Henry Massey Rector

Notes:

1. How does Gov. Henry Massey Rector tie into the descendents of the
early Virginia Rectors? His aunt was Ann Rector who married Thomas
Conway. (They were married in Greene Co., Tennessee, the home of John B.
Rector and his wife Rebecca Sevier.) Two sons of Thomas and Ann Rector
Conway were governors of Arkansas too...James Sevier Conway (No. 1) and
Elias Nelson Conway. Son Henry Wharton Conway was a territorial
Congressman from Arkansas. Ann's nephew was a US Senator.
2. Does anyone know how to obtain a copy of RECTOR RECORDS by King?

John Fishback (Johannes Fishbach] of the 1714 Colony, moved from
Germantown to Jeffersonton, Culpeper County, Virginia. He was the
progenitor of five governors of States:

James Lawson Kemper (Virginia)
James Sevier Conway (Arkansas)
Elias Nelson Conway (Arkansas)
Henry Massey Rector (Arkansas)
William Meade Fishbach (Arkansas)

From Arkansas History Commission- March 2, 1934 Henry M.
Rector, sixth governor of the State of Arkansas, was born in
Louisville, Kentucky, May 1, 1816, a son of Elias and Fannie B.
( Thurston) Rector. Soon after his birth his family moved to St.
Louis, MO, where Elias Rector died in 1822. Subsequently
the widow married Stephen Trigg and removed to Saline County,
MO. Here Mr. Twiggs engaged in the manufacture of salt.
From the time that he was 13 until he was 17 years of age, it
was Henry's task to haul wood with an ox team to the salt works.
During this time he had no opportunity to attend school, but his
mother, who was an educated woman, taught him the rudiments of
an English education
[2613] In 1833 his Kentucky relatives sent him to Francis Goddard's
school in Louisville where he remained a student for two years
and then came to Arkansas to look after certain lands, which he,
as the only surviving child, had inherited from his father. Some
of the land in question is now a part of the Hot Springs
Reservation, which had been located upon the New Madrid
Certificate. Many years were spent in prosecution this claim
against other persons, and finally against the United States
Government, but Rector was unsuccessful in his efforts to
establish title to his claim.

[2614] During the years 1839 and 1840 Rector held a position as a
teller in a bank of the State of Arkansas. In 1841 he moved to a
farm in Saline County where he began to study law. From 1843 to
1845 he was United States Marshal for the District of Arkansas.
He was then admitted to the bar and began the practice of his
profession in Little Rock, Arkansas, but soon returned to Saline
Co. In 1848 he was elected to the State Senate for the district
composed of Perry and Saline Counties. He was Surveyor General
from 1853 to 1857: was elected to the lower house of the
legislature from Pulaski county in 1854 and in 1859 was elected
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by the General Assembly.

[2615] In 1860 he resigned his position on the Supreme Bench to become
an independent Democratic candidate for governor. What was
known as the " Conway-Johnson Dynasty" was thought to be all
powerful in Arkansas politics. Rector, however, was a forcible
and convincing orator. By his persuasive eloquence and his
appeal to the common sense of the voters, he overthrew the "
Dynasty " and was elected by over a 2000 majority. There was the
a paper called The Independent published at Fayetteville by
William Quesenbury - popularly known as "Bill Cush" who was
very clever cartoonist. Immediately after the election he
published a cartoon entitled, "Tom Dick and Harry" in which
Thomas Hubbard, the Wig candidate, was represented as Old Mother
Hubbard examining a bare cupboard, Dick Johnson was seated
astride a whiskey barrel surrounded by a crowd of his supporters
to who he was explaining how it happened to his supporters,
while "Harry" Rector represented as a rooster was strutting
about and making a welkin ring with his crowing. (Welkin means
in the sky )

[2616] Professor Shinn in his " Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas says: "
the regular Democrats smarting under their defeat, took an undue
advantage of him in the convention of 1861 The body, while
providing for a new constitution which contained certain offices
in force, intentionally or unintentionally omitted to make any
provision whatever for the Governor's office. Rector's adherents
have always claimed that this was done intentionally and from
the meager records which have come down to posterity, it is
entirely safe to say that this contention of Rector's friend was
true. All the events, it was claimed that, as the constitution
did not provide for a Governor, a vacancy existed, which
contention was upheld by the Supreme Court. He served as
Governor from Nov. 15, 1860 to Nov. 4, 1862."

[2617] Upon retiring from his governor's office, Mr. Rector enlisted as
a private in the Confederate Reserve Corp ( refusing an
appointment as quartermaster ) and served until the close of the
war. For several years after the war he engaged in agriculture
pursuits in Garland County. He was delegate from the County to
the Constitutional Convention in 1874 and wielded a powerful
influence in framing the new organic law of Arkansas. He died at
his home in the City of Little Rock on August 12, 1899.

[2618] Governor Rector was twice married. His first wife, whom he was
united in Oct. 1838, was Miss Jane Elizabeth, daughter of
William Field, of Little Rock. She died November 20, 1857,
leaving four sons and three daughters, and in 1860 he married
Miss Ernestine Flore Linde, daughter of Albert Linde, of
Memphis, Tenn. One daughter was born of the second marriage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

[2619] His son Henry Massie Rector MD was good in his profession in
Little Rock Arkansas Henry Massie 111 was a lawyer in Little
Rock Also Henry Massie Rector 4th and 5th lived in Little
Rock. Henry Massie Rector 111

From HISTORY OF THE SESCENDANTS OF J.J. RECTOR. As Governor of
Arkansas, Henry Massie Rector, was called upon by the U.S.
Government to supply troops for the Civil War, refused to send
troops to help the North. When he was turned out of office by
the people, he joined the Confederate Army as a private and to
show his contempt for Lincoln bought a slave in 1863. After the
war he retired to his plantation in Ark, His son Elias W.
Rector Married Rosebud Alcorn daughter of the Governor of Miss.

[2622] This publication has the information that is in the History of
J.J. Rector and also contains a letter by Henry Massie to John
Ross Chief of the Cherokee Indians promising support for him and
at the same time hoping that Ross would stand by the South who
could supply him Slaves to develop the Cherokee Indians. The
Indians should support the South as Lincoln was planning on
using the Cherokee Nation as a home for abolitionists and
northern moneyed people. Chief Ross said that their natural
feelings was for the South but the U.S. (north) had promised
the Indians security and the treaties were with Washington and
they felt that they had to stay neutral.

[2625] This morning Governor Rector of Arkansas issued a proclamation,
drafting into immediate service every man in the State subject
to military duty to respond in twenty days.

Henry married Ernestine Flore Linde in 1859. Ernestine was born in 1820 in Louisville, Jefferson County, KY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Elizabeth Jane Field in 1838. Elizabeth died on 20 Nov 1857. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Elias W. Rector
2. Jr. Henry Massey Rector was born in Little Rock, AR; died in Little Rock, AR.

Notes:

Arrival of the first steamboat.

The second notable event in 1819 was the arrival at Franklin, on May 28,
of the steamer Independence, of Capt. John Nelson - the first which ever
attempted the navigation of the MO River.

Col. Elias Rector and others, of St. Louis, had chartered her at
Louisville, Ky., to go up the MO as high as the town of Chariton,
now a deserted town two miles above Glascow, near the mouth of the
Chariton River. She left St. Louis May 15, 1819, and arrived at
Franklin, Howard County, on May 28, occasioning the wildest excitement
and the greatest joy among the people.

Note: marriage record for Elias and Fanny list him as "General in
Retirement"

Elias Rector, Ft. Smith AR Oak Cemetery US Marshall
OK Territory Peace Officers
Frank Rector Barling
Jerry Kanady Barling
Elias Rector

Dear Ann, you had contacted me some time ago...and I wasn't much help
then, but this is what I have on the Rectors of MO and AR...(this is an
excer from my cousins direct cousins book published in 1976) "The first
gov. surveys of AR were accomplished by Gen. Wm Rector and his brothers,
Elias, Wharton, Stephen, and Thomas; his nephews William V. Rector, son
of Wharton and Frederick
Rector Conway of Ann Rector Conway, his sister. This as the beginning of
the Rector influence in AR."(pls note this has been abbrev.) There is
more if interested. Kathleen

From HISTORY OF THE DESCENDANTS OF J.J. RECTOR In the war of
1812 Elias was Colonel of the 1st regiment and proceeded with
it up the Mississippi with brothers Nelson and Stephen as
captains. At one time the Indians lined the banks and firing
set the boat on fire but they got in the water and floated down
the river with the boat as a shield. In 1819 Elias was appointed
postmaster of St Louis, Mo. and his nephews, Thurston and Conway
were his assistants. He remained postmaster till his death in
1822

Name: INDEPENDENCE
Type: Stern-wheeler Size: small
Launched:
Destroyed:
Area: Mo. R.
Owner: Elias Rector
Captain(s): 1819, Nelson, John
Comments: 1819, May, First steamer to reach upper Mo. Reached
250 mi. to Chariton Mo. with whiskey, flour and
iron castings.
Comments: from Boone's Lick Heritage Quarterly

Elias married Fanny Badello Thruston on 30 Aug 1810 in Louisville, Jefferson County, KY. Fanny (daughter of John Thruston and Elizabeth Thruston Whiting) was born on 7 Mar 1798; died in Little Rock, AR. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Henry Massey Rector served as governor of Arkansas from 1860-1862. He
was the son of Elias and Fanny Bardella (Thurston) Rector, b.
1816...near as I can tell.

"The first gov. surveys of AR were accomplished by Gen. Wm Rector and
his brothers, Elias, Wharton, Stephen, and Thomas; his nephews William
V. Rector, son of Wharton and Frederick Rector Conway of Ann Rector
Conway, his sister. This as the beginning of the Rector influence in AR."

John married Elizabeth Thruston Whiting on 13 Oct 1782 in Virginia, USA. Elizabeth was born about 1771 in Virginia, USA; died in Jul 1822 in Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mrs. Elizabeth T. Thruston already had ten children when she and Aaron married.