Josephine Brawley Hughes

Elizabeth Josephine Brawley Hughes (December 22, 1839 – April 22, 1926) was an advocate of women's rights in the United States West region. George W. P. Hunt described her as the Mother of Arizona.

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. After graduating from Edinboro State Normal School, she was a teacher for two years in Pennsylvania public schools. During the trip, Hughes carried a loaded rifle in one arm and her infant daughter in the other.

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.

In 1891, as the push for Arizona statehood began, Hughes helped to found the first woman suffrage organization in Arizona Territory. The organization hoped that women's right to vote would be included in the state constitution. Was the first woman public school teacher in Arizona. Joined other women to raise funds for the first Protestant church in Arizona. Helped found the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Arizona. Helped found the women's suffrage movement in Arizona. Helped to manage and operate the Arizona Daily Star newspaper.