James K. Polk Record
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Oct. 29, 1834 - Jan. 16, 1872) Educated in Tennessee as a lawyer, J. K. P. Record became the District Attorney for Dallas in 1860. He left that office to serve in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, but returned here after the conflict. In 1866 he became a state Senator and served as a delegate to the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1866. He later practiced law in Dallas and was an active member of the Masons and the Odd Fellows organizations.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Trained as a lawyer in Tennessee, J. K. P. Record became Dallas's district attorney in 1860 before leaving office to serve in the Confederate Army. Returning after the Civil War, he won election as a state senator and sat as a delegate to the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1866, one of the fraught gatherings that tried to reshape the defeated South. He later practiced law in Dallas and was active in the Masons and Odd Fellows.
Why it matters
Figures like Record staffed the conventions and legislatures of Reconstruction-era Texas, wrestling with how a former Confederate state would rejoin the Union.
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Related people
- · J. K. P. Record
Related events
- · Texas Constitutional Convention of 1866
Themes & tags
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