Throughout her life, Josephine Brawley Hughes was a woman in defense of the causes she believed were right. The protection of the home and its values were of primary importance to her. She also was a dauntless champion of education, religion, and  women’s right to vote. In all her quests, she showed courage, determination, and a strong will. One of six children, she was born Elizabeth Josephine Brawley on December 22, 1839, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Her parents, John R. Brawley and Sarah Haskins, were longtime residents of the Keystone State. Her father, a prosperous farmer and lawyer, had influential connections, giving Josephine an early introduction to the ways of politics. She attended a rural school several miles away from her home and then studied at Edinboro State Normal School. Upon graduation, Josephine taught for two years in public schools.

 

While attending Edinboro, she met Louis C. Hughes who was studying law at her father's law office and working at the local newspaper. They were married in July of 1869. Two years later, the effects of a wound received during the Civil War combined with overwork forced Louis to seek the warmer climate of Arizona, where his brothers Samuel and Thomas had gone many years before. In Tucson, he opened a law office and within a year had saved enough money to bring out Josephine and their newborn child, Gertrude. Josephine traveled by rail to San Francisco, by boat to San Diego, and the last five hundred miles by stage to Tucson. Because of danger from Apaches on this part of the journey, the young mother carried a loaded rifle at her side while holding Gertrude in her arms. During the rough ride, there was constant fear that the rifle might accidentally discharge. At one point, the baby flew out of the lurching stage. Josephine climbed out, retrieved her baby, who had landed unhurt in soft sand, and yelled to the driver to continue as she climbed back on.

 

Once in Tucson, Josephine set about "civilizing" her spartan adobe house. The only light available was a burning rag in a sauce of grease. She immediately had her parents ship her some candle molds, and soon her house and her neighbors' were illuminated by candies. To further improve living conditions, she installed a cistern (possibly the first in Arizona), laid a carpet in her parlor, made colorful paper fly brushes to use at the dining table, and kept chickens in her yard to help control insects. Several years after setting up house in the desert, she even planted a grass lawn.

 

The Hughes family extended the hospitality of their home to many important visitors. During the Apache wars of the mid 1880s, General George Crook was their guest. In 1886, General Nelson Miles also frequented their home, planning ventures against the Indians. In the meantime, the Hughes family grew. Son John was born in 1874, followed in 1877 by another daughter, Josephine. Unfortunately, the youngest baby died in 1879 shortly before her second birthday. Mrs. Hughes refused to let her daughter be buried in the town cemetery as coyotes regularly dug up the bodies. Instead, she interred the infant in the Hughes's front yard, planting a rose bush at the head and foot of the grave.

 

Shortly after her arrival in Tucson, Josephine was called upon to use her teaching abilities. At this time, boys and girls were taught separately. In 1871 a public school for boys opened, but girls either had to attend the school at the Sisters of St. Joseph convent or be taught at home. Louis in 1872 had been appointed probate judge, thus acquiring the position of county school supervisor. Upon establishing a public school for girls, Josephine became the teacher using a classroom in the Pioneer Brewery building at Levin's Park. When she resigned in April of 1873 because of failing health, Arizona Governor Anson P. K. Safford ordered the hiring of permanent teachers, who arrived the following October.

 

In managing her household, Josephine followed firmly held ideals on how life should be led. To her, preserving the home as the center of religious and moral values was important above all else. She was so outspoken in defense of her beliefs that she alienated her in-laws and some Tucsonans. Nevertheless, her community recognized her as a woman of principle and ability. In 1875, she was appointed as the Commissioner for Arizona to the Women's Department of the Centennial Exposition to be held in Philadelphia the next year. The entire Hughes family traveled to Philadelphia, retracing the route Josephine had taken years earlier. Upon her return to Tucson in the spring of 1876, Josephine joined several other women in organizing the first Protestant church in Arizona. Her intense dislike for Roman Catholicism, the only organized religion in the Tucson area, spurred Josephine to work diligently to bring a Presbyterian church to Tucson despite her own childhood roots in Methodism. The women petitioned the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions for church privileges. In response, the board sent Reverend Sheldon Jackson, the superintendent of Presbyterian Missions for Territories, to hold services at the courthouse. Over the next couple of years, Josephine was instrumental in raising money for a church building, which opened in August of 1879.

