Josephine Brawley Hughes

Elizabeth Josephine Brawley Hughes (December 22, 1839 – March 1926) was an advocate of women's rights in the United States West region.

Josephine Brawley Hughes

Biography

Elizabeth Josephine Brawley (she dropped her first name later in life) was born on a farm near Meadville, Pennsylvania, on December 22, 1839, to John R. Brawley and Sarah Haskins.[1][2] After graduating from Edinboro State Normal School, she was a teacher for two years in Pennsylvania public schools.[2]

While a student at Edinboro, she met Louis C. Hughes, whom she married in 1868. Because of a Civil War wound, Louis moved to the Arizona Territory in 1871 and Josephine followed in 1872 with their first child, Gertrude. Josephine and the baby traveled first by rail to San Francisco, then by boat to San Diego, and finally by stagecoach to Tucson.[3] During the trip, Hughes carried a loaded rifle in one arm and her infant daughter in the other.[3] According to a biography by Louise Boehringer in the January 1930 edition of the Arizona Historical Review, at the time of Josephine's arrival, "Only two other (Eastern) homemakers were established in Tucson when the young wife and mother reached her destination–Mrs. Charles Lord (wife of Dr. Lord) and Mrs. C. Scott (wife of Judge C. Scott)."[2]

The family lived in an adobe home like the rest of "The Old Pueblo" (a nickname for Tucson), but it did contain the town's first cistern.[2] Hughes taught in the first public school for girls in Tucson.[3]

In 1893, Louis was appointed territorial governor by President Grover Cleveland. Their son, John T., later served in the first state Senate.[2]

The Arizona State Capitol building in Phoenix has a bronze plaque in its rotunda in Josephine's honor, placed December 16, 1926.[2][4]

Accomplishments

See also

References
  1. "Josephine Brawley Hughes (1839-1926)". Arizona Women's Hall of Fame. 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  2. Boehringer, C. Louise (January 1930). "Josephine Brawley Hughes: Crusader, State Builder" (PDF). Arizona Historical Review. Arizona State Historian. 2 (4): 98–107. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  3. Cleere, Jan (14 March 2015). "Western Women: Meet crusader Elizabeth Josephine Brawley Hughes". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  4. "Women Here and Abroad". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. January 17, 1927. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  5. Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society (August 31, 1951). Buehman, Albert R. (ed.). "Arizona Album: Arizona's First Woman School Teacher". Tucson Daily Citizen. Tucson, Arizona. Retrieved March 8, 2015.

Further reading
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