Pollard Family

This page was revised on October 27, 2007. The main new point added on that date was proof that Francis Pollard's wife Betty married a second time, and very likely moved to Alabama with Harris Toney, her second husband. See the Second Generation below for full discussion.

First Generation

See James H. Maloney's WorldConnect site for documentation on George, including identity of his son Francis as a tithable in 1738.

Francis Pollard was probably born about 1720 based on his first appearance as a tithable in his father's household, and other circumstantial evidence. By 1749 he was living in Cumberland Parish, Lunenberg Co. VA, working as a blacksmith. He bought land in 1753 on Otter Creek, Lunenberg (now Bedford) County, from John and Mary Phelps, thought to be the parents of his wife Betty. He died in Bedford County in the summer of 1771 His estate was finally settled in 1780.

Second Generation

Previously I listed another child, Elizabeth Pollard who married Harris Toney. This was based on the estate settlement of 1780 in which Elizabeth Pollard Toney received one share, and from which most people have concluded that she was a daughter, despite there being another child named Betty in the same family.

In October 2007 Mark Parsons questioned this, primarily on the basis of two key facts:

First, the marriage bond for Betty Pollard and Flayl Payne (Franklin Co. VA, 1790) names Betty's mother as Elizabeth TONEY

Second, Francis Pollard's will specifies that in case his widow remarries "that then the said Estate Shall Be Taken out of her possession and an Equal Childs part of my Estate Given her and her heirs forever". This therefore accounts for her receiving the same amount as the other children in the 1780 settlement.

Third Generation

I don't have birthdates for most of these children, but the marriage dates, mostly from Bedford County, probably give some indication of their relative ages so I have arranged them in this order, leaving the three for whom I have no marriage information at the end.

For Sarah Pollard and William Marshall's family, see Jess Headley's page.

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Children of John Pollard and Catherine Nichols
Francis Pollard (ca. 1788-1860) m. 1) Elizabeth Austin (ca. 1797-1833), 2) Nancy Adams (1807-1864)
John Nichols Pollard (1792-1875) m. Elizabeth Clemens
Martha Pollard m. Charles McGhee
Nancy Pollard m. Henry Edgar
Jesse Pollard m. Penelope Ann Porter
Catherine Pollard m. Pashal Brown
Elizabeth Pollard
Sophia Pollard (1812-1853) m. Alfred Goodly
George Pollard

Fourth Generation

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If you are a male Pollard descendant of one of the people whose names are shown in red here, and would be interested in submitting a sample for DNA testing, please contact me

Children of Francis Pollard and Elizabeth Austin
Susan N. Pollard (1816-?) m. John Mortimer Austin (1818-1901)
John A. Pollard (1819-1859) m. Mary E. Austin
Elizabeth A. Pollard (1822-?)
Francis Thomas Pollard (1824-1862) m. Mary Ann Smith
Anne Catherine Pollard (1827-?) m. James H. Austin
William Wilson Pollard (1830-1907) m. Virginia Hudnall (1845-1919)

Mary E. Austin and James H. Austin were children of William N. Austin, brother of Elizabeth Austin Pollard, so were first cousins to their Pollard spouses. John Mortimer Austin was a more distant cousin, son of Alexander Austin.

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Children of John Nichols Pollard and Elizabeth Clemens
name unknown, probably died in infancy
Samuel Clemens Pollard m. Sarah Mills
Martha Ann Pollard (1827-?) m. David Staley
William Jordan Pollard (1828-?)
Catherine Elizabeth Pollard (1831-?)
Sarah Pleasant Pollard (1833-?) m. Henry Clay Ballard error corrected 7/10/05
James Hanibal Pollard (1835-?)
John Marshall Pollard (1837-?)
Mary Caroline Pollard (1839-?)
Erwin Clark Pollard (1841-1927)
Robert Alexander Pollard (1844-?)
Emily Mathews Pollard (1846-?)

Elizabeth Clemens was the daughter of Samuel Clemens and Pamela Goggin. Her brother John Marshall Clemens was the father of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Mark Twain.

Fifth Generation

Francis Thomas Pollard enlisted in the Confederate Army in March 1862, and served in Capt. Hensley's company of the 10th Battalion Virginia Heavy Artillery He became ill during the summer of that year and came home, where he died on August 4th. The cause of death was listed as "brain fever".

He is buried in the Austin family cemetery in Bedford Co. VA, with the following inscription:

Sacred To the Memory
of My Husband
F.T. Pollard
Died Aug. 4 1862
aged 37 years

Sleep on beloved, in thy quiet home
Free from all pain and strife
Sleep on unmindful of the tears
Of her thou once call'dst wife.

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Children of William Wilson Pollard and Virginia Hudnall
William Thomas Pollard (1868-1961) m. Mary Emma Claytor (1880-1918)
Francis Pollard
Edgar McNeil Pollard (1871-1932)
John Augustus Pollard (1873-1942)

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Children of Samuel Clemens Pollard and Sarah Mills
Laura Pollard
Alice G. Pollard
Betty Pollard
William Pollard
Sanritha Pollard
Louise Pollard
Esmond Garland Pollard (1856-1894) m. Hester Jane Hamersley (1857-1935)

Sixth Generation

Sources

Oakes Family Genealogical Data, 1640-1982, LDS film 1320607 item 10

Personal communication from Tom Wilson, Norfolk VA

Thanks to Merel Pollard for the information on George Pollard as father of the first Francis, and to Mark Parsons for identifying Elizabeth Toney as Betty Phelps Pollard in a second marriage.

I also thank Lucy McGhee, Dawn Taylor, Dot Creasy, Jim Young, Liz Austin Carlin and other correspondents.

Bedford Co. VA court records

Other Resources

POLLARD-L list. Send a message to POLLARD-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com with the one word 'subscribe' in the body of the message.

POLLARD family DNA project
If you're a male Pollard, especially one with roots in Virginia, please consider participating. We need this evidence to sort out the early Pollard families. I will help pay for a test by a proven descendant of one of the men whose names are listed above in red.