
Biography
Name: Ernest R. Hall
Name as Secretary of State: Ernest R. Hall
Other Elected Offices: Arizona State Senate: Party: Republican Office Years: 1917 – 1918 (excused after June 10, 1918, for service in World War I)
Military Service: U.S. Army, World War I veteran: “He expected to return to the Cuprite [mine] after the adjournment of the legislature, but before the end of the session enlisted in the Twenty-seventh engineers and went to France. Shortly after his return from the war he was elected secretary of state.” ("Ernest Hall Going Back to Mining." The Coconino Sun (Flagstaff, Ariz.), December 08, 1922, p. 8) Sen. Hall did not resign his seat in the Legislature; however, starting on June 10, 1918, Sen. Hall was noted as “excused” in the Senate Journal. On June 18, 1918, a letter was sent by the Senate President, H. D. Claridge, to Mrs. Hall indicating that a “Service Flag” was being sent to her for Senator Hall to convey “our heartfelt sympathy as well as pride, in him and his patriotic action in joining the forces for our country to battle for our great democratic principles, in the world war.” (Senate Journal, 3rd Legislature, 1st Special Session, 1918, p. 233)
Occupations: Farmer; miner; stenographer; newspaperman; real estate salesman; justice of the peace, Salome, Arizona
Notable: Brother of DeForest “Dick Wick” Hall, co-founder of Salome “Where She Danced” which, as the story goes, was named after Mrs. Grace Salome Pratt who, upon taking off her shoes, found the hot sand burned her feet.
Sources: Birth and military service: "Ernest R. Hall, Salome Pioneer, Dies in Prescott." Yuma Daily Sun, March 30, 1959, p. 1; occupations: U. S. AZ 1930 census, "Ex-State Secretary Hall Dies." Tucson Daily Citizen, March 30, 1959, p. 33; death and burial: Arizona death record