Correspondence, diary, photographs, deeds, articles and
speeches chiefly relating to Arizona territorial military experiences of Oury family
members.
Collection Number:
AZ 016
Language:
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu
Biographical Note
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.
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence, diary, photographs, deeds, articles and speeches chiefly relating to
Arizona territorial military experiences of Oury family members. Includes William Oury's
address to the Society of Arizona Pioneers, 1885, regarding the Camp Grant Massacre; and
letters to his daughter relating events in Tucson, 1883-1885; as well as items
pertaining to Granville Oury's Civil War service with the Confederate Army and a letter
from Sylvester Mowry to Granville from an 1860 political convention. Gilbert C. Smith
materials consist of his diary, 1857-1856; letters to relatives while serving with the
California Volunteers in Arizona, 1862- 1863; a letterbook kept while at Fort Lowell.
Photographs, chiefly of army officers, but also family members and Zuni Indians, 1862-
1894; military commissions; and annotated articles from "Frontier Times", 1928-1933.
Also included are four photocopies of early land transactions involving George, August,
and Wendell Oury in Virginia and Texas. Most of this material appeared in William
Sanders Oury: History- maker of the Southwest, by C.C. Smith, Jr., published by the
University of Arizona Press, 1967.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of
the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her
transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and
hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers,
employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he
or she is an owner of copyright.
Access Terms
Personal Name(s)
Mowry, Sylvester, 1833-1871
Oury, Granville Henderson, Mr.,
1825-1891
Smith, Gilbert Cole, Gilbert Cole ,
-1899
Family Name(s)
Oury family -- Archives
Corporate Name(s)
Confederate States of America. Army
United States. Army -- Military life
United States. Army. California Cavalry Battalion
(1862-1865)
