By Stan Brown

(Today is the 98th anniversary of Arizona Statehood. The first Governor of the new State of Arizona was George W. P. Hunt, who was a very controversial, polarizing figure in his lifetime, but is remembered today as one of Arizona’s great pioneers.)

He was born George Wylie Paul Hunt, on November 1, 1859 and he would become the most important political figure in Arizona in the first third of the 20th century. But not before he had cast about the country for nearly three decades, finally settling down with his "Rim Country" bride.

At age 18, out of school and tired of his Missouri home, George Hunt ran away one morning at 4 o’clock. His odyssey took him from one odd job to another throughout KS, CO, NM, CA and AZ. By October 1881, he had reached Globe, Arizona Territory, where he waited tables in Pascoe’s Restaurant. After that he worked as a mucker in the Old Dominion Mine. During the decade of the 1880s, he spent much time in San Francisco where he held odd jobs, but Arizona had won his heart and he kept returning. In the summer of 1890, he was employed by Alonzo Bailey in one of Globe’s chief mercantile stores as a delivery man. The next year he became a clerk, and at the same time he was getting active in politics. In 1896, he was secretary of Bailey’s Mercantile Corporation and by 1900 he had become president of Old Dominion Commercial Company, a combined business.

G. W. P. Hunt, as he signed his name, went on to a long and distinguished, albeit controversial, career as a politician. Before statehood, he was an elected legislator to the Territorial Congress, ever present on the Democratic Council, a Justice of the Peace, county treasurer and on the county Board of Supervisors. He became an advocate for women’s suffrage, and as president of the constitutional convention he sided with suffragettes and the new state constitution included the right to vote for women, a step ahead of the rest of the nation. The state’s constitution became one of the most liberal in America, including provisions for popular initiative and referendum, and the recall of judges. At the age of 52, in 1911, Hunt was elected Arizona’s first governor and was sworn in on February 14, 1912. He refused a carriage for his inauguration ride and walked a mile to the capitol building, seeking to proclaim himself as a man of the people. He held the office of governor so long (seven terms) he was dubbed, "His Royal Highness George VII." During his terms of office he battled for the abolishment of capital punishment and for Arizona’s share of Colorado River water.

To understand the success of this bald, 5-foot-nine, nearly 300-pound vagabond-bachelor, it is necessary to look at the love of his life, Helen Duett Ellison. In September of 1890, when he was running for Gila County Recorder, he visited the ranch of an influential cattleman, Col. Jesse Ellison, northeast of Payson. During that first visit he met Ellison’s 23-year-old daughter, Duett, as she was called by her family. Although her father was only eight years senior to Mr. Hunt, the rancher was impressed by his business success, and encouraged Hunt’s friendship with his daughter. The future governor wrote in his diary that he found his hosts "a very interesting family." That was an understatement in the light of his immediate infatuation with the cowgirl. Hunt’s visits to the ranch on Ellison Creek became increasingly frequent.

Duett was born November 10, 1867. Growing up, she could rope a calf with the best of the cowboys. She was her father’s "right-hand-man," and often helped drive cattle to Winslow for shipment. One time she accompanied her father in pursuit of Indian raiders, wearing pants for the only time in her life. Her father didn’t want the Indians to know one of his aides was a girl!

In mid-October 1892, Hunt was campaigning in Payson for a seat in the Territorial House of Representatives. He was eager to have the political meeting over so that he could get out to the Ellison ranch. However, the main speaker did not show up to the meeting and Hunt was called upon to make an extemporaneous speech. He did well and won the election. In fact, he won nearly every election he entered from that time on.

During the courtship of George and Duett, Co. Ellison sold his Ellison Creek spread, called Apple Valley, and moved his cattle to a location near Cherry Creek in Pleasant Valley. He took with him the "Q" brand he had brought from Texas and the ranch is called by that name to this day.

Hunt’s courtship with Duett progressed admirably and they planned to marry. However, she postponed their wedding time after time because she said she was needed at home. Her father did not want to lose his daughter from the ranch but if he could have seen into the future for her, he would have surely encouraged the marriage for in their old age, Jesse and Susan Ellison were cared for by Duett and George. At last, in 1904, Hunt had enough of the waiting and gave Duett an ultimatum. He told her that he would be in Holbrook on February 24th, and she should be there, too. She was, and they were married. He was 44 and she was 36. They had one child, a daughter, Virginia, in 1905.

After her husband took office as Arizona’s first governor in 1912, they moved from Globe, where he was a merchant, to Phoenix. Her parents moved to Phoenix in 1915 and lived in an adjacent house.

Helen, as Mrs. Hunt was known thereafter, remained in the background of her husband’s long and distinguished political career. She was a true lady, even while hunting grizzlies, roping, branding and breaking steers. She refused to wear trousers and never let a cowboy wear spurs or chaps in her home; nor were they permitted to cuss, chew or smoke. She loved her spacious home and enjoyed the extensive gardened grounds which sheltered many birds and animals, including peacocks. Accustomed to the quiet ranch life, she seldom entertained, except when as a duty to her position. She was Arizona’s first "First Lady." She died of appendicitis on April 18, 1931, having been admitted to the same hospital where her daughter had just given birth to a son. Virginia was wheeled to her mother’s room and was present with her father at her mother’s death.

Arizona’s first governor, George W. P. Hunt, died on Christmas Eve in 1934. The Hunts and the Ellisons are buried together in a pyramid-shaped monument in Papago Park adjacent to the Phoenix Zoo.

Photograph credit: (A page from the Arizona Historical Review July 1931, Vol IV, No 2, page 39.)