Ike T. Pryor

Isaac "Colonel" Thomas Pryor (June 22, 1852 – September 24, 1937) was an American cattle rancher and businessman. At his peak, he handled 45,000 head of cattle per year. He was a successful stockbroker and held executive positions in several companies.

Biography Pryor was born on June 22, 1852, in Tampa, Florida, the youngest of three children of David Christopher and Emma Almira Pryor (née McKissack). He lived with extended family, as his parents both died when he was 5. He ran away at age 9, then worked as a newspaper hawker for the 3rd Ohio Cavalry Regiment. Though he never enlisted, he was present for the Battle of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and Stones River.

After the war, Pryor returned to his extended family in Tennessee, later joining them in their move to Alabama. At age 18, he moved to Texas, because his brother, A. M. Pryor, spoke well about it after a returning from there. He arrived at Galveston in 1870, and moved to Austin, where he worked as a farmhand. In 1871, he drove cattle to Coffeyville, Kansas for Bill Arnold, a rancher in Llano County, becoming foreman of the drive in 1872. He left the drive in 1873 to work as a farmhand for Charles Lehmberg, becoming a foreman the same year. His roles included presider of the American National Livestock Association (predecessor to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association), president of the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress, and founder of the City National Bank of San Antonio. His funeral was held on September 25, and he and his wife are buried in Mission Burial Park South.