Joseph Henry Kibbey, Governor of the Arizona Territory, left, and President Theodore Roosevelt | Public Domain Photos/Wikipedia
Joseph Henry Kibbey, Governor of the Arizona Territory, left, and President Theodore Roosevelt | Public Domain Photos/Wikipedia
On November 6, 1906, the people of Arizona voted against combining the Arizona and New Mexico territories into a single state, by a vote of 16,265 to 3,141.
Prior to this referendum, both Arizona and New Mexico were still considered territories of the United States. Joint statehood had been suggested as a means to expedite the process of achieving statehood status for both regions.
At the time of the election, the Governor of the Arizona Territory was Joseph Henry Kibbey, an appointee of President Theodore Roosevelt.
A native of Bloomfield, Iowa, Kibbey was born on March 17, 1853. He was appointed as the Governor of the Arizona Territory by Roosevelt in 1905, and worked in this role until 1909. Kibbey's appointment came after a legal career in Arizona, where he had worked as a lawyer and served as a judge.
Arizona eventually achieved statewide in 1912, becoming the 48th state.
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