Henry Massey Rector was the sixth Governor of the state of Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

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Henry Massey Rector was born near Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

. Rector was educated by his mother and attended one year of school at Louisville. He moved to Arkansas in 1835. Rector served as U.S. Marshal

United States Marshals Service

The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...

 after moving to Arkansas.

Rector was elected to the Arkansas Senate and served in that body from 1848 to 1850. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1854. He served as U.S. Surveyor-General of Arkansas for several years. From 1855 to 1859, he served in the Arkansas House of Representatives. Rector also spent one term as a justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Rector was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1860. During his term Arkansas seceded

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

 from the Union

Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 and was admitted to the Confederate States of America

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

. The constitution of Arkansas was rewritten reducing the term of office for Governor to two years. Rector left office in 1862 and served as a private in the state militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 for the rest of the war. Rector participated in the 1874 constitutional convention.

Rector was the first cousin of Representative Henry Wharton Conway

Henry Wharton Conway

Henry Wharton Conway was a delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Arkansas Territory....

, Governor James Sevier Conway

James Sevier Conway

James Sevier Conway was a Democratic Governor of the State of Arkansas, the first elected governor of the state....

 and Governor Elias Nelson Conway

Elias Nelson Conway

Elias Nelson Conway was the fifth Governor of Arkansas.Elias Nelson Conway was brother to James Sevier Conway, the first governor of Arkansas. He and his family moved to Missouri. Conway attended Bonne Femme Academy in Boone County, Missouri.In 1833 Conway moved to Little Rock, Arkansas...

. Rector was also a third cousin of General James Lawson Kemper. His grandson, James Rector, was the first Arkansan to participate in the Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

. His son, Colonel Elias W. Rector, ran for Governor of Arkansas twice and served in the Arkansas House of Representatives for several terms, served as Speaker of the House, and married the daughter of Senator James Lusk Alcorn of Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

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Henry Massey Rector died in Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...

. The city's Rector Street — today, a north-bound frontage road along Interstate 30

Interstate 30

Interstate 30 is an Interstate Highway in the southern United States. I-30 runs from Interstate 20 west of Fort Worth, Texas, northeast via Dallas, Texas, and Texarkana, Texas, to Interstate 40 in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The route parallels U.S. Route 67 except for the portion west of...

 — bears his name.

The northeast Arkansas town of Rector

Rector, Arkansas

Rector is a city in Clay County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,017 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rector is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

 is named for him. He was a first cousin of fellow Confederate general Alexander E. Steen

Alexander E. Steen

Alexander Early Steen was a career American soldier from Missouri who served as a general in the secessionist Missouri forces and the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

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External links

• Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc.
• Henry Massey Rector Family
• The Rector-Conway-Sevier-Johnson Family
• Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture entry: Henry Massie Rector