Mark Whitaker Izard (December 25, 1799 – August 1866) was an Arkansas Democratic politician is best known for being the 2nd

Governor of the Nebraska Territory The governor of Nebraska is the head of government of the U.S. state of Nebraska as provided by the fourth article of the Constitution of Nebraska. The officeholder is elected to a four-year term, with elections held two years after presidential e ...

. Izard was born in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

to Nicholas H and Rebecca (Whitaker) Izard on December 25, 1799. His family were among the early settlers of the Huntsville, Alabama area and he was educated there in public schools.McMullin & Walker, p. 224 Izard married the daughter of George Shackleford of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

in 1823. The next year he moved his family to

frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...

town of

Mount Vernon, Arkansas Mount Vernon is a town in Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 145 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Central Arkansas region. Geography Mount Vernon is located along the eastern edge of Faulkner County at (35.2248 ...

. Over the next several years he acquired an appreciable amount of land and

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. Mark Izard served in the Arkansas Territorial Council and as a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention of 1836. He was a member of both the Arkansas State Senate 1836, 1838–1840, and 1850–1853; he served as President of the Arkansas Senate. Izard also served in the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the ...

and served as its speaker. He became the governor of the Nebraska Territory in 1855 to 1857. He died in 1866 and is buried in Forrest City, Arkansas.Mark Izard
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* * * 1799 births 1866 deaths Arkansas state senators Members of the Arkansas Territorial Legislature Speakers of the Arkansas House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Arkansas House of Representatives Nebraska Democrats Governors of Nebraska Territory 19th-century American politicians {{Nebraska-politician-stub