My Genealogy Hound

HON. WILLIAM J. POLLARD, one of the most successful and well-known men of Jasper county, Mo., was born in Bedford county, Va., Feb. 14, 1829, and raised there. His father was a large farmer in Virginia, and died in 1873. His mother, Elizabeth, nee Clemmens, who is a native of Kentucky, is eighty-two years old. The subject of this sketch was married in September, 1861, to Mary L. Porter, who was a native of Pettis county, Mo., and born in 1838. They have no children. Both Mr. and Mrs. Pollard are members of the M. E. Church (South). In 1858 he removed to Pettis county, Mo., and engaged in teaching. From 1861 to 1866 he taught in Marion county, Ill. In 1866 he immigrated to Cooper county, Mo., and in 1872 became a resident and citizen of Jasper county, Mo. For some years in Illinois and Missouri he has given his time and investments to mercantile pursuits. In the fall of 1882 he sold his finely improved farm of 360 acres, and still owns some small farms. At one time he was connected with township organization, and later justice of the peace. He was a member of the Thirtieth General Assembly of 1879. He was educated at Piedmont Institute, located at Liberty, Va. In 1854 he served as sheriff of Bedford county, Va. In politics Mr. Pollard is a Democrat, and has always been more or less in public life. He had charge of a seminary, and has always had grand success as a teacher and instructor. Because of ill health he has retired from active work and public life, and anticipates becoming a citizen of Carthage. He has the air of the free and courteous Southern bred gentleman, and commands both in private life and public affairs.