Lewis Wolfley (8 October 1839-12 February 1910) was the Republican Governor of the Arizona Territory from 8 April 1889 to 20 August 1890, succeeding C. Meyer Zulick and preceding John N. Irwin.
Biography[]
Lewis Wolfley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1839, and he grew up near the border with Ohio and Kentucky. He served in the Union Army's 3rd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment during the American Civil War, and he became a federal revenue officer in New Orleans during Reconstruction. He moved to the Arizona Territory in the early 1880s, and he worked as a civil engineer before being appointed Governor of the Arizona Territory by President Benjamin Harrison in 1889. He was tasked with the appointment of territorial officers, refinanced the territorial debt, lobbied for the creation of new railroads, and was forced to resign due to his fradulent claim of an 18,000-square mile land grant. He moved to Prescott after his service, and he moved to Los Angeles, California during the 1900s. He died after being struck by a streetcar in 1910.