James H. Kerby

Many people that have grown up in Huntsville are familiar with George W. P. Hunt, first governor of Arizona who was born and raised in Randolph County. He was the grandson of Daniel Hunt, first settler of the Huntsville town site. However, few are familiar with a contemporary of his in Arizona politics who was also a Huntsville son, James Haden Kerby.

Kerby was the first elected Secretary of State of Arizona, and had the second longest tenure of any that held that office. He was born April 30, 1881 in Huntsville, the son of Clifton T. Kerby and Cassie Rutherford Kerby. Cassie Rutherford was the daughter of Jesse and Sarah Rutherford. Jesse was the brother of William T. Rutherford and Hayden L. Rutherford, and thus the member of a very influential family. Cassie perhaps was named for her aunt Casandana Goggin Rutherford, Hayden's wife. Clifton was the son of Elisha and Elizabeth Kerby. Unlike the Rutherfords the Kerbys were relative latecomers to the county having moved here after the Civil War. Clifton was a fairly successful farmer owning over 300 acres in 1884 not far outside Huntsville. He died when James Kerby was only three years old leaving his widow and James' three older brothers and a younger sister.

Little is known of Kerby's childhood other than he grew up on a farm near Huntsville. His mother married James Gill after his father died. They had a daughter, Lucy. After graduating from school, James moved to Quincy, Illinois and there continued his education. From there he relocated to Saint Louis where he began working for the Saint Louis Star. He remained there a year, and then began work at the Seely-Van Dyke Drug Company in East Orange, New Jersey. Through correspondence with an old schoolmate he moved to Clifton, Arizona in 1903. There he took a position working for the A. C. Co., and then went to work as bookkeeper of the Cromb & Shannon meat market. He remained there until 1905 at which point he returned to Missouri and married Cora Gibson of Howard County. She was the daughter of George D. and Emilio Gibson. George had been Sheriff of Howard County for twelve years.

Upon his return to Arizona he took to selling real estate, and eventually became the deputy to Assessor John J. Birdno in Graham County. He remained in that position from 1907 to 1911. When Greenlee County was formed out of Graham County in 1911 James H. Kerby was appointed its Assessor. He then ran for Assessor when the first county election was held and won by a sizable margin. In 1922, he ran for the office of Secretary of State of Arizona and won with 57.55% of the vote. He ran again in 1924 and won with 77.5% of the vote. He also won the election of 1926. Kerby's time in office was not without controversy. He was accused of drawing $2,000 extra salary while acting as as administrator of the motor vehicle registration act in 1927, and was constantly fighting with the "copper controlled" majority (as the newspaper "Arizona Silver Belt" put it) of the state legislature.

In 1928, he ran against George W. P. Hunt for Governor of Arizona in the Democratic Primary. It is perhaps the only time two Huntsville sons ran against each other for a state office in a state other than Missouri. Kerby lost, receiving only 41.49% of the vote. Hunt went on to lose the general election. Kerby's platform for the election was generally one of championing the poor against the corporations. He felt that the corporations wanted neither him or Hunt as governor as neither of them could be controlled. When Kerby first announced his campaign for governor he was under the impression Hunt was not going to run again. Nonetheless, he had nothing, but good things to say of Hunt. While Hunt was much older, it is possible they knew of each other through their families in Huntsville prior to Kerby's coming to Arizona.

In the 1932 election Kerby ran for Secretary of State, and he ran again in 1934 and 1936 winning all those races. The 1936 election was the last he would win however. In 1938, he again made a bid for governor and lost. He also made another bid for the office of Secretary of State in 1940 and lost. He ended his political career running for City Council of Phoenix in 1949. After giving up running for public office Kerby ran his real estate business until his death on Sept. 11, 1957. Arizona newspapers marked his death by simply announcing when his services were to be held, and noting that he had been Secretary of State of Arizona. A few mentioned he had been born in Huntsville.