Hazel Alexandria Fine

HAZEL ALEXANDRIA FINE WAS BORN on November 5, 1904, in Eureka, Nevada, the only child of John Henry Fine and Mary Brandon Fraser. She was the niece of Alexander (“Alex”) Fraser, a longtime Eureka County commissioner. Her father, known as Harry, was born in Bolennowe, Camborne, Cornwall, England, while her mother was born in Dunderberg, Eureka County, Nevada. John and Mary were married in Eureka in 1903.

Harry Fine was a silver miner—a “Cousin Jack,” as Cornish miners were commonly called—working at the Cyanide Mine in Eureka. He was also known to prospect. In the early days of Tonopah’s boom, the Fine family moved south, joining the many mining families drawn by opportunity.

In Tonopah, Hazel attended school and quickly became known as a bright and conscientious child. Her name appeared repeatedly in the Tonopah Daily Bonanza for perfect attendance, noted time and again as neither tardy nor absent. A second grader, she was reportedly a favorite among her teachers and classmates.

On Saturday, November 4, 1911, Hazel celebrated her seventh birthday, her future appearing full of promise. She attended school on Monday, but with the onset of a slight cold, her mother kept her home on Tuesday. By Tuesday evening, it became clear that Hazel was gravely ill, and Dr. Masterson was summoned. He diagnosed pneumonia and administered what were then considered proper remedies. For a time, it was believed she might recover.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, at 2:30 a.m., Hazel rose from her bed, stood briefly on the floor, and then fell back onto the bed—dead. Dr. Masterson determined the cause of death to be heart failure.

At the time of Hazel’s death, her father was in Eureka. A telegram was immediately sent to her uncle, Alex Fraser, notifying him of the tragedy. A family friend, J. A. Gilbert, departed for Eureka by automobile carrying a letter that detailed the circumstances of Hazel’s sudden death. Harry Fine and Alex Fraser left Eureka together Thursday morning and arrived in Tonopah that evening.

An obituary published in the November 11, 1911, edition of the Eureka Sentinel recalled Hazel with particular tenderness, noting that she “was often seen in Eureka previous to going to Tonopah with her mother, leading her uncle, Alex Fraser, to and from the Court House and around town.” The paper concluded, “It is beyond words to express the sorrow her death has brought to these dear ones.”

Hazel’s funeral was held on Friday, November 10, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Tonopah. Her schoolmates attended in a body, walking ahead of the hearse in the funeral cortege. The Tonopah Daily Bonanza reported that “at the church and the grave tears of sympathy flowed from the eyes of all present, as the little girl was a great favorite with all who knew her in life.”

The sorrow did not end with Hazel’s burial. Her parents eventually divorced. By 1918, her father had remarried and became the father of two more daughters. Hazel’s mother also remarried, though no children were born of that union.

Hazel Alexandria Fine lived only seven years, but her brief life left a deep imprint—on her family, her school, and a town that paused to mourn one small girl whose promise had seemed so bright.