James Knox Polk Underwent Surgery At 17 To Remove Urinary Bladder Stones.

In a log cabin outside of Pineville, North Carolina, James Knox Polk was born on November 2, 1795. He was the first of ten kids to be born into a farming family. His mother Jane gave him the name James Knox in honor of her father. His father Samuel Polk was of Scots-Irish ancestry and worked as a farmer, owner of slaves, and surveyor.

James' family relocated to Tennessee when he was ten years old, settling on a farm in Maury County. James, who had health issues as a child that prevented him from attending school, underwent surgery to have urinary bladder stones removed by renowned Kentucky surgeon Ephraim McDowell right before he turned 17 years old. The future president reportedly used alcohol to numb the agony, as anesthesia wasn't yet available. James had no children, therefore the surgery may have rendered him sterile or rendered him impotent. He bounced back immediately and got stronger. One of the interesting facts about James Knox Polk is the operation gave Polk, who had been sick, the opportunity to enroll in formal education for the first time. In 1813, he enrolled in a Presbyterian academy against his father's request to have him work for one of his enterprises because he desired to receive an education.

After only 2.5 years of formal education, he enrolled as a sophomore at the University of North Carolina. He was “the Latin salutatorian of his class as a graduating senior in 1818, a brilliant scholar in both the classics and mathematics”, according to Britannica. After graduating, he went back to Tennessee to continue his legal education before starting his own practice.