John Philo Hoyt

John Philo Hoyt

John Philo Hoyt (born October 6, 1841 in Austinburg Township , Ohio , † August 27, 1926 in Seattle , Washington ) was an American politician and from 1877 to 1878 Territorial Governor of the Arizona Territory .

Early Years and Rise in Michigan

John Hoyt attended local schools in his homeland in Ohio and then the Grand River Institute . After that he worked as a teacher. During the Civil War he was a Union soldier. He later also became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Veterans Association . After the war, he continued his education with a law degree in Cleveland . After his admission to the bar, he began working in his new profession in Michigan .

Hoyt lived in Vassar between 1868 and 1876 . There he was temporarily a district attorney in Tuscola County . Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party . In the years 1872 and 1874 he was appointed to the Michigan House of Representatives voted, whose president he should be the 1875th

Territorial Governor of Arizona

On May 22, 1876, John Hoyt was appointed by US President Ulysses S. Grant as the new executive secretary in the Arizona Territory. On July 8th, he arrived in the capital, Tucson . In addition to his actual activity, he also worked as a lawyer in his new home. At that time, Hoyt revised some laws of the territory and submitted them to the legislature for a vote. After the resignation of Territorial Governor Anson Safford , he was appointed his successor. He was head of government in this area between April 1877 and June 1878. According to an instruction from Interior Minister Carl Schurz , he had to stop his legal practice during this time.

During his tenure, Hoyt successfully campaigned for a rapprochement between the civilian population and the military. There had been considerable tension between these groups under his predecessor Safford. Hoyt was less successful in a regional conflict between residents in the north and those in the south. Even Hoyt could not overcome the tensions between these parts of the territory. He was neutral on this issue. It was then that mining began in Bisbee and Tombstone , the first civil telegraph system was set up, and finally the Southern Pacific Railroad began to expand its rail network from California east to Arizona. Governor Hoyt was replaced by John C. Frémont , despite his general popularity with the population .

Another résumé

After the end of his governorship in the Arizona Territory, Hoyt was offered the post of Governor in the Idaho Territory . There, the previous incumbent Mason Brayman was dismissed for his behavior in an Indian war. Hoyt turned down the offer because he believed that Brayman's removal was wrong. He also saw enforcement problems in the face of the events surrounding Brayman's controversial dismissal among the local population. In January 1879, Hoyt was instead appointed to the Supreme Court in the Washington Territory . He held this office until 1887, after which he became manager of the largest bank in his territory. In 1889, Hoyt was chairman of the Constituent Assembly of the new state of Washington. Between 1889 and 1897, Hoyt was a judge on the state's Supreme Court. From 1898 to 1902 was on the board of administration ( Board of Regents ) of the University of Washington and from 1902 to 1907 he taught law at this university. John Hoyt died in August 1926. He and his wife, Lettie J. Lewis, had a daughter and two sons.

Web links

• John Philo Hoyt in the database of Find a Grave (English)