Henry Massey Rector
Henry Massey Rector (1 May 1816 – 12 August 1899) was a Democratic Governor of the State of 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 from the Union and was admitted to the Confederate States of America. 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 for the rest of the war. Rector participated in the 1874 constitutional convention.
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Several global companies are headquartered in the northwest corner of Arkansas, including Wal-Mart (the world's largest public corporation by revenue in 2007), J.B. Hunt and Tyson Foods. This area of the state has experienced an economic boom since the 1970s as a result.
In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Additionally, the city of Conway is the site of a school bus factory.
Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was originally created (as "Arkansas Is A Natural") for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still regularly used to this day.
Rector was the first cousin of Representative Henry Wharton Conway, Governor James Sevier Conway and Governor Elias Nelson Conway. 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. 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.
Henry Massey Rector died in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The town of Rector, Arkansas is named for him.
Clay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2000, the population is 17,609. The county has two county seats, Corning and Piggott. It is a dry county.
