Isabella Selmes Ferguson Greenway King

Isabella Selmes was born to Tilden and Martha ‘Patty’ Selmes on March 22, 1886 at the Dinsmore farm.  After her father’s death in 1895, she was sent to St. Paul where she lived with her Flandrau grandparents and taken care of by her nanny, Julia Farley Loving.  In 1901 she and her mother moved to New York to live with her Aunt Sally and Uncle Frank Cutcheon.  Isabella attended Miss Chapin’s School where she met Eleanor Roosevelt.  Eventually, she would a bridesmaid for Eleanor when she married Franklin D. Roosevelt and their friendship would last a lifetime.

In July 1905, Isabella married Robert Munro Ferguson, a former Rough Rider with Teddy Roosevelt.  Teddy would attend this wedding, riding over from his Sagamore estate.  Robert, having contracted tuberculosis, moved his family west for his health.  In 1922, Robert died leaving Isabella and their two children Robert Munro (b. 1908) and Martha Munro (b. 1906).  A few short months later, Isabella married her husband’s close friend Colonel John C. Greenway, also a Rough Rider, whom she had met and fell in love with in 1911.  Less than a year later, having moved to Ajo, Arizona, Isabella gave birth to her third child, John Selmes Greenway.  In 1926, after only two years of marriage, Isabella’s husband died leaving her a widow once again.  In addition, that year she also suffered the loss of her dear great aunt Julia and inherited the Dinsmore farm in 1926.

Despite her grief, she endured and began buying ranch land in 1927.  Eventually  she acquired over 130,000 acres, as well as several lots in the heart of Tucson.  In 1930, a building permit was issued to construct what would become the Arizona Inn, a nationally recognized resort officially opening in December 1930 amidst the perils of the Great Depression.

A few years earlier, in 1928, she entered politics when she was elected a Democratic National Committeewoman.  Her career progressed and in 1932 Isabella officially nominate Franklin D. Roosevelt for President at the Democratic National Convention.  In 1933, during a special election, Isabella was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming Arizona’s first Congresswoman.  She ran in the regular election in 1934 and won by a landslide, holding a two-year term, but refusing to run in 1936.  In 1939, Isabella married her third husband Harry Orland King, a New York industrialist whom she had worked with while in Congress. During the next decade she divided her time between homes in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Tucson carrying on her philanthropies and volunteer services.

Isabella Selmes Ferguson Greenway King died in December 1953 and is buried in the Dinsmore Graveyard on the Dinsmore Homestead.   Isabella returned to her place of birth, having left an everlasting mark on Arizona, Congress, the Presidency and countless other individuals and communities.

Return to Interactive Family Tree