wesley, James, Essie Mae, Imogene, Eugene, Rachel, and Jon.
On March 4, 1936, their family was struck by a tragedy. Eugene fell out of a tree at his family's home in Laveen on March 3. I was told that, in those days, no one knew to keep him from lying down and going to sleep. I don’t think I have the complete story, but Kay’s notes say that his parents took him to the doctor, but they were sent home that night. By the next morning, he was not doing well and could not walk. They again took him to the doctor, but it was too late. He died at St. Joseph's Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona at 5 pm on March 4, 1936. His Death Certificate says the cause of death was "poliomyelitis." He was buried at the Double Butte Cemetery in Tempe, Arizona on March 6. He was only 6 years old. I know this was a terrible loss for the entire family. His twin Imogene told Kay that she really didn’t understand death and didn’t know he wasn’t coming back home.
The next year, the grieving family welcomed another son. Wayne was born on May 30, 1937, providing the whole family with a new baby to adore. He would be the last boy born to the family. Ethel and Odus would often let their children name a baby. Everyone agreed on Wayne but could not agree on a middle name so he was not given one.
Apparently, Archie needed some extra money around Christmas 1938. He applied for his first Social Security Account Number on December 22 of that year. The application lists him as Archie Otis Tucker. (His middle name varies on documents as Odus or Otis.) His address was Box #6, Laveen, Arizona and his present employer was Montgomery Ward & Co. at 209 N. 1st Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona. I was surprised to see this and guessed he may have worked there to have extra money for Christmas gifts. In Kay’s notes, her mother said they always had lots of gifts at Christmas. I was very happy I had sent for this document because it listed both of his parent’s full names! I knew his father was John Newton but now had a middle name for his mother Arnetta “Nettie” Ellen Henderson. He signed the application as AO Tucker.
On March 8, 1940, Archie and Ethel welcomed their daughter Sarah Ann to their now complete family. Six years later, sometime late in 1946, the family would move to the Avondale/Goodyear area to a much larger home. They purchased the new home and farm on October 9, 1946. This was the two-story home on Old Yuma Road. By that time, many of their children would be on their own. Harvey and Warren had married earlier. Lloyd, Harvey, Wesley, and James had joined the military to serve in WWII. Warren was building runways for the military. Essie Mae was attending college, The children still at home were Imogene, Rachel Irene, Jon Archie, Wayne, and Sarah Ann. Both Rachel (May) and Imogene (October) would marry in 1947. That left only three children at home. Jon Archie, Wayne, and Sarah. For the first time since moving to Arizona, Archie and Ethel would have their own bedroom. In Laveen, they had slept in the living room on a pull-out sofa.
Photos from Laveen, Arizona years:
Pictured on the left are Ethel with, from left, grandchild Jimmy (Harvey's son), son Jon Archie, grandchild Patricia (Warren's daughter), and daughter Sarah.
Laveen School Photos - Their individual photos are shown below the class photo.
Below is a class photo for Laveen School grade 1 with twins Eugene (with his name in red above him) and Imogene seated below him. Individual photos of each are shown below the class photo. Below that is a photo for Laveen Elementary School grades 3 and 4 with James Raymond (grade 4) and Essie Mae (grade 3). The school was located at 51st Avenue and Dobbins Road, across from their home.
Photos in Laveen by Cheatham Family
Our family received an unexpected and wonderful gift in 2024. Clark Leuthold (husband of Debbie Walker, Imogene's daughter) was talking to a woman at a business meeting. During the conversation, she learned he was married to a descendant of the Tuckers that had been neighbors to her Cheatham family in Laveen. The next time they met, she brought him photographs of the younger Tucker children that her family had taken. The bundle included photos and the negatives! These have been distributed to the families, but I did scan the photos first. The photos are shown below.
I have included the inside flap that shows handwritten details. Some of the comments are "mid 1940's Laveen, Az", "51st Ave & Dobbins Rd SW Corner, Laveen, AZ." Additional remarks on the negative holder include that they lived across from Laveen Store. Since the family moved around October 1946, these were probably taken before that date.
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