Oakes Murphy

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Nathan Oakes Murphy
10th and 14th Governor of Arizona Territory
In office August 1, 1898 – July 1, 1902
Appointed by	William McKinley
Preceded by	Myron H. McCord
Succeeded by	Alexander Oswald Brodie
In office May 11, 1892 – April 12, 1893
Appointed by	Benjamin Harrison
Preceded by	John N. Irwin
Succeeded by	Louis Cameron Hughes
Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona Territory
In office March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897
Preceded by	Marcus A. Smith
Succeeded by	Marcus A. Smith
Personal details
Born	(1849-10-14)October 14, 1849 Jefferson, Maine, U.S.
Died	August 22, 1908(1908-08-22) (aged 58) Coronado, California, U.S.
Resting place	Rock Creek Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Sarah E. Banghart ​ ​ (m. 1884; div. 1903)​ Emma D. Sells ​ (m. 1904)​

Nathan Oakes Murphy (October 14, 1849 – August 22, 1908) was the tenth and fourteenth Governor of Arizona Territory. As well as the territory's delegate to the House of Representatives.

Born in Jefferson, Maine to Benjamin F. Murphy and Lucy Oakes Murphy. He attended the public schools. In 1856 the family moved to Wisconsin. From 1866 to 1869 he taught school in Wisconsin. He went to the western frontier and finally settled in Prescott, Arizona, in April 1883 where he engaged in mining and the real estate business. Secretary to the Governor of Arizona Territory in 1885. He was appointed secretary of Arizona Territory March 21, 1889. He served as delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1892. Governor of Arizona Territory 1892–1894.

Murphy was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1896. Again Governor of Arizona Territory and served from 1898 to 1902, when he resigned. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for election in 1900 to the Fifty-seventh Congress. He died in Coronado, California, August 22, 1908. He was interred in the Masonic Cemetery, San Diego, California but reinterred at Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C. in December 1909.

He supported the Mormon settlers in Arizona. He was an advocate for the statehood of Arizona. His efforts to make Arizona a more legitimate state included a territorial library in Phoenix, increasing mining operations, and a museum at the University of Arizona. He wanted the reduction on Indian reservations in Arizona. He also wanted the Prohibition of armed Indians.

Oakes's brother, Frank, was the owner of the Congress Mine, the Sasco smelter, and the (MEOW) builder of Castle Hot Springs. He also worked on what is now the Santa Fe Railroad, in northern Arizona.^[1]