Overall arch from Sylvester to Nathan Pollard.

In 1850 the Pollards lived in Natchioches LA. That's in the north western part of the state, about 75 miles south east of Shreveport. The 1850 census report lists 5 people living in the house at the time with William Sylvester Pollard as the head of house. Frederick Hosea Pollard (my great great grandfather) was 2 years old at the time and had two older siblings. Sometime after the family migrated to Texas. I am not sure the exact date of their move (actually I have a good idea), but they show up on the 1860 census in Trinity County Texas. At the time he lists himself as a farmer and he had seven kids at the time.

I don't know for sure what brought them to Texas, but I do know a lot of people began migrating to Texas at that time. In addition, Nachioches was a focal point for immigrants moving to Texas. Most immigrants coming from the southern states traveled through Nachioches on their way to Texas. Most likely Sylvester Pollard saw all