Ezekiel Polk (December 7, 1747 – August 31, 1824) was
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
,
pioneer
Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land.
In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...
and the paternal grandfather of
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
James Knox Polk
James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (18 ...
.
[
]
Early life
Ezekiel Polk was the next youngest of five boys and three girls born to William Polk and Margaret Taylor Polk of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Cumberland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 259,469. Its county seat is Carlisle.
Cumberland County is included in the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area.
Histo ...
, near present-day Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...
. About 1753 the family moved southwestward to the southern boundary of North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
in what would become Mecklenburg County. His parents appear to have died shortly afterward, and Ezekiel probably was brought up by his older brother Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
, the senior member of the family, a leader of the local militia and a member of the first and subsequent North Carolina provincial assemblies.[Sellers, Charles Grier Jr., "Colonel Ezekiel Polk: Pioneer and Patriarch," ''William and Mary Quarterly'', Third Series, Vol. X, No. 1. (January 1953), 80-81.]
At age 20 Ezekiel, recently married, was named clerk of court in the new county of Tryon across the Catawba River
The Catawba River originates in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina, where it later becomes known as the Wateree River. The river is approximately 220 miles (350 km) long. It rises in the Appalachian Mountains and drains into ...
, where he and his bride established themselves on a farm just south of Kings Mountain. In 1772, however, the provincial boundary was surveyed, and Polk's property was discovered to lie in South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
.
Career
Military service record:
* New Acquisition District Regiment of the South Carolina militia (1775, 1780–1782): First a Lt. Colonel under Col. Thomas Neel in early 1775.
* Then he chose to have an independent company of Rangers prior to 3rd South Carolina Regiment
The 3rd South Carolina Regiment was an infantry regiment of the South Carolina Line during the American Revolutionary War. Raised in the western part of South Carolina, the regiment fought in the Siege of Savannah and the Siege of Charleston, surre ...
of Rangers being formed on June 6, 1775
* Resigned from South Carolina 3rd Regiment on July 29, 1775. Authorized to reform his independent Ranger Company again in the New Acquisition District, but he was to remain under command of Col. William Thomson. His unit was disbanded at the fall of Charleston.
* Later, he was a Lt. Colonel again in the New Acquisition District Regiment.
Polk adapted with increasing difficulty to the shifting boundary and consequent loss of his position as clerk of court. At first he was chosen lieutenant colonel of the district militia. In 1775 he was elected a delegate to the South Carolina Provincial Congress
The Provincial Congresses were extra-legal legislative bodies established in ten of the Thirteen Colonies early in the American Revolution. Some were referred to as congresses while others used different terms for a similar type body. These bodies ...
held in June and was commissioned a captain in the Third South Carolina Regiment of Horse Rangers, assigned to the interior, where Whigs and Loyalists
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
were competing for control of the province. But when the regiment was ordered to the coast, Polk balked, marching his men home rather than sacrifice their health, as he put it, for the protection of Lowcountry
The Lowcountry (sometimes Low Country or just low country) is a geographic and cultural region along South Carolina's coast, including the Sea Islands. The region includes significant salt marshes and other coastal waterways, making it an import ...
aristocrats and rice plantation nabob
A nabob is a conspicuously wealthy man deriving his fortune in the east, especially in India during the 18th century with the privately held East India Company.
Etymology
''Nabob'' is an Anglo-Indian term that came to English from Urdu, poss ...
s. He subsequently relented, apologized for his insubordination and was restored to command. He led his company against Loyalist forces in the battle at Reedy River
The Reedy River is a tributary of the Saluda River, about long, in northwestern South Carolina in the United States. Via the Saluda and Congaree rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Santee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean.
The ...
in December 1775 and the following summer commanded 300 militia in a successful expedition against pro-Loyalist Cherokees
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...
.
On July 24, 1776, Polk's regiment was adopted into the Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
and assigned to the Southern Department. "Captain Ezekiel Polk's Independent Company," according to the U.S. Army's regimental history, was "concurrently redesignated as the 10th Company, 3rd South Carolina Regiment."
