Pryor Lea (August 31, 1794 – September 14, 1879) was an American politician and railroad entrepreneur who represented

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 ...

's 2nd district in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from 1827 to 1831. He moved to

Goliad, Texas Goliad ( ) is a city in Goliad County, Texas, United States. It is known for the 1836 Goliad massacre during the Texas Revolution. It had a population of 1,620 at the 2020 census. Founded on the San Antonio River, it is the county seat of Gol ...

, in the 1840s, where he engaged in railroad construction, and served in the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...

. He was a delegate to the 1861 Texas convention that adopted the state's Ordinance of Secession on the eve of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Early life

Lea was born in what is now

Grainger County, Tennessee Grainger County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,527. Its county seat is Rutledge. Grainger County is a part of both the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area and Morristown M ...

, but was then part of Knox County, the son of Major Lea and Lavinia (Jarnagin) Lea.Mary Rothrock (ed.), ''The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1972), pp. 439-440.Alethia Belcher,
Estate Retains Colonial Atmosphere
" Morristown ''Citizen Tribune''. Photo copy retrieved at Rootsweb.com 22 February 2013. He attended the former Greeneville College (now

Tusculum College Tusculum University is a private Presbyterian university with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee. It is Tennessee's first university and the 28th-oldest operating college in the United States. In addition to its main campus, the institution ...

), after which he studied law. He fought in the

Creek War The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...

as a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

under

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

in 1813, and clerked for the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

in 1816. He was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 1817, and began practicing in

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

. He owned slaves. He married Maria Kennedy on October 6, 1818. They had four children, Abraham, Julia, Centhia, and James Kennedy. His second marriage was to Minerva Heard, and his third was to Mary Perkins. Lea was appointed to the Board of Trustees of East Tennessee College (the forerunner of the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

) in 1821, and later served as the board's secretary.Rossiter Johnson and John Howard Brown,
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans
' (Biographical Society, 1904). Retrieved: 22 February 2013. That same year, he was appointed United States Attorney for Eastern Tennessee.
The Bicentennial Celebration of the United States
'', U.S. Department of Justice Document Set 16, 1994. Retrieved: 1 February 2013.

Congress

A supporter of Andrew Jackson, Lea was elected to the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1827, defeating fiery anti-Jacksonite Thomas D. Arnold by a vote of 3,688 to 3,316. He again defeated Arnold in a hotly contested election in 1829, winning 4,713 votes to Arnold's 4,496.Candidate: Pryor Lea
''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved: 22 February 2013. Arnold charged Lea with voter fraud, but the House Committee on Elections found no evidence of irregularities, and Lea was allowed to take his seat. He served in the Twentieth and Twenty-first congresses, from March 4, 1827, to March 4, 1831. He was narrowly defeated by Arnold for a third term in 1831, 4,935 votes to 4,702. As a congressman, Lea was a

strict constructionist In the United States, strict constructionism is a particular legal philosophy of judicial interpretation that limits or restricts such interpretation only to the exact wording of the law (namely the Constitution). Strict sense of the term ...

and

states' rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...

advocate. He generally opposed federal funding for

internal improvements Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canal ...

, most notably voting against the 1830 "Hemphill Bill," which would have financed the construction of a road connecting Buffalo and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. He voted in favor of the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...

of 1830, describing the House debate on the bill as "one of the severest struggles that I have ever witnessed in Congress."Buddy Levy,
American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett
' (Penguin, 2006). He frequently clashed with fellow Tennessee congressman

Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Re ...

, with Crockett calling Lea a "poltroon, a scoundrel, and a puppy," and warning they would fight if they ever crossed paths.

Later life

During the mid-1830s, Lea developed an interest in railroad construction, which many East Tennesseans viewed as a solution to the region's isolation. He was secretary of an 1836 Knoxville convention that mapped out the proposed Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad. This proposed railroad was doomed by the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

, however. Lea moved to

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

, in 1836. He then moved to

, in 1846, to promote railroad construction. He worked with the Aransas Railroad Company, which sought to build a line from the

Aransas Bay Aransas Bay is a bay on the Texas Gulf Coast, approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, and south of San Antonio. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by San José Island (also referred to as St. Joseph Island). Aransas Pass is the most ...

area to Goliad, and eventually from Goliad to

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

(his brother,

Albert Miller Lea Albert Miller Lea (July 23, 1808 – January 16, 1891) was an American engineer, soldier, and topographer with the United States Dragoons who surveyed southern Minnesota and northern Iowa in 1835. Biography Lea was born in Richland, Tennessee ...

, was chief engineer of the company). In 1866, the company reincorporated as the Central Transit Company, re-mapping its line from Goliad to

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

as part of a larger transcontinental effort. Though vigorously promoted by Lea, the company's plans never materialized.Craig H. Roell,
Pryor Lea
" Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved: 22 February 2013. Lea was a founding trustee of the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

. With Both Albert and Pryor Lea supported the

Knights of the Golden Circle The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) was a secret society founded in 1854 by American George W. L. Bickley, the objective of which was to create a new country, known as the Golden Circle ( es, Círculo Dorado), where slavery would be legal. T ...

, a secret society which planned to invade Mexico and Central America and establish a massive slave empire around the Gulf of Mexico. They pitched the society's plan to Governor

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

in 1860, but Houston rejected the plan, and ordered the Texas Rangers to break up the Knights' assemblies. Lea was a delegate to the Texas Secession Convention, which met in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in January 1861 to adopt an Ordinance of Secession, leading to eventual

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

membership in the Confederacy. He was elected to the

later that year, serving a single term. During the war, he worked with Goliad Aid Association, which provided relief to indigent families, and served as a commissioner with the Aransas Salt Works. In 1866, Governor

James W. Throckmorton James Webb Throckmorton (February 1, 1825April 21, 1894) was an American politician who served as the 12th governor of Texas from 1866 to 1867 during the early days of Reconstruction. He was a United States Congressman from Texas from 1875 to 1 ...

appointed Lea state superintendent of public instruction, though he was later removed for opposing Reconstruction. Goliad County elected Lea their delegate to the state's 1875 Constitutional Convention, but he declined due to his "extreme age." He died on September 14, 1879 (age 85 years, 14 days), and is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Oak Hill Cemetery in Goliad.

References

External links

* *
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lea, Pryor 1794 births 1879 deaths People from Grainger County, Tennessee Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee Texas state senators United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Tennessee Tennessee lawyers American slave owners People from Goliad, Texas Tusculum University alumni University of Mississippi people