Oury Family Papers

About This Collection

The Oury family was an Arizona pioneer family, prominent in territorial political and military affairs. William S. Oury served as first Mayor of Tucson, 1864, and sheriff of Pima County, 1873-1877; he was a participant in the Camp Grant Massacre in which about 100 Aravaipa Apaches were killed. With Sylvester Mowry, he purchased the "Arizonian" newspaper of Tubac and moved it to Tucson. His brother, Granville Henderson Oury, served with the Confederate Army in the Civil War, and held various public offices including Arizona legislator, 1866, and U.S. congressman, 1880-1884. Gilbert Cole Smith, William Oury's son-in-law, was a U.S. Army officer who served as quartermaster for Fort Lowell, Tucson, Ariz. in the 1860s.