Granville Henderson Oury

Infobox Congressman
name=Granville Henderson Oury


width=200px
state=Arizona Territory
district=At-large
party=Democrat
term=March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1885
preceded=John G. Campbell
succeeded=Curtis C. Bean
date of birth=birth date|1825|3|12|mf=y
place of birth=Abingdon, Virginia, U.S.
date of death=death date and age|1891|1|11|1825|3|12|mf=y
place of death=Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
spouse=
religion=
profession=Politician, Lawyer, Judge, Miner
footnotes=

Granville Henderson Oury (March 12, 1825 – January 11, 1891) was a nineteenth century politician, lawyer, judge and miner.

Early life and career

Born in Abingdon, Virginia, Oury and his family moved to Bowling Green, Missouri in 1836 where he pursued in academic studies, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1848. That year, he moved to San Antonio, Texas and in 1849 to Marysville, California where he engaged in mining. He then moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1856 and began a law practice and was appointed a district judge for Arizona and New Mexico Territories in Mesilla, New Mexico.

Civil War

At the outbreak of the Civil War and after the attack on Fort Sumter, Oury was elected to the Provisional Confederate Congress representing the Arizona Territory. He later resigned to serve as a captain in Herbert’s Battalion, Arizona Cavalry in the Confederate Army. Oury also served as a colonel on the staff of General Henry Hopkins Sibley in Texas and Louisiana from 1862 to 1864. He took the oath of allegiance at Fort Mason in Arizona on October 8, 1865.

Political career

After the end of the war, Oury returned to his law practice in Tucson, Arizona. He was elected to the Arizona Territory House of Representatives in 1866, serving as Speaker of the House that year, and was appointed Arizona Territory Attorney General in 1869. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1871 and was appointed district attorney for Maricopa County, Arizona serving from 1871 to 1873. He was elected back to the Arizona Territory House of Representatives in 1873 and 1875 and again served as Speaker of the House in 1873.

Oury unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for the United States House of Representatives in 1878 and was appointed district attorney for Pinal County, Arizona in 1879. He was successfully elected a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in 1880, reelected in 1882, serving from 1881 to 1885, not running for reelection in 1884. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1884, returned to Florence, Arizona in 1885 and resumed practicing law. He once again served as district attorney for Pinal County, Arizona in 1889 and 1890. He died of throat cancer in Tucson, Arizona on January 11, 1891 and was interred in Masonic Cemetery in Florence, Arizona.

References and external links

*CongBio|O000135 Retrieved on 2008-02-13
*findagrave|9371619 Retrieved on 2008-02-13
* [http://www.robertwilbanks.com/oury.htm Biography at RobertWilbanks.com]
* [http://www.geocities.com/granvilleoury1708/ Biography at Sons of Confederate Veterans]