Image of Mr. Traylor: A56.43. Gift of the City of Dallas.

John H. Traylor was born in Traylorsville, Virginia on March 27, 1839. He moved to Jefferson, Texas is 1867, married Pauline Lockett in 1869, and pursued a career in the mercantile industry. Two years later he relocated to Granbury, Texas. He was elected Sheriff and Tax Collector of Hood County in 1876 and was re-elected in 1878. In 1880, he was elected to the Legislature and followed that term two years later with a term as a State Senator. According to Mayors of Dallas, he was "the author of bills relating to land matters, official fees, finances and public schools."  He moved to Dallas in 1887 and lived there for twenty years. Elected as mayor in 1898, he served in that position for two years. After his term as mayor, he continued to take an interest in public affairs.  He moved to Rockport in 1907 and died in San Antonio on March 19, 1925.

See also Dallas Timeline: 1890s.

For more information about John Traylor or other early mayors, please see Mayors of Dallas, compiled by Mayor Lindsley in 1917.
Bibliography: John H. Cullom, Mayors of Dallas (1917); Walter Prescott Webb, The Handbook of Texas, vol. II (1952).

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