Samuel B. Pryor

Samuel B. Pryor (1816–1866) was the first mayor of Dallas, Texas.

Samuel B. Pryor
1st Mayor of Dallas
In office 1856–1857
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	John McClannahan Crockett
Personal details
Born	(1816-08-12)August 12, 1816 Lawrenceville, Brunswick, Virginia
Died	October 18, 1866(1866-10-18) (aged 50)
Resting place	Pioneer Cemetery, Dallas, Texas
Nationality	American
Spouse	Anna Mariah Powell
Children	Ashton G. Pryor, E. R. Pryor, Charles R. Pryor, Pocahontas Pryor, Samuel B. Pryor, William L. Pryor
Education	Hampden Sydney College
Occupation	Physician

After Dallas was granted a town charter on February 2, 1856 by the Texas legislature, Pryor became the first mayor of Dallas. He led a town government which had six aldermen, a treasurer-recorder, and a constable.[1] He was the first mayor of Dallas, Texas from 1856 to 1857.[2]

Born in Brunswick County, Virginia to Philip Pryor and Susan C. Wilkes,[3] his Pryor lineage is traceable through a line of affluent colonial Virginians. His father was counted as a head of household on the 1810 and 1820 Census[4] Presumably his father died before 1830 when his mother was then counted as head of household. Samuel Pryor would have been in his early teens at the time of his father's death.

Pryor was in the first graduating class of cadets from the Virginia Military Institute in 1839-1840.[5] He attended Hampden–Sydney College,[6] graduating in 1844. During the American Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army.[2]

Samuel B. Pryor lived a life of public service. He was a physician.[7] Before serving as mayor, he served as the Court Clerk in Dallas County during 1848-1849.[8]