Birth Name: James Knox Polk
Date of Birth: November 2, 1795
Place of Birth: Pineville, North Carolina, U.S.
Date of Death: June 15, 1849
Place of Death: Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Ethnicity: English, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), Scottish, Irish
James K. Polk was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 11th President of the United States, having served from March 4, 1845 to March 4, 1849. He was also the 9th Governor of Tennessee, from October 14, 1839 to October 15, 1841, the 13th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, from December 7, 1835 to March 4, 1839, and a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee, from March 4, 1825 to March 4, 1839. In the 1840 Presidential Election, he received on electoral vote for Vice President, from Tennessee.
President Polk was the son of Jane Gracey (Knox) and Samuel Ezekiel Polk.
President Polk’s paternal grandfather was Ezekiel Franklin Polk (the son of William Ezekiel Robert Polk and Margaret Taylor). William was the son of William Bruce Polk, from Coleraine, Donegal, Ireland, and of Ann or Nancy Knox. Margaret was the daughter of James Taylor, from Carlisle, England, and of Hannah Williams.
President Polk’s paternal grandmother was Mary Jane Winslow Wilson (the daughter of Samuel Wilson and Mary Osborne Winslow). Samuel was the son of John Wilson and Christian Suttell, both from Yorkshire, England. President Polk’s great-grandmother Mary Osborne was the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Winslow and Mary Beverly Osborne.
President Polk’s maternal grandfather was James Knox (the son of John Knox and Jean Sinclair O’Gracey). John was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland, the son of John Knox and Margaret Brock. Jean was born in Coleraine, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the daughter of John O’Gracey, from Coleraine, and of Jean Sinclair, from Renfrewshire, Scotland.
President Polk’s maternal grandmother was Lydia Gillespie (the daughter of Thomas Gillespie and Naomi Thompson). Thomas was Northern Irish, the son of William Ogilvie Gillespie, from Fife, Scotland, and of Margaret Cairn, from Wemyss, Fife, Scotland.
Source: Genealogy of James K. Polk – https://www.geni.com
Photo By Minor K. Kellogg [CC BY-SA 1.0], via Wikimedia Commons