William Sanders Oury

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Oury-26

History of Arizona, Thomas Edwin Farish, Vol. 2 1915, pg. 269

William S. Oury was born in Wythe County Virginia on

August 13, 1816. In early life he drifted to the west

and was with General Sam Houston at the battle of San

Jacinto. He came to Arizona in 1856 and engaged in stock raising and trading. He bore his part in the early history of the Territory and was a member of several expeditions against the Indians. He organized the expedition against the Indians which resulted in what has been called the Camp Grant Massacre. W.S. Oury was the first President of the Pioneers' Society at Tucson and died in that city in March 1887.

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David Oury

theourys@msn.com

It is easy find lots of information on William and Granville. There are even photographs and to me they even look like Ourys. In one book I was amused to find they loved horses. Loved to ride wild and do tricks. In everything they did they we very competitive, fiercely independent, and were contrary to the norms of society. Their tempers got them in trouble but they were natural leaders. They were loyal to those around them but not always very likeable.

http://alamostudies.proboards.com/thread/592/william-sanders-oury-a...

https://www.facebook.com/darlenedoll.dotson/posts/808313975930797

April 30, 1871:

William Oury, a veteran Indian fighter from Tucson, and 140 men, including ninety-two Papago Indians, found the unarmed camp of Eskiminzin's Aravaipa Apache living near Camp Grant. Believing them to be the raiders of San Xavier Mission (fifty miles away, near Tucson) on April 10, the group attacked the unsuspecting village. A total of 144 Indians were killed during the massacre. Twenty-seven children survived, all sold into slavery in Mexico by the Papago. Lieutenant Royal Whitman of Camp Grant heard of the expedition against the Indains, but his message of warning arrived a few hours after the fighting began, Lieutenant Whitman, believing the Aravaipa to be innocent, eventually got the Tucson men brought to trial in Tucson. Many army members testified that the Aravaipa could not possibly have been involved in the raids, but after the five-day trial and a deliberation of less than half an hour, the Tucson men were acquitted.

Known Texan Participants in The Battle of Plum Creek 12 August 1840 http://comingtotexas.blogspot.com/

http://www.amazon.com/William-Sanders-Oury-history-maker-southwest/...

http://swcwa.com/Addl_-Reading/Biographies/OURY.pdf

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=14955426&PIpi...

http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/collections/papers-oury-family

Texas Ranger, confederate soldier and was at the Alamo

https://buckinghambooks.com/book/28225/

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/street-smarts-g-oury-was-delegate-t...

https://books.google.com/books?id=_CdnP1P3QFsC&pg=PA222&lpg=PA222&d...

http://www.angelfire.com/la/kdory/wsoury.html William S. Oury was born in Abingdon, Virginia on August 13, 1817, the oldest of nine children of Augustus Oury, a landowner and planter. Augustus was an Abingdon Board of Trustees Member (1830), Abingdon Councilman (1834), Second Postmaster General of Abingdon (his, father George was first also having started the stage coach mail run between Abingdon and Sevier Co., TN. (I found the deed documents in Abingdon showing his sons-in-law backing him which I provided to the Abingdon Historical Society for future reference and correction), Tavern owner, and landowner. Also I went to Abingdon and Augustus' tavern and home are still there. I also found the original deed showing that Augustus was one of the original owners of the tavern (catty-corner from the house) and provided it to the society for future reference and correction to some published pamphlets they have. Nice house complete with a small livery and even a surrey parked 'neath it He came to Texas in 1833, instead of settling with his family in Missouri. It might be noteworthy that Bill and wife, Inez, went to Sacramento to pan for gold and then went to Tucson, AZ via California, Texas, and Yuma, Arizona. Was a Confederate in the Civil War [his brother, Granville, too] as well as the Mexican War, a Tucson Butterfield Line Agent, Partnership of the Tubac Arizona newspaper, Tucson (first newspaper in Arizona), later wrote historical pieces for the Arizona Star, was Captain of the Papago Indians in the much debated matter of the Camp Grant Massacre (of Apaches--there is even a serial by the History Channel detailing this event and showing Bill's picture [picture also in Corny's book], and Pima County Sheriff. He also survived two duels. (His son, Frank was "shot dead" after William and Inez had passed on). He died on his cattle ranch (first to introduce short horn cattle to Arizona) on or near Santa Cruz (lake?) now Silver Lake, Arizona and is buried at Hope Cemetery in Florence, Arizona next to his Inez (Garcia). A beautiful monument marks his gravesite. William had siblings: Granville m. Mina Sanders (who has a published diary and Corny has copies of her original diary--they accompanied William on his many movements and she details the travels), Sally m. Woods, Susan m. Frank Parsons, Senah m. Thomas Clanton, Elizabeth m. John Ball, Catherine . William Gough, Mary m. Claude Pettibone, Marcus d. 1865 (killed by Apaches--as was William?s Uncle Maricopus, wherein I assume William's hatred of the Apaches). Corny has written remembrances of life in Tuscon and recounting the Clantons and the Oury's competition in horseback tricks/riding with them)

