Davidson-Williamson County TN Archives Biographies.....Pollard, William Mebane 1844 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 26, 2005, 11:36 pm Author: Will T. Hale JUDGE WILLIAM MEBANE POLLARD. A career of quiet but faithful performance of duty has been that of William Mebane Pollard, judge of the Davidson county court since 1902. As a young man he spent four years in the Confederate army, always carrying the musket of the private and receiving a wound during service that deprived him of much of his normal strength during subsequent life, though he has already attained almost the psalmist's span of years. As health permitted, he has been a farmer and merchant, a lawyer and a judge, and he has discharged the score of every responsibility with credit, though he has not received nor desired the abundant rewards of wealth. He is a Tennesseean whose name and career have a fine fitness in the records of the state. Judge Pollard, who represents a line of ancestry which has been notable for its military and civic service since colonial times, was born on a farm in Williamson county, this state, on the 18th of June, 1843. In the same county were born his parents, George Washington and Martha (Mebane) Pollard. His grandfather was Joseph Pollard, a native of King and Queen county, Virginia, and the great-grandfather was George Pollard, a Scotch-Irish settler of Virginia, who had sons who served as soldiers in the Revolution. On the mother's side, the Mebanes came to Tennessee from North Carolina. Grandfather William Mebane was a nephew of Lieut.-Col. Robert Mebane, of the North Carolina colonial troops. George W. Pollard, father of the Judge, was a merchant and later a farmer. He and his wife had three children that reached maturity, Judge Pollard and a sister being now the only survivors. Reared on the old homestead in Williamson county, William M. Pollard during his boyhood had the surroundings and advantages of the prosperous Tennessee home before the war, and was liberally supplied with school privileges. He was ready to enter the University of Virginia when the storm of war broke over the country and instead he became one of the early volunteers from this state for the Confederate army. He enlisted in April, 1861, in Company D of the First Tennessee Infantry, and fought as a private until the end of the war, being with the portion of the southern forces that finally surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina. A constant inspiration to his career as a soldier was his loyal mother, who was one of the southern women who with steadfast courage sent their sons to fight to the last for the forlorn cause. Toward the closing months, when it was seen that the south was confronted with inevitable ruin, he was home on a furlough, and his mother placed her arms about him and asked his decision as to what he would do. When he replied that he was going back to the front, she suppressed the natural grief of a mother and calmly said, "That is right, my boy; be true to the cause." Before the close of his service a bullet had pierced his lung, and for several years afterward he was infirm from this wound. He finally engaged in business as a country store-keeper in his native county and at the same time conducted a farm. In 1877 he came to Nashville and engaged in the hardware business under the firm name of Pollard, Black & Company. This firm retired from business in 1894. Though his health was poor, Mr. Pollard then took up the study of law. In 1899 he had successfully passed the requirements and was licensed to practice. Three years later he was called from private practice by his election to the office of county judge of Davidson county, and in 1910 was reelected for a second term of eight years. For efficiency and painstaking management of the public business, his record as county judge has set a high standard of capable performance. On entering the office he established the custom of opening each day's proceedings with prayer by some officer of the court, and this practice has since been written into the by-laws of the court. Since the age of eleven, Judge Pollard has been a conscientious member of the Methodist church, and is now a steward in the Tulip Street church at Nashville. His fraternal associations are with the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men and the Elks. Judge Pollard was married in 1867 to Susan Cowles, who is a native Tennessean. They have two children: William Cowles, who is in the hardware business at Nashville; and Jane Belle, the wife of J. D. Porter, of Birmingham, Alabama. Additional Comments: From: A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities by Will T. Hale Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/davidson/bios/pollard233nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/tnfiles/ File size: 5.2 Kb