LC Hughes

LC Hughes

Louis Cameron "LC" Hughes (born May 15, 1842 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † November 24, 1915 in Tucson , Arizona ) was a liberal, American politician ( Democratic Party ) and from 1893 to 1896 governor of the Arizona Territory .

Early years

Louis Cameron Hughes, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Edwards Hughes, was born in Philadelphia on May 15, 1842. In 1844 he was sent to an orphanage because his parents were either dead or unable to look after him. He later grew up on a farm, where he rose from a debt servant to a Calvinist farmer. He lived there until he was 16 years old. In parting he got $ 15 and was left to his fate. He attended a public school in Meadville , Pennsylvania.

Hughes was a staunch abolitionist and when the Civil War broke out, he signed up as a private member of 101 Pennsylvania Company  A, where he served for two years. Among other things, he was in the Knapp's Pittsburgh Battery , which was responsible for the defense of the Capitol .

After the war he worked as a mechanic. So he saved the money to attend college at the Meadeville Theological School and later the Edinburgh State Normal School . At the same time he was a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and spokesman for the International Convention of Machinists , which were held in Cleveland , Ohio in 1868 , and also the Blacksmiths Union of America .

In July 1868, he married E. Josephine Brawley, who was a member of the Women's Suffrage Movement and also a driving force in founding the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Arizona .

Arizona

Hughes came to Arizona in 1871 for health reasons. There he opened a law firm before serving in the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court on January 17, 1873 . He also served as a councilor for Tucson in June 1872 and later as a county attorney from April 15, 1873 . Hughes was appointed Attorney General of the Arizona Territory, but resigned from this post after a year. In March 1877 he founded the Daily Bulletin , which later became the Triweekly Arizona Star and finally on June 26, 1879 the Arizona Star . He only sold his shares in the newspaper in 1907. In the 1880s he was a United States Court Commissioner and from 1891 a board member of the World's Fair in Chicago . He later worked for the Salvation Army in Tucson. In addition, he promoted the free abstinence movement , women's suffrage , Arizona's statehood, and other movements.

Arizona Territory Governor

Hughes was elected Governor of Arizona on April 14, 1893. During his tenure, he cleaned up the electoral process because voters were often bought with alcohol. He advocated women's suffrage and secret votes. He also introduced most of the laws in Arizona. Among them were the laws on brothels , the distribution of alcohol to minors , adultery and the Sabbath law . He also promoted the establishment of a monitoring committee for government agencies such as the Territorial Prison and Lunatic Asylum, and the establishment of an immigration service to encourage businesses to come to Arizona. Irrigation and the booming lumber industry in Flagstaff were his top priority. He reduced the territorial debt and created an impartial oversight committee. Because of his liberal views, he also created a number of enemies that last removed him from office in 1896.

Another résumé

From 1897 he worked for the Board of Regent and eventually went to work in his newspaper, the Arizona Star. In 1904 and 1905 he jointly advocated statehood with New Mexico . After a libel suit was filed against him in 1907, he left the Arizona Star. Hughes died on November 24, 1915 in Tucson, Arizona and was subsequently buried in Evergreen Cemetery , Tucson.

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 11.

Web links

• LC Hughes in the database of Find a Grave (English)