Polk may never have been entirely comfortable in South Carolina, and waning popularity and political enmities appear have left him increasingly disgruntled. After being passed over initially as delegate to a provincial congress held in November 1775, he had with great difficulty forced a second election and kept his seat. Probably this aborted rejection continued to rankle. In late 1776 Polk surrendered his commission in the 3rd Regiment and returned to North Carolina, settling down on a farm about below Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
, the Mecklenburg County seat. Two years later he opened a tavern in town and the following year was named justice of the peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
. This period of tranquility was not to last. With the fall of Charleston in 1780 and the subsequent defeat of Horatio Gates
Horatio Lloyd Gates (July 26, 1727April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battles ...
at Camden, Lord Charles Cornwallis's triumphant Redcoats marched into North Carolina, the main body encamping a few miles from Polk's farm. The following day, September 26, Cornwallis commandeered the Charlotte home of Ezekiel's brother Thomas and established his headquarters there. Fearing the loss of crops, slaves and his tavern, Ezekiel rode to town and "took protection" from Cornwallis in exchange for peaceful cooperation with the British.
Such an action was not without precedent, and Polk's neighbors evidently did not judge him too harshly, for toward the end of the war the Mecklenburg magistrates, with only two dissenters, elected him sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
. At the conclusion of the war, he received a generous acreage of western land for his services during the Revolution and in 1790 was appointed deputy surveyor in the Western District, as Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
was then called, and moved with his family to a tract north of the Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...
. Indian raids and the prolonged illness and death of his wife in 1791 led to his return to Mecklenburg County. He did not make Tennessee his permanent home until the fall of 1803, when he established himself on a tract on the Duck River in what is now Maury County
Maury County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Middle Tennessee region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,974. Its county seat is Columbia. Maury County is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro ...
.
Polk was a militant Jeffersonian and a Deist
Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...
(some said an atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
), which put him at loggerheads with much of the family, especially his nephew William Polk's three sons, who were Ezekiel's close Tennessee neighbors, ardent Federalists
The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''.
History Europe federation
In Europe, proponents of de ...
and orthodox churchmen. The inscription composed for his first wife's tombstone spoke of "a glorious Resurrection to eternal life," but her painful illness and the death of all the children of his second marriage seem to have dampened if not extinguished the bereaved husband's faith.
Marriages
He was married three times. His first wife, Mary Wilson Polk, bore him eight children, including Samuel Polk
Samuel Polk (July 5, 1772 – December 3, 1827) was an American surveyor, slave owner, and the father of U.S. President James Knox Polk. His slaves included Elias Polk.
Life
Samuel Polk was born in 1772 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. ...
, the father of James K. Polk
James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (183 ...
, 11th President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
. No children of his second wife, Bessie Davis Polk, survived infancy. Some sources identify his second wife as a Polly Campbell. By his third wife, Sofia Neely Lennard Polk, he had four children. He died near Bolivar, Tennessee
Bolivar is a city in and the county seat of Hardeman County, Tennessee, United States. The town was named for South American revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,417.
Bolivar is served by Willia ...
, August 31, 1824, and was buried in the Polk Cemetery at Bolivar.
Death
Polk composed his own epitaph and left instructions that it be painted on durable wood "as there is no rock in this country fit for grave stones." In its original version, it reads:
:Here lies the dust of old E.P.
:One instance of mortality
:Pennsylvania born, Car'lina bred,
:In Tennessee died on his bed
:His youthful days he spent in pleasure,
:His latter days in gath'ring treasure;
:From superstition liv'd quite free
:And practiced strict morality.
:To holy cheats was never willing
:To give one solitary shilling,
:He can foresee, and in foreseeing
:He equals most of men in being
:That church and state will join their pow'r
:And mis'ry on this country show'r.
:And Methodists with their camp bawling,
:Will be the cause of this down falling.
: An era not destined to see,
:It waits for poor posterity
:First fruits and tithes are odious things
:And so are Bishops, Priests and Kings
Ancestry
The ancestry of Ezekiel Polk is largely unknown. It is claimed that his father William Polk is descended from Robert Bruce Polk (1625-1703), a member of Clan Pollock migrated to Maryland; and his mother is a daughter of James Taylor, grandfather of Richard Taylor and great-grandfather of presidents Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...
and James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
. Both ancestries are disproved by newer research.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polk, Ezekiel
1747 births
1824 deaths
American deists
American pioneers
American slave owners
American surveyors
North Carolina militiamen in the American Revolution
People from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
People of colonial North Carolina
Ezekiel
Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknow ...
South Carolina militiamen in the American Revolution
South Carolina colonial people