Mark Whitaker Izard (December 25, 1799 – August 1866) was an

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

Democratic

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

is best known for being the 2nd Governor of the Nebraska Territory. Izard was born in Lexington, Kentucky to Nicholas H and Rebecca (Whitaker) Izard on December 25, 1799. His family were among the early settlers of the

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

area and he was educated there in public schools.McMullin & Walker, p. 224 Izard married the daughter of George Shackleford of Charleston, South Carolina in 1823. The next year he moved his family to frontier town of Mount Vernon, Arkansas. Over the next several years he acquired an appreciable amount of land and slaves. 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 The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have ...

1836, 1838–1840, and 1850–1853; he served as President of the Arkansas Senate. Izard also served in the Arkansas House of Representatives and served as its speaker. He became the governor of the

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...

in 1855 to 1857. He died in 1866 and is buried in

Forrest City, Arkansas Forrest City is a city in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States, and the county seat. It was named for General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who used the location as a campsite for a construction crew completing a railroad between Memphis and Litt ...

.Mark Izard
/ref>

References

Citations

Sources

* * * 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