My Genealogy Hound

Joel H. Pollard is the proprietor of the Magnolia Record, one of the newsy and influential journals of the State. He was born in Fayetteville, Ark., December 4, 1858, and was the eldest of three children born to the union of T. W. Pollard and Elizabeth Cooper, the former a Kentuckian by birth and the latter a native of Missouri. The father has followed the occupation of merchandising nearly all his life, but of late years has been retired from active business. During the Rebellion he served in the Confederate army, but was at one time captured by the Union soldiers and was kept a prisoner at Springfield, Mo., for some time. He was brought to Arkansas in 1840, when only four years of age, and here his father, Dr. T. J. Pollard, became one of the best known physicians of this State. He died on Christmas day, 1889, in his eighty-fourth year, having served as a surgeon in the late war. Of the three children born to T. W. Pollard and wife, the eldest is the subject of this sketch. W. S., an attorney-at-law of Fayetteville, Ark., is the next in order of birth, and Mary R., wife of T. B. Latham, an attorney of Fort Smith, Ark., is the youngest. Mr. and Mrs. Pollard are still residing in Fayetteville, and are esteemed and respected by all who know them. In the city of Fayetteville Joel H. Pollard was given educational advantages far above the ordinary, and after attending the public schools he finished his education in the Fayetteville University, and at the age of eighteen years he became connected with the Democrat of Fayetteville, Ark. He remained thus connected until 1878, then moved to Ozark and established the Industrial Advocate, which he published for two years. He next located in Conway and established the Conway Democrat, but disposed of it soon afterward and went to Texas, remaining one year. Since 1885 he has been a resident of Magnolia, and on March 4, 1885, the first edition of the Columbia Record was given to the public, of which he has since been the proprietor and publisher. This paper has the largest circulation of any in Southern Arkansas, and is published strictly in the interests of the Democratic party. Mr. Pollard is a journalist of more than ordinary ability, and his editorials are interesting and readable and show that he is the thorough master of the subject he handles. His paper is rapidly increasing in circulation, and in a short space of time has become one of the leading journals of the State. His worthy wife was formerly Miss Lena M. Smithey, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of James and Phoebe (Lowry) Smithey, who were born on Blue-Grass soil. To Mr. Pollard and his wife two children have been born, Carl and Lizzie.