A black and white postcard portrait of William Delbridge and Governor Hunt. Delbridge is on the left while Hunt is on the right. The postcard is unused, and the publisher is unknown. Jessie Bevan Collection.

George Wylie Paul Hunt served as Arizona’s first governor and was elected to office seven times. Born on November 1st, 1859 to George Washington and Sarah Elizabeth Yates Hunt in Huntsville, Missouri, his once prominent family became impoverished after the Civil War, and he did not receive much of a formal education. This in consideration, one of his accomplishments in office was to ensure free textbooks for Arizona students. On March 3rd 1878, George Hunt ran away from home. He headed west and survived by doing odd jobs, as a waiter, a delivery boy, and a mine mucker among them. He had intended to work on the railway and also prospect for gold, but those plans fell through. Eventually, Hunt ended up in Globe, Arizona in 1881 where he would call home. On February 24th, 1904, He married Helen Duett Ellison in Holbrook, Arizona and had one child, a daughter named Virginia. George W.P Hunt was politically active from 1890s to the 1930s. He became Arizona’s first governor, taking office on February 14th, 1912. His primary concerns were child labor, lobbying and usury; these three he considered the greatest threats to the state. When he lost reelection in 1916, he barricaded himself in the governor’s suite and refused to leave. He was finally forced out by the Arizona Supreme Court on January 27, 1917, though he was returned to office a year later. George W.P. Hunt developed his career by making friendships all over the state. He kept notes on all the people he had met and did favors among of which giving state jobs particularly in the highway department which led to the nickname of “the house of mystery”. George W.P. Hunt was appointed as envoy to Thailand (then called Siam) on September 6, 1920 and the posting lasted seventeen months. The reason behind this distant assignment lies with Martin Smith. George Hunt was a rival and wanted to run against him for his seat in the United States Senate. To avoid this, Martin Smith visited President Woodrow Wilson who reportedly after listening to his request pointed to Thailand on a globe and asked, “Is this far enough? The posting lasted seventeen months and left a good impression on Governor Hunt who remarked that the people of Siam (Thailand) were remarkable and robust”. George W.P. Hunt passed away from heart failure on December 24, 1934 at the age of 75. He was laid to rest in a white pyramid tomb in Papago Park by his wife Helen. William “Billy” Delbridge born October 21, 1866. He worked in the office of treasurer in Nevada before coming to Bisbee. He supervised the sale of stock for the Auditorium project in Bisbee, which was supported by merchants, professionals, and bankers. On August 16, 1914, William Delbridge filed a petition for the office of county treasurer and on December 5, 1919, he was up for candidacy for the lower house of Arizona state legislature. He died August 5, 1935, at the age of 68 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery.

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