McCord, Myron H. (Myron Hawley), 1840-1908

Governor; Myron McCord, Jr. came to Arizona in 1893 and served as Arizona governor from 1897 to 1898 when he resigned to head a regiment of volunteers in the Spanish-American War. His family was involved in the lumber industry in Wisconsin.

Myron Hawley McCord was born on November 26, 1840 in McKean County, Pennsylvania. In the mid 1840s, the McCord family moved to New York where McCord attended public schools and the Richburg Academy. In 1854, McCord went to Wisconsin with his father and worked as a lumberman while attending school a few months each year. At age 20, he went into business for himself and worked in logging and building roads until he became a lawyer at age 21. McCord held a variety of local and state offices before he represented Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives from 1889 to 1891.

In 1893, McCord moved to Arizona and began to farm, grow fruit and raise cattle. He also owned half of the Arizona Gazette at some point. In 1895, Governor Hughes appointed McCord to the Territorial Board of Control which oversaw public institutions. In 1897, President McKinley, who served in Congress with McCord, appointed him Territorial Governor. In 1898, McCord asked to raise a regiment of Arizona volunteers for the looming Spanish American War and he became a colonel in the First Territorial Infantry when fighting commenced. After volunteering for military service, McCord was forced to resign his position as Arizona Governor in July 1898.

After the war, McCord served as United States Marshall for Arizona and the custom collector at Nogales. In 1908, he returned to Phoenix because of ill health and he died on August 27.