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fou01 OURY, WILLIAM SANDERS (1817–1887). William Sanders Oury, Alamo defender and courier, the oldest of nine children of Augustus Oury, was born at Abingdon, Virginia, on August 13, 1817. He came to Texas on his own in 1833 after his family settled in Missouri. During the Texas Revolution he served in the Alamo garrison; he was probably one of the men who rode to San Antonio de Béxar with William Barret Travis. Oury was sent from the Alamo as a courier about February 29, 1836. He consequently missed the battle of the Alamo. He later served as a courier for Sam Houston and took part in the battle of San Jacinto. Oury enlisted in the First Infantry of the Texas army as a third corporal in November 1836 and continued an active military career. On August 15, 1838, a survey of 640 acres of land in Polk County was made in Oury's name for his military service. The land was forfeited, however, when he failed to follow up with the proper paperwork. In 1840 he served with the Texas Rangersqv in the battles of Plum Creekqv and Bandera Pass against the Comanche Indians. He served in the company of John C. Hays. In 1842 Oury was a member of the abortive Mier expedition. He was one of the fortunate ones who survived the expedition and the execution lottery at the hands of its Mexican captors (see BLACK BEAN EPISODE). He eventually returned to Texas and served again with the Texas Rangers in the Mexican War. He was an interpreter for Gen. Zachary Taylor during the battle of Monterrey. Subsequently, Oury acquired land along the San Antonio River. His family joined him there in 1848, but after a stay of only eight months they returned to Missouri. In 1849 Oury married Inez García of Durango, Mexico. He and his wife left Texas for California in the gold rush excitement of 1849. In 1856 they moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he became a cattle rancher and a respected citizen and community leader. The following year he was an agent for the Butterfield Overland Mail, and he was also elected sheriff of Tucson several times. On April 30, 1871, Oury was one of the leaders of the infamous Camp Grant Massacre of Apache Indians, allegedly mounted in retaliation for Apache depredations against settlers. He died at his home in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1887.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/02327/cah-02327.html

Birth: Aug. 13, 1816 Death: Mar. 31, 1887 Arizona, USA

William Sanders Oury is an eyewitness to survive the Alamo. He was 15 at the time and Travis let Oury go to as a courier to seek aid from Sam Houston. All defenders of the Alamo perished. Oury married Inez Garcia in Durango Mexico and later moved to Tucson, Arizona and lived his life. He did not publish his experiences from his days with Travis at the Alamo. What we know was related later in his life. He is an Arizona Pioneer.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14955426 Added by C. Fahey Grave site coordinates: 32.26755 -110.97894

http://tucson.com/news/local/street-smarts-adventurous-life-led-our...

http://hotx.com/alamo/survivors.html

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/arizona/biography-of-william-s-oury.htm

http://uair.library.arizona.edu/system/files/usain/download/azu_h97...

Col. Cornelius C. Smith, who has preserved, arranged and edited this material covering the activities of two illustrious brothers and Arizona pioneers, William S. and Granville H. Oury, has rendered a distinct service to the people of his native state. He is the grandson of William S Oury, the elder brother who, in Durango, Mexico, married Inez Garcia, whose parents came from Spain to Mexico about 1828. Oury and his wife came to Tucson from Mexico in 1856, from which time he was a resident of Arizona. His brother Granville H. Oury arrived in Tucson about the same time. Col. Smith, the son of William S. Oury's daughter, was born in Tucson, April 7, 1869. Measured by the lapse of time he himself is something of a pioneer. His father was Col. Gilbert C. Smith, who enlisted in Company B 5th California Volunteers in September '
1861. Soon promoted to be a second lieutenant, he served in Arizona during the troublesome years following the opening and ending of the civil war, during which time he courted and married Oury's daughter. The son of this union, Cornelius C. Smith, grew up amid the activities of early military life in the southwest, and it is not at all singular that we find his mother endeavoring, but without success, to have her son appointed to a cadetship at West Point. However, the youngster pluckily decided that the path his father trod was good enough for him. Just as he came of age—on April 9, 1890—young Smith enlisted as a private in the regular army. He was assigned to troop K of the Sixth TI. S. Cavalry (The Galloping Sixth). His advancement was extremely rapid. The army records show that he passed through the grades of corporal, sergeant, and first sergeant of his troop within the first year. On June 1, 1891, a little over a year from his enlistment, he was awarded the coveted "Congressional Medal of Honor," than which there is no higher decoration in our army and navy ; the equivalent of the famous Victoria Cross of the British soldier. 6 ARIZONA HISTORICAL REVIEW The official War Department record reads : "Near White River, South Dakota, on June 1, 1891, Sergeant Smith with four men of his troop, fought a superior force of Sioux Indians, holding their position against repeated efforts of the Indians to capture it and subsequently pursued them a great distance." The Oury brothers were Virginians by birth and southerners by sentiment. Both at once became leaders in the new territory. William S. was a member and for some time secretary of the first constitutional convention that met at Tucson on April 2, 1860, sheriff of Pima county for two terms, 1873-77, one of the three men who met and organized the Arizona Pioneers' Society at Tucson in 1884, and always a civic and social leader. He died at Tucson on March 3, 1887, seventy years old. Granville H. Oury, his brother—or Grant, as he was best known—was the politician of the family. It was his wife who wrote this diary here published. Grant succeeded his brother, William S., as secretary to the first constitutional convention in April, 1860. He took part in the unfortunate Crabb Expedition which went into old Mexico on a land grabbing excursion, in the winter of 1856-57, was elected on the democratic ticket for two terms as delegate from Arizona in Congress, 1880 and 1882. He lived for several years at Florence where he practiced law with great success. He died at Washington, D. C., in 1891. Colonel Smith's story of his famous relatives is a welcomed addition to the written history of Arizona's early days. Phoenix, March 6, 1931. WILL C BARNES.

Murdered defenseless indians April, 1871. William Oury with a band of 140 mercenaries left Tucson to annihilate the Aravaipa's Village near Camp Grant for alleged raids 50 miles away in Tucson. The Indians defenseless were shot where they slept. The wounded had their brains bashed in. The dead stripped. Two women brutally raped then shot. A baby was shot twice and had a leg nearly hacked off. In all 144 murdered. 142 were women and children. The perpetrators walked away from court free, including William Oury the leader.