Rector, William

<ref>From MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW OCT 1995<ref> "William Rector (1773-1826) was one of nine sons and four daughters of Frederick Rector (1750-1811) and Elizabeth Conner Rector (1755-1811). He left Virginia in 1806 and moved to Illinois where he became deputy surveyor general of the Kaskaskia district. In 1812 he was appointed brigadier general of the Illinois troops. Rector moved to St.Louis in 1816 after receiving the appointment as surveyor general of the Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas Territories. Several of his brothers and nephews joined him in Missouri. Rector soon became prominent in the economic and political affairs of the Territories. He was elected as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in 1817 and served as a delegate to the State's constitutional convention in 1820. Rector employed several of his brothers and nephews as deputy surveyors. Charges of nepotism against Rector by David Barton lead to the death of Joshua Barton in a duel with Thomas Rector on Bloody Island, in the Mississippi River. Rector's appointment as surveyor general was revoked in 1824 and he died in Illinois in 1826."