Sloan, Richard E., 1857-

Richard Elihu Sloan was born on June 22, 1857, in Morning Sun, Ohio to Dr. Richard and Mary Sloan. He was educated in public schools and graduated from Monmouth College in 1877. After finishing college, Sloan began to suffer from asthma and hay fever. In order to improve his health, he worked in Colorado for one year before returning to Ohio and getting his law degree from the Cincinnati Law School in 1882. Sloan and his friend, Louis H. Chalmers, traveled around the northern and western United States before settling in Arizona around 1885 and opening up a law firm. He settled in Florence and served as Pinal county attorney and as a member of the Fifteenth Territorial Legislature in 1889. From 1890 to 1894, Sloan was a member of the Arizona Supreme Court and lived in Tucson.

After leaving the Supreme Court, Sloan moved to Prescott and returned to law practice, but President William McKinley reappointed him to the Supreme Court in 1897. He continued to serve on the court until 1909. In 1909, President William H. Taft appointed Sloan as Territorial Governor. Believing that statehood was eminent, there were no legislative elections held in 1910 for the 1911 Legislature, which left all power with levying taxes and appropriations with Governor Sloan. During his administration, he worked on Arizona's behalf to achieve statehood and issued the proclamation for the Constitutional Convention 1910. Sloan served as Governor until Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912.

Following his time as governor, Sloan served briefly as a United States district court judge, and represented Arizona at the 1922 conference, which drafted the Santa Fe Compact on water appropriation. He died on December 14, 1933, and is buried in Greenwood Memorial Park. Sloan married Mary Brown in 1887, and they had three children.

From the guide to the Governor's Office, Richard E. Sloan, RG1 SG 7, 1909-1912, (Arizona State Archives)