Joseph Henry Kibbey
Joseph Henry Kibbey | |
---|---|
Territorial Governor of Arizona | |
In office March 7, 1905 – May 1, 1909 | |
Nominated by | Theodore Roosevelt |
Preceded by | Alexander Oswald Brodie |
Succeeded by | Richard Elihu Sloan |
Associate Justice, Arizona Territorial Supreme Court | |
In office August 1889 – May 2, 1893 | |
Nominated by | Benjamin Harrison |
Preceded by | William Wood Porter |
Succeeded by | Owen Thomas Rouse |
Personal details | |
Born | March 4, 1853 Centerville, Indiana |
Died | June 14, 1924 Phoenix, Arizona | (aged 71)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Nora Burbank |
Alma mater | Earlham College |
Profession | Attorney |
Joseph Henry Kibbey (March 4, 1853 – June 14, 1924) was an American attorney who served as Associate Justice of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court from 1889 to 1893 and Governor of
Early life
Kibbey was born on March 4, 1853, in Centerville, Indiana to Caroline (Cunningham) and John F. Kibbey.[2] His father was an attorney who had been in a legal partnership with Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton and served as Indiana Attorney General from March to November 1862.[3] After military service in the American Civil War, the elder Kibbey worked as a trial judge until 1885.[4] The younger Kibbey was educated in public schools before enrolling at Earlham College.[2]
After graduation, Kibbey taught school in
Kibbey married Nora Burbank, the daughter of Dakota Territory Governor John A. Burbank, on January 10, 1877.[2] John A. Burbank was the brother-in-law of Oliver P. Morton.[6] The marriage produced two children: Walter and Anna.[3]
Associate Justice
Health concerns prompted Kibbey to move to Florence, Arizona Territory, in 1888. There he worked as secretary and attorney of the Florence Canal Company, which was owned by a family friend.[2] For the remainder of his career, Kibbey specialized in corporate and water law.[3]
In 1889, newly elected President Benjamin Harrison implemented a policy of only appointing residents of the territory to positions in territorial government. While Kibbey was newly arrived in the territory, his family connections were enough to secure his appointment to the bench.[7] His father's influence can be seen in a telegram to Harrison, preserved by the National Archives and Records Administration, stating that "Joe prefers the District in which he lives – that is Judge Porter's District."[2] Kibbey was nominated by Harrison to become an Associate Justice of Arizona Territorial Supreme Court on August 5, 1889.[3] He convened court on August 19. He was assigned the second district, composed of Pinal, Graham, and Gila counties.[8][9]
During his time as a judge, Kibbey was well respected and gained a reputation for being the least overturned judge to sit on the Arizona bench.[10] He wrote nineteen opinions during his term, dealing with a wide variety of topics. Santa Rita Land and Mining Company v. Mercer, 3 Arizona 181 (1890) determined that the territorial appellate courts would not hear issues not previously raised during trial in a district court. Putnam v. Putnam, 3 Arizona 195 (1890), Tietjen v. Sneed, 3 Arizona 195 (1890), and Wores v. Preston, 4 Arizona 92 (1893) dealt with other procedural issues. Yavapai County v. O'Neill, 3 Arizona 363 (1892) and Behan v. Davis', 3 Arizona 399 (1892) both involved pay disputes. The former dealt with Sheriff Buckey O'Neill's right to be paid for expenses incurred in the pursuit of his duties, while the former dealt with a salary dispute between Superintendent Johnny Behan and the commissioners of the Yuma Territorial Prison. Kibbey's ruling in Don Yan v. Ah You, 4 Arizona 109 (1893) set an early Arizona precedent in the field of wrongful death claims.[11]
Kibbey's most renowned ruling came when he was assigned to Phoenix, where he heard Wormser et al v. Salt River Canal Company, Case No. 708 (1892), Federal District Court for Arizona, 3d Judicial District. The case involved a dispute in which the canal company was accused of treating water from the Salt River as corporate property and delivering it in times of drought to customers with ownership interest in the company in preference to customers who had historically used the water.[12] The ruling, which became known as the "Kibbey Decision," established the principle that "water belongs to the land" and could not be used as "floating" property to be divided by decision of the canal company.[13] Water rights were thus linked to the various parcels of land where the water was used and not to the owner of land. The role of the canal company likewise became that of a simple delivery agent and water was allocated to the various tracts of land based upon the principle of prior appropriation.[12] The decision was not appealed, and the canal companies instead attempted to ignore the court decision.[2][12] The Kibbey Decision was later upheld by Arizona Territorial Supreme Court in Slosser v. Salt River Canal Company (1901), 7 Arizona 376 and Thomas Brockman v. The Great Canal Company (1904), 8 Arizona 451.[12]
During his time on the bench Kibbey developed a small number of detractors who, as was common for the day, mounted an effort to have the judge removed from the bench. However, the effort failed to gain significant traction.[11] It was instead the inauguration of President Grover Cleveland that led to the judge's removal.[14] His successor, Owen Thomas Rouse, took his oath of office on May 2, 1893.[15] For the rest of his life Kibbey preferred to be addressed by the title "judge," feeling that presiding over a courthouse was a more prestigious position than even his later role as governor.[1]
Phoenix
After leaving the bench, Kibbey moved to Phoenix and established a private legal practice.[16] Many of his clients were "old-righters" who believed their water rights had been wrongly taken from them by the local canal companies.[12] During this period the former judge argued a number of cases before the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court. Among the more important were Slosser v. Salt River Canal Company (1901), 7 Arizona 376 and Gould v. Maricopa Canal Company (1904), 8 Arizona 429.[17]
In addition to his legal practice, Kibbey became politically active. He was elected Phoenix
While living in Arizona Territory, Kibbey had seen devastating floods separated by prolonged droughts. An example of this was the February 1891 Salt River flood, which washed out the railroad bridge at Tempe and caused damage in Phoenix as far north as Jefferson Street. This was followed by a drought that killed livestock, forced a third of the farmland in the Salt River valley out of cultivation, and caused many residents in the area to abandon their homes.
Governorship
Governor
When Kibbey entered office, the biggest issue facing Arizona Territory was a proposal to recombine Arizona with
While Kibbey was generally a supporter of the mining industry, he felt the territory's mines were not paying their fair share in taxes.[13] Proclaiming "To pay proper taxes is a duty", the governor sought to remedy this situation.[30] His first effort was an attempt to have the assessed value of the mines increased for property taxes. He was unsuccessful in this effort until August 1905, when he asked for the resignation of A. F. Donau from the territorial board of equalization. The day after Donau resigned, a previously unsuccessful proposal to raise the assessed values of the territory's mines from US$4 million to US$14 million was passed.[31] Then during his address to the 24th Arizona Territorial Legislature, Kibbey renewed his call for higher taxes. In the address he noted that while the mines had assessed values of between 3 and 5% of their real values, all other taxed property, with the exception of the railroads, were assessed at 40 to 70% of their real value.[32] During the legislative session, mining interests used their influence to have a bill passed that set the assessed property value for a mine at 25% of the value of the bullion produced by the mine. The mining interests expected that Kibbey would find this assessment value too low and veto the bill.[33] Kibbey instead signed the bill into law, noting it increased tax revenues to the territory and was an improvement over the previous situation.[34]
In other matters covered in his address to the 24th legislature, Kibbey called for restrictions on the sale of tobacco and liquor, a prohibition on gambling, limitation of hours of operation for saloons, and a ban on women and girls' working in saloons.[35] These proposals were made primarily as a means of raising the territory's perceived moral situation as part of efforts to gain statehood.[36] During his address to the 25th Arizona Territorial Legislature, Kibbey expressed confidence that Arizona would soon be granted statehood and left further increases in mine taxation to the state legislature.[37] He instead urged creation of a railroad commission in an effort to build a more efficient transportation system.[13]
The 25th legislature proved to be highly partisan, with the Democratic-controlled session opposing many of their Republican governor's efforts.
President Roosevelt renominated Kibbey for a second term on December 16, 1908.
Later life
After leaving office, Kibbey returned to his private legal practice and also served as counsel for the Salt River Valley Water User's Association. Among the cases he handled was a challenge to the school segregation law he had vetoed. During the initial trial, Kibbey won a partial injunction when the district court ruled the law created a danger to school children forced to cross railroad tracks to reach a new segregated school. By the time the appeal was heard, Arizona had achieved statehood and the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the legality of the school segregation law in Dameron v. Bayless (1912), 14 Arizona 180.[17]
Upset over President Taft's actions during Arizona's efforts to gain statehood, Kibbey split from the Republicans and supported the
During his later years, Kibbey decided the automobile was firmly established and that he should learn to drive. After taking lessons, he found that he tended to lose control of the vehicle when operating it at the higher speed afforded by
References
- ^ a b Goff 1975, p. 120.
- ^ a b c d e f g Goff 1975, p. 121.
- ^ a b c d e McMullin & Walker 1984, p. 51.
- ^ a b Goff 1978, p. 187.
- ^ Inter-state Publishing Company 1884, p. 51.
- ^ "Burbank-Morton-Kibbey-Cunningham family of Indiana". The Political Graveyard.
- ^ Goff 1968, p. 218.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, pp. 420, 505.
- ^ "Judge Kibbey". Arizona Silver Belt (Globe, AZ). August 24, 1889.
- ^ a b Conners 1913, p. 154.
- ^ a b c d e Goff 1975, p. 122.
- ^ a b c d e Wagoner 1970, p. 421.
- ^ a b c d e f g h McMullin & Walker 1984, p. 52.
- ^ Goff 1968, p. 227.
- ^ "Kibbey Protest". Arizona Daily Star. May 6, 1893.
- ^ Goff 1978, p. 188.
- ^ a b c d e Goff 1975, p. 123.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, pp. 422–423.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, p. 423.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, pp. 423–424.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, p. 424.
- ^ a b Wagoner 1970, p. 425.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, p. 422.
- ^ Goff 1978, p. 189.
- ^ Goff 1978, pp. 189–190.
- ^ a b Wagoner 1970, p. 430.
- ^ Goff 1978, p. 190.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, pp. 431–438.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, p. 439.
- ^ Goff 1978, p. 193.
- ^ McClintock 1916, pp. 354–355.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, p. 442.
- ^ McClintock 1916, p. 356.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, p. 444.
- ^ Goff 1978, p. 192.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, pp. 441–442.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, p. 446.
- ^ Wagoner 1970, pp. 446–448.
- ^ McClintock 1916, p. 358.
- ^ a b Wagoner 1970, p. 448.
- ^ a b Goff 1978, p. 194.
- ^ McClintock 1916, pp. 357–358.
- ^ Hunter 1968, p. 343.
- ^ a b Goff 1978, p. 195.
- Conners, Jo, ed. (1913). Who's who in Arizona. Tucson. )
- Goff, John S. (July 1968). "The Appointment, Tenure and Removal of Territorial Judges: Arizona – A Case Study". The American Journal of Legal History. 12 (3). Temple University: 211–231. JSTOR 844126.
- —— (1975). Arizona Territorial Officials Volume I: The Supreme Court Justices 1863–1912. Cave Creek, Arizona: Black Mountain Press. OCLC 1622668.
- —— (1978). Arizona Territorial Officials Volume II: The Governors 1863–1912. Cave Creek, Arizona: Black Mountain Press. OCLC 5100411.
- Hunter, George S. (Winter 1968). "The Bull Moose Movement in Arizona". Arizona and the West. 10 (4): 343–362. JSTOR 40167337.
- Inter-state Publishing Company (1884). History of Wayne County, Indiana. Vol. II. Chicago: Inter-state Publishing Company. OCLC 2823027.
- McClintock, James H. (1916). Arizona: Prehistoric – Aboriginal – Pioneer – Modern. Vol. II. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. OCLC 5398889.
- McMullin, Thomas A.; Walker, David (1984). Biographical Directory of American Territorial Governors. Westport, CT: Meckler Publishing. ISBN 0-930466-11-X.
- Wagoner, Jay J. (1970). Arizona Territory 1863–1912: A Political history. Tucson: ISBN 0-8165-0176-9.