Isaac Naylor, 3rd Mayor of Dallas

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Isaac C. Naylor (1 Jul 1824 - 16 Apr 1885) was an attorney, postal clerk, merchant and bookkeeper. He served as mayor of Dallas, Texas from April 1858 to August 1858.

Born in Morgan County, Ohio to Jonathan Naylor and Jane Marshall, Isaac Naylor graduated from Marietta College in Ohio in 1851. Leaving Ohio, he traveled to Texas as a teacher arriving in Lavaca County in 1852.[1] [2]He operated an academy in Galveston, Texas [3] until 1856 and studied law with Sherwood & Goddard there. He was admitted to the bar in 1857.

He moved to Dallas, Texas to practice law.[4] There he joined the Tannehill Lodge No. 52, A. F. and A. M. and served as its secretary. He was elected mayor of Dallas in 1858. [5]

Returning to Galveston, he married Henrietta Wood, daughter of Edward Stout Wood and Ann Outterside on 15 Sept 1858. [6] During the Civil War he left his family in Galveston and moved to California and later New York because his sympathies were with the Union. [7] Isaac Naylor returned to Galveston where he was a clerk, bookkeeper and merchant. In 1876, he was granted a license to practice law in the State of Florida for one year.[8]

He died April 16, 1885 and was interred in City Cemetery, Galveston, Texas.[9][10] References

   ^ Voter Registration of 1867-1869 Reel 8 (microfilm). Vol. 19 (Kendall County) to Vol 22 (Matagorda County)Lavaca County, No. 812

   ^ Voter Registration of 1867-1869 Reel 7 (microfilm). Vol. 11 (Fort Bend County) to Vol 14 (Grayson County) Galveston County No. 2972

   ^ Marietta College. General catalogue, Marietta college, 1835-1887. Marietta, Ohio: E. R. Alderman & Sons, 1888. p.25 accessed Google Books 1 Dec 2010

   ^ Galveston Weekly News (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 31, Ed. 1, p. 3, col. 6, Tuesday, October 21, 1856; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth79869 : accessed December 01, 2010), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, Austin, Texas.

   ^ "Isaac C. Naylor elected Mayor and Andrew M. Moore, Marshall." Dallas Daily News April, 1858.

   ^ Galveston County, Texas, Marriage Record, Vol. B (1850-1859)FHL Reel #1008865

   ^ Mrs. H. W. Naylor. "The John Naylor Family of Pennsylvania." The "Old Northwest" Genealogical Quarterly, Vol. 11 (April 1908), p. 118.

   ^ Naylor Family Papers. The Rosenberg Library, Galveston

   ^ Index to Galveston Death and Burial Records 1880s-1910. (microfilm) Note: he is indexed as "Taylor."

   ^ "Special Notice. Members of Harmony Lodge No. 5." Galveston Daily News. April 17, 1885, p.2

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Isaac C. Naylor, attorney and mayor of Dallas, was born in Morgan County, Ohio, to Jonathan and Jane (Marshall) Naylor on July 1, 1824. He graduated from Marietta College in Ohio in 1851 and soon left for Texas and eventually settled in Galveston. He operated the Select Academy in Galveston until 1856 and also studied law. At some point he moved to Dallas, and the October 21, 1856, edition of the Galveston Weekly News published an advertisement announcing that Naylor would practice as an attorney in Dallas. In that city, he also joined the Tannehill Lodge No. 52 and served as its secretary.

Naylor was elected mayor of Dallas in April 1858. However, in June 1858 Dallas citizens voted to adopt a new city charter. As a result of this change, a new mayoral election was held, and on August 2, 1858, Anderson Doniphan Rice was elected mayor.

While Naylor was mayor, he also served on the defense team of city marshal Andrew M. Moore, who was charged with the murder of Alexander Cockrell. After a two-day trial in July 1858, Moore was declared not guilty of the crime.

Naylor left Dallas after the August election and returned to Galveston. In September 1858 he married Henrietta Wood, daughter of Edward Stout Wood and Ann (Outterside) Wood. During the Civil War, Naylor may have left his family in Galveston and moved to California. Information, however, is not clear on his whereabouts, and he was listed on Dallas County tax rolls for the years of 1860, 1863, 1864, and 1865, and on Galveston County tax rolls for 1861 and 1862. Isaac Naylor lived in Galveston after the war and was listed as a bookkeeper working for Edward Stout Wood, his father-in-law. The 1870 census listed his occupation as a post office clerk. Apparently he also cultivated an orange grove in Florida, and periodically visited that state. He obtained a law license to practice for one year in that state in 1876.

Isaac Naylor died at the age of sixty, purportedly of an aortic aneurism, on April 16, 1885, in Galveston and was interred in Old City Cemetery there. The 1880 census shows Henrietta and Isaac as having three sons named Edward, Isaac, and Charles.