Hugo Benjamin FARMER

FARMER, MELROSE, MCCONKEY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/7/2019 at 18:57:52

Hugo Benjamin FARMER
October 10, 1878 -- June 28, 1957

High on the roll of the learned and able members of the Yuma County bar appears the name of Hugo B. Farmer, whose record as a practitioner has gained for him the respect of his fellowmen and the esteem of his professional colleagues. He was born in Webster City, Iowa on the 10th day of October 1878 and is a son of Daniel W. and Hattie (Melrose) Farmer, the former of whom was a contractor and builder and was born and reared in New York state, while the latter was a native of Illinois and was a teacher for a number of years. Both parents are deceased. They were the parents of six children, three of whom are living.

Hugo B. Farmer received his early education in the public schools of Goldfield, Iowa and graduated from high school in San Diego, California. He came to Yuma in 1897 and served as Clerk of Courts for eight years. In the meantime he took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar on November 18, 1922 since which time he has been engaged in the general practice of his profession. He is a close and constant student of the law, keeping in touch with the latest court decisions and the laws and has met with flattering success as a practitioner.

In 1908 Mr. Farmer married May McConkey, a graduate of the Kansas State Normal School and then a teacher in the Yuma City schools and they are the parents of three children: Lois, born August 13, 1910; Irene, born November 22, 1912 and Amy Louise, born February 24, 1917. Mr. Farmer is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, in which order he has received distinctive preferment, being a past master of Yuma Lodge and is now Deputy Grand Lecturer of this district; also he is a member of Arizona Consistory no. 1 AASR at Tucson and El Zaribah Temple, at Phoenix. He is a strong democrat in his political views and has been actively interested in public affairs, having served as Chief Deputy County Recorder three years, Clerk of Courts for eight years and is now the representative of his district in the State Senate. In that body he is chairman of the committee on agriculture and forest and was the father and sponsor for a number of important bills. His support has never been lacking in the interest of movements for the betterment of the community, along material, civic or moral lines, and he is recognized as a man of high ideals, consistent life and definite influence.

***
HUGO B. FARMER
Hugo B. Farmer, Yuma Democrat, served five terms in the Arizona State Senate, three between 1929 and 1935, and two more between 1945 and 1949. In those years he was on most of the important committees of the Senate. For all 10 years he was chairman of the committee on Agriculture and Irrigation; Forestry; for six years on the committee on Judiciary. For four years each, he served on the committees on Livestock; Highways and Bridges; Public Lands; Banking and Insurance; Constitutional Amendments and Referendum; and Municipalities. For two years each he was on Public Health; Style, Revision and Compilation; Labor and Capital; Suffrage and Elections; and Planning and Development. He was considered an authority on matters pertaining to the development of the Colorado River.

Hugo Farmer was born on October 10, 1878, in Webster City, Iowa, and obtained his early education at Goldfield, Iowa. Moving westward, he attended and graduated from high school in San Diego, California. He moved to Yuma, Arizona, in 1897 at the age of 19, and became interested in the affairs of the community. He was Clerk of the Superior Court of Yuma County for eight years, and for more than two years was Deputy County Recorder. He studied law and became a booster and promoter of the reclamation projects in the Yuma-Wellton region. He was credited with being partially responsible for the success of the Yuma Mesa Project and the Wellton-Mohawk Project. He was a member of the National Reclamation Association and served as a director.

Mr. Farmer was admitted as a guest to the Arizona Pioneers' Home in Prescott after his retirement, and died there on June 28, 1957 at the age of 79 years.

https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/p17220coll18/id/72/rec/2

History of Arizona - page 340