His mother's family, the Ewings of Ohio, arranged for his education which included the study of civil engineering and possibly law.

[4] When Republican President Benjamin Harrison took office, he desired to replace Democratic governor C. Meyer Zulick with a member of his own political party.

The senator's nephew, Brewster Cameron of the San Rafael Cattle Company, had a previous billing dispute with Wolfley over a surveying job the nominee had done for the Arizona cattleman.

[6] Despite the opposition, Wolfley received unanimous confirmation from the U.S. Senate on March 28 and was sworn in as Governor of Arizona Territory on April 8, 1889.

Democratic governor Zulick, as part of his normal duties, had submitted a full slate of nominations to the 15th Arizona Territorial Legislature.

[9] As an early step in resolving the issue, a lawsuit was filed to declare the Republican nominee for Territorial Treasurer the legitimate office holder.

An example was George Christ, who assisted Brewster Cameron in opposing Wolfley's nomination, being appointed collector of customs in Nogales, Arizona.

[14] In an effort to reduce transportation related price disparities between different parts of Arizona, he lobbied for creation of new railroads to connect the northern and southern halves of the territory.

After several possible locations were considered, the Apache were finally settled at Fort Sill in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

[16] Continued migration of Mormon settlers into the territory, with their tendency to vote as a unified block, worried Wolfley to the point that he called them "a most dangerous and unscrupulous factor in politics".

[15] Finally James Reavis, with his fraudulent claim of a land grant in excess of 18,000 square miles (47,000 km2), caused a disruption that took till 1904 to completely settle.

[18] To counteract the hostilities of these papers and his political enemies, Wolfley helped found The Arizona Republican as a forum to express his views.