James K. Polk

James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 13th Speaker of the House of Representatives the only president to have served as House Speakerand Governor of Tennessee . Polk was the surprise candidate for president in 1844, defeating Henry Clay of the rival Whig Party by promising to annex the Republic of Texas. Polk was a leader of Jacksonian Democracy during the Second Party System. His nickname was Young Hickory because of his close association with Old Hickory, Andrew Jackson.

James Knox Polk, the first of ten children, was born on November 2, 1795 in a farmhouse in what is now Pineville, North Carolina in Mecklenburg County, just outside Charlotte. His father, Samuel Polk, was a slaveholder, successful farmer and surveyor of ScotsIrish descent. His mother, Jane Polk , was a descendant of a brother of the Scottish religious reformer John Knox. She named her firstborn after her father James Knox. Like most early ScotsIrish settlers in the North Carolina mountains, the Knox and Polk families were Presbyterian. While Jane remained a devout Presbyterian her entire life, Samuel rejected dogmatic Presbyterianism. When the parents took James to church to be baptized, the father Samuel refused to declare his belief in Christianity, and the minister refused to baptize the child. In 1803, most of Polks relatives moved to the Duck River area in what is now Maury County, Middle Tennessee Polks family waited until 1806 to follow. The family grew prosperous, with Samuel

Source: Wikipedia