Lucius Junius Polk (1802–1870) was an American politician and planter from

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

Early life

Lucius Junius Polk was born in 1802 in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. His father was Colonel William Polk. He moved to

Maury County, Tennessee 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– Murfreesb ...

, in 1823.

Career

Polk served in the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...

from 1831 to 1833.Richard Quin
Hamilton Place
''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', December 25, 2009 He served as Adjutant General for the state of Tennessee from 1851 to 1853. Polk was also a wealthy cotton planter. He owned 30 slaves in 1836 and 52 slaves in 1840. He was a

Knight Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

Personal life

Polk married Mary Ann Eastin, a grand-niece of

Rachel Jackson Rachel Jackson ( ''née'' Donelson; June 15, 1767 – December 22, 1828) was the wife of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States.

(the wife of President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

) in April 1832. Their wedding took place at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

They resided at Hamilton Place near

Columbia, Tennessee Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Maury County, Tennessee. The population was 41,690 as of the 2020 United States census. Columbia is included in the Nashville metropolitan area. The self-proclaimed "mule capital of the world," Colu ...

, and had a large family together. After Mary Ann Polk had died, Lucius married Frances Anne Erwin, with whom he had an additional son and daughter. Frances Polk also died in her 30s.

Death

He died in 1870. He was buried on the grounds of St. John's Episcopal Church.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Polk, Lucius Junius 1802 births 1870 deaths People from Maury County, Tennessee Tennessee state senators 19th-century American planters U.S. state legislators who owned slaves Lucius J. American cotton plantation owners 19th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly