Lawrence Cowan
Lawrence Oscar Cowan (September 18, 1858 – July 20, 1933) was an American judge, state legislator, city official, businessman, and miner who lived in the Arizona Territory and later in the state.
He was born in Due West, South Carolina, the son of Captain John Cowan. He attended local schools, finished at Erskine College, and studied law in Georgia. He was admitted to the Georgia Supreme Court bar in 1882 and moved to Arizona the same year, settling in Kingman. He practiced law there and also worked in cattle ranching and mining. He spent a short time in San Diego, California, before returning to Kingman, where he was elected Probate Judge for four years and served as superintendent of county schools.
Cowan also held roles as the Mohave County District Court clerk for four years and as clerk of the Board of Supervisors. In 1895 he was elected Mohave County Recorder. In 1897 he was elected to the upper house of the Arizona Territorial Legislature from Mohave County. During a dispute between the House and Governor Benjamin Joseph Franklin, Cowan sponsored a resolution calling for an immediate change in the governor, though the Council opposed the idea.
In 1898 he moved to Tucson and was later elected to the 22nd Arizona Legislature in 1902, representing Pima County. He introduced what became known as the Cowan Bill, which redirected incorporation fees from the territorial secretary to the territory treasury. The secretary at the time, Isaac T. Stoddard, had been earning large fees, which drew criticism. The bill passed, and by 1905 Arizona was receiving more than $50,000 per year in incorporation fees.
Cowan served as Tucson city recorder for 22 years beginning in 1910, a role that also made him city clerk and a police court judge.
On the personal side, he married Rosalie Rice Ogden of California in December 1883, and they had two daughters, Florence and Edith. In 1888 he opened the Kingman Soda Works, producing sodas such as sarsaparilla, ginger ale, and soda water. He once lost part of his thumb in a gun accident while handling a breech to shoot a large cat. He also partnered with U.S. Senator Marcus A. Smith in a Sonora, Mexico copper mine; after legal battles, they were awarded possession of the mining claim by the Mexican Supreme Court in 1904 and later reclaimed it from three Mexican claim jumpers.
Lawrence Cowan died on July 20, 1933, in Tucson and was buried at Evergreen Memorial Park.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:10 (CET).