 

As the Presbyterians entered their new building, the Superintendent of Methodist missions in Arizona, Reverend George E. Adams, arrived in Tucson to organize a Methodist church. Immediately, Josephine left the Presbyterians and pledged support for Reverend Adams. She was among the first people to sign up as a member and once again worked to raise money for a Church building. In 1881, the Methodists opened their new brick church, which was to become a pulpit for social reform. The Hughes home became the headquarters for conferences by church leaders, with the family entertaining the bishop and as many preachers as possible. Her diligence earned Josephine the name "Mother of Methodism in Arizona."

 

Meanwhile, her husband had entered the newspaper business. In April of 1877, Louis became a partner with Charles H. Tully in The Weekly Star, with Hughes serving as editor. In 1879 he bought out Tully and began publishing the paper every day, making it the first daily in the territory. Through the Arizona Daily Star, Louis and Josephine advocated for various issues, including the complete removal of Apaches from the region to Florida, and for higher education. They vigorously opposed capital punishment and gambling. Louis, who was interested in politics, turned the paper into a democratic journal. He wrote the editorials, but Josephine held much sway in the choice of topics. Outwardly, she served as business manager, bookkeeper, and cashier.

 

One of the first issues that the Hughes espoused in the columns of the Star was temperance. The Hughes never served alcohol in their home. In Tucson, New Year's Day was traditionally an open house, with men making the rounds while the women remained home to greet guests. The men would invariably call at the Hughes's home first, before showing any hint of intoxication, and thus avoid one of Josephine's stern lectures. At the paper, Josephine found ways to promote temperance. She changed payday from Saturday night to the first of the week; otherwise, the men spent their money on liquor and showed up for work with hangovers. Her husband forced the removal of Colonel J. Hampton Hoge from the U.S. Consular Service after he had been seen on a train under the influence of liquor.

 

Josephine Hughes was at the peak of her influence in the 1880s and the early 1890s, having two powerful means at her disposal to promote her causes: her husband's office as governor and the Arizona Daily Star. She resigned from her position of President of the Arizona Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1890 to organize the first women’s suffrage organization in Arizona. Though first lady of the territory, she remained in Tucson to run the Star. She took over the editorial position and helped with the printing of the paper. At the time, she was the only woman in Arizona who actively participated in the management and control of a newspaper. Inevitably, however, Josephine's power faded with her husband's removal from office in 1896 when he loudly disagreed with President Cleveland's administration on public land policy. In 1907, Louis Hughes sold the Star, and in 1915 he died of pneumonia.

 

In 1912, Josephine saw her son, John, become a senator in Arizona's first state legislature. He introduced a resolution for a constitutional amendment to enfranchise women, and although the resolution failed, it helped pave the way for an initiative on the November 1912 ballot. The measure passed, and women in Arizona were given the right to vote eight years before the national constitutional amendment succeeded. A couple of years after Louis's death, Josephine moved to Hermosa Beach, California, to live with her daughter Gertrude. In 1925, she broke her leg, weakening her health. Though ill, she registered but, unfortunately,  passed away on April 22, 1926, before she could exercise her newly obtained right.

 

Throughout her life, Josephine Hughes worked diligently to better humanity, accepting any discomfort or danger to herself or anyone else for what she deemed a worthy end. Her tactics sometimes alienated people, but with her death, enmity towards her died. Her admirers held a memorial service in Tucson shortly after she passed away. The speakers all praised her courage and spirit as a pioneer in righteousness, education, and culture. Grover C. Linn, a dean at the University of Arizona, commented that the "ideals of Mrs. Hughes became the ideals of the Daily Star, and through the Star she molded public opinion in the community and made her paper a strength for righteousness." In tribute to her work, fellow Arizonans placed a bronze tablet in the rotunda of the state capitol building in Phoenix, the first in memory of a woman. The inscription reads: "In Memorium, E. Josephine Brawley Hughes, Wife of Governor L. C. Hughes and Mother of Hon. John T. Hughes: Mother of Methodism, Founder of W.C.T.U. and Founder of the First Daily Newspaper in Arizona."