- John A. Gurley
John Addison Gurley (
December 9 ,1813 –August 19 ,1863 ) was aU.S. Congressman fromOhio during the early part of theAmerican Civil War . He was appointed as the first Governor of theArizona Territory , but died before taking office.Gurley was born in
East Hartford, Connecticut . He attended the district schools and received academic instruction before becoming anapprentice in thehatter ’s trade. He studiedtheology and became a minister, serving as pastor of theUniversalist Church inMethuen, Massachusetts , from 1835–1838. He moved west toCincinnati, Ohio , in 1838 and became owner and editor of the "Star and Sentinel", later called the "Star in the West", and also served as a pastor in that city. Gurley retired from the ministry in 1850, sold his newspaper in 1854 and retired to his farm near Cincinnati.He was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for election in 1856 to the
Thirty-fifth United States Congress . However, he was elected to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1859–March 3, 1863). Gurley was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1862 to the Thirty-eighth Congress.During the Civil War, Gurley served as
colonel andaide-de-camp on the staff of Gen.John C. Frémont in 1861 when Congress was not in session. In 1863, Gurley was appointed Governor of the Arizona Territory by PresidentAbraham Lincoln , but he died of a sudden attack ofappendicitis in Green Township, near Cincinnati, on the eve of his departure to assume his duties. He was buried inSpring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.References
* [http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/register/1865.html Universalist Register bio of Gurley]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.