John A. Gurley

Arizona became a United States Territory on February 24, 1863.  President Abraham Lincoln appointed the first three territorial governors: John A. Gurley, John Noble Goodwin, and Richard C. McCormick; only two served.  John Gurley, on the evening of his departure to Arizona for his new appointment, suffered an appendicitis attack and died at the age of forty-nine.  John Addison Gurley studied theology and became a minister. In Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Gurley became an owner and editor of a local newspaper and later became a United States Congressman.  He served in the Civil War as Colonel with General John C. Fremont.  Now you know why there is a Gurley Street in Prescott.