Lewis S. Owings

Born in Roane County, Tennessee, Owings went to Yell County, Arkansas and then to Texas, where he helped found the town of Helena, serving as the first postmaster. In 1855, he served in the Texas House of Representatives but was defeated for reelection moving to Mesilla, New Mexico, where he had a mine.

In 1860 Owings was chosen as Provisional Governor of "Arizona Territory"—a region including New Mexico and Arizona—in an organization convention at Tucson. The Convention subsequently petitioned the United States Congress for recognition of their government, but the impending conflicts of the American Civil War in the east distracted Washington's attention away from what was then a remote frontier outpost. Owings nevertheless proceeded to carry out the official functions of a de facto governor in the largely unorganized territory and established three militia companies to protect residents from Indian raids and border smugglers.

Owings held the post until August 1, 1861, when the Arizona Territory was formally reorganized by the Confederacy and declared south of the 34th Parallel by Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor, who then assumed the governorship. In 1862, following Baylor's ouster and the Confederate retreat from the territory following the Union victory at Glorietta Pass, Owings was again appointed Governor of the territory and held the office in exile in San Antonio until the end of the Civil War.

After the American Civil War, Owings went to Kansas briefly and then settled in Denison, Texas, serving briefly as mayor.[1][2][3]

• In Old Arizona: True Tales from the Wild Frontier (1985) by Marshall Trimble

• Lewis S. Owings at Find a Grave