Governor Richard C. McCormick
(1866-1869)
Those appointed to the governorship of Arizona had experience that they brought to the position, for Richard McCormick that experience was with the newspaper. He was a war correspondent both in the Crimea and the Civil War. Most importantly for Arizona, he established the first two newspapers in the territory, the Arizona Miner in Prescott and the Arizona Citizen in Tucson.
He was born in New York, New York on May 23, 1832 to Richard McCormick and Sarah Matilda Decker. (Ancestors from Ulster Island) He was educated by private tutors due to his ill health preventing him from attending public schools. Ill health also prevented him from attending Columbia University. Instead he was sent to Europe as a war correspondent during the Crimean War for the New York Evening Post at age 25. He wrote travel books about the area following the war. In 1858-1859 he edited the Young Mens' Magazine a publication of the YMCA. He later edited the New York Evening Post and was a war correspondent for that periodical during the Civil War. He campaigned for Abraham Lincoln during Civil War, and ran for the House of Representatives in 1860, but lost. After that he was appointed as Chief Clerk of Federal Agriculture Bureau and then as Secretary of the Arizona Territory on March 7, 1863. he would eventually assume the governorship after Governor Goodwin won the delegate spot for Arizona. However, as Secretary for Arizona, he also had major accomplishments. He designed the territorial seal of Arizona, launched the first newspapers of Arizona. The Arizona Miner newspaper which was first issued March 9, 1864. He also started the Arizona Citizen newspaper in 1870 at Tucson.
He was the first governor to bring his wife to the territory on March 14, 1866. Governor McCormick married Margaret Grifiths Hunt on October 1, 1865, "first lady of Arizona territory", died while horseback riding in 1867. He wanted laws that provided clear ownership of mines, increase in food production, tamed Indians, a transcontinental railroad running through Arizona, telegraph Lines, and most importantly a permanent capital. Indians had hampered mail lines and settlement in the territory and there no stage coaches in territory to help establish roads. In May 1866 Pahute County, a county in Northwestern Arizona, was given to Nevada by the United States Congress, forever known as the "lost county". A county Jail in Yavapai County Created. Governor McCormick also demanded more troops and money for irrigation. Problems with the Federal Ring which Governor McCormick was a part of. The Federal Ring was established to prevent partisan politics in the territory by preventing the existence of political parties, it lasted from 1863-1877.
Governor McCormick used his own
newspaper presses to promote his political career. He left the governorship
of Arizona when he was elected as a delegate of Arizona in 1868, like Governor
Goodwin before him . After his term as delegate ended he did not seek re-election
and remained in Jamaica, New York. He found numerous political positions
and appointments while in New York. He was secretary of Republican Party
from 1876-1877 and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in 1877. In January
1878 was U.S. Commissioner to Paris Exposition. He still had many mine
interests in Arizona and also owned a Mexican Coffee Plantation. He ran
for the House of Representatives in 1886 for New York, but was defeated,
again. Finally elected as a Representative from New York in 1894,
but did not run for re-election. He died in Jamaica, New York
on June 2, 1901, and is buried in Grace Churchyard there.
Information from two sources:
Wagoner, Jay J. Arizona Territory, 1863-1912; a political history. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1970
Goff, John S. Arizona
Territorial Officials Volume 2. Arizona Black Mountain
Press, Cave Creek, 1975
Chapter 2
Websites
Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress-Richard Cunningham
McCormick
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000371
Political Graveyard
http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mccor-mccul.html#R9M0J5S6D
Books/Manuscripts
Richard C. McCormick / by John S. Goff.
F811
.M38 G63 1983
Arizona Territorial Papers.
FS Film-19
Biography of Richard C. McCormick.
FB SACKS 34/7-34/14
