Samuel B. Pryor

Samuel B. Pryor
1st Mayor of Dallas
In office
1856–1857
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJohn McClannahan Crockett
Personal details
Born(1816-08-12)August 12, 1816
Lawrenceville, Brunswick, Virginia
DiedOctober 18, 1866(1866-10-18) (aged 50)
Resting placePioneer Cemetery, Dallas, Texas
NationalityAmerican
SpouseAnna Mariah Powell
ChildrenAshton G. Pryor, E. R. Pryor, Charles R. Pryor, Pocahontas Pryor, Samuel B. Pryor, William L. Pryor
EducationHampden Sydney College
OccupationPhysician

Samuel B. Pryor (1816–1866) was the first mayor of Dallas, Texas.

After Dallas was granted a town charter on February 2, 1856 by the Texas legislature, Pryor became the first mayor of Dallas. He led a town government which had six aldermen, a treasurer-recorder, and a constable.[1] He was the first mayor of Dallas, Texas from 1856 to 1857.[2]

Born in Brunswick County, Virginia to Philip Pryor and Susan C. Wilkes,[3] his Pryor lineage is traceable through a line of affluent colonial Virginians. His father was counted as a head of household on the 1810 and 1820 Census[4] Presumably his father died before 1830 when his mother was then counted as head of household. Samuel Pryor would have been in his early teens at the time of his father's death.

Pryor was in the first graduating class of cadets from the Virginia Military Institute in 1839-1840.[5] He attended Hampden–Sydney College,[6] graduating in 1844. During the American Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army.[2]

Samuel B. Pryor lived a life of public service. He was a physician.[7] Before serving as mayor, he served as the Court Clerk in Dallas County during 1848-1849.[8]

  1. ^ Dallas, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved on August 6, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Index to Politicians: Pryor". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  3. ^ Wood, Vanessa. "Affluent Pryor Families in Virginia". tennesseepryors.com. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  4. ^ "Pryors on Virginia Public Records". TnPryors.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  5. ^ Register Of The Officers And Cadets Of The Virginia Military Institute At Lexington, Virginia. 1840.
  6. ^ Lemmons, Nova. "Dr. Samuel B. Pryor Early Prominent Dallas County Resident". The Dallas Journal. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  7. ^ "Pryors on Texas Records". TNPryors.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  8. ^ "Genealogical Records, Resources & Activities for Dallas, Dallas County and North Texas". Dallas Genealogical Society. Retrieved 23 June 2012.