James Knox (President) Polk[1, 2, 3, 4]  1795 - 1849

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• Birth	2 Nov 1795	Mecklenburg, NC
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1839-1841
  	Govenor of Tennesee
  Occupation	1845-1849
  	11 President of the United States
  Died	15 Jun 1849	Nashville, TN
  Person ID	I750	Main
  Last Modified	26 Nov 2004 09:56:00
  Father	Samuel Polk, b. 5 Jul 1772, Tryon, NC
  Mother	Jean Gracy Knox, b. 25 Dec 1776, NC
  Family ID	F333	Group Sheet
  Family	Sara Childress
  Married	1 Jan 1824	TN
  Last Modified	18 Feb 2003 15:18:00
  Family ID	F334	Group Sheet

• Notes

  Third Cousin 7 Times Removed of Elizabeth Jane & Jack Howell. Common ancestor is William B. Polk "......THE EXPANSIONIST" "President Polk added a vast area to the United States....." "extended the Canadian boundary, along the 49th parallel, except for the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The treaty was signed in 1846. "American forces won repeated victories and occupied Mexico City. Finally, in 1848, Mexico ceded New Mexico and California in return for $15,000,000 and American assumption of the damage claims" James Polk ancestral home web White House web biography Biography here: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Knox_Polk ..."last of the Jacksonians to sit in the White House, and the last strong President until the Civil War" Ranked as the 10th greatest President (out of 39) by a Federalist Society poll in 2000 designed to remedy the flaws in this type of survey. The Wall Street Journal summarized this survey in a June 10, 2004 article in their Opinion Journal. "Three presidents made the cut as "great": George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. They are the top three finishers in most surveys of scholars." "Eight presidents were judged "near great," including Mr. Reagan, who finished eighth. Among them only James K. Polk (10th) served just one term." "Among recent presidents, only Mr. Reagan ranked as "near great." JFK (18th) and LBJ (17th) were "above average," George H.W. Bush (21st) and Bill Clinton (24th) "average," and Richard Nixon (33rd), Gerald Ford (28th) " The following from: http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/jkpolk.html 11 President of the United States from 1845 - 1849 Nickname: "Young Hickory" Father: Samuel Polk Mother: Jane Knox Polk Married: Sarah Childress (1803-1891), on January 1, 1824 Children: None Religion: Presbyterian Education: Graduated from the University of North Carolina (1818) Occupation: Lawyer Political Party: Democratic Other Government Positions: Member of Tennessee House of Representatives, 1823-25 Member of U.S. House of Representatives, 1825-39 Speaker of the House, 1835-39 Governor of Tennessee, 1839-41 Presidential Salary: $25,000/year Points of Interest: A week before he died, Polk was baptized a Methodist. Gaslights were installed in the White House while Polk was a resident. Polk survived a gallstone operation at age 17 without anethesia or antiseptics. Those medical practices were not used at the time. The first annual White House Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by Sarah Polk. Sarah Polk was a devout Presbyterian. She banned dancing, card-playing and alcoholic beverages in the White House. News of Polk's nomination was widely disseminated using the telegraph. The first time his had been done.

• Sources

  [S2] JSH Feb 13 2003 gedcom, John S. Howell, Jr.. [S590] familysearch.org (LDS Church), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (1999-2002 Intellectual Reserve, Inc.). [SAuth] John Spencer Howell, Jr., John Spencer Howell, Jr., (http://www.jhowell.com/ jhowell@jhowell.com). [S716] L. A. Lentz - Our Heritage, Loula Allen Lentz, (Privately published manuscript. March 1, 1959. 198 pp. 8.5 x 11 in 19 ring binder, green custom impritned cover with gold lettering. Scanned into .PDF format. Cpies of the PDF file may be obtained from John Howell, jhowell@jhowell.com), p. 42.