Joseph Henry Kibbey

Joseph Henry Kibbey

Joseph Henry Kibbey (born March 4, 1853 in Centerville , Wayne County , Indiana , † June 14, 1924 in Phoenix , Arizona ) was an American politician and governor of the Arizona Territory from 1905 to 1909 .

Early years

Kibbey attended public schools and later studied law at Earlham College in Richmond . He was admitted to the bar in Virginia in 1875 and then practiced in Richmond until 1888. He also served as a Richmond District Attorney for two years . On January 10, 1877, he married Nora Burbank. For health reasons he then moved to Arizona in 1888.

Arizona

Kibbey was appointed associate judge on the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court in 1888. He negotiated the Kibbey Decision , which enabled the land and water trade in Arizona. His tenure as judge ended in April 1893. In his political career he was twice Republican chairman of Maricopa County and three times territorial chairman. In November 1897 he was a Phoenix District Attorney and a councilor in the 22nd Territorial Legislature of 1903. He was then appointed Territorial Attorney General in November 1904 .

Territorial Governor of Arizona

President Theodore Roosevelt named Kibbey Territorial Governor of Arizona in 1905. Immediately after he had taken office, Kibbey was with the problems relating to a bill in Congress faced the Arizona and New Mexico that statehood should give, but both united into a single state. He promised to step down rather than let this bill pass. The bill was passed by Congress, but with one condition that every territory had to vote for the project. In the last vote, 16,265 voted against the bill and only 3,141 for it. The result was that the project was off the table.

Some of his main suggestions were banning gambling , restricting liquor and tobacco, and banning prostitution . He created the Territorial Railroad Commission , which was the precursor to the Arizona Corporation Commission . He also created Greenlee County .

Kibbey advocated taxing mines , which ultimately cost him his governorship. Mining companies were able to delay his re-nomination by President Theodore Roosevelt because they knew that the new President William Howard Taft would not nominate him as governor. He left office on May 1, 1909, when Taft nominated Richard Elihu Sloan .

Later years

After serving as governor, Kibbey became consul of the Salt River Valley Water User's Association and drafted its charter. In 1916 he ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a seat in the US Senate . He died on June 14, 1924 in Phoenix and was then buried in Greenwood Memorial Park .

literature

• Wagoner, Jay J. Arizona Territory, 1863-1912; a political history. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1970.
• Goff, John S. Arizona Territorial Officials Volume 2. Arizona Black Mountain Press, Cave Creek, 1975. Chapter 16.

Web links

• Joseph Henry Kibbey in the database of Find a Grave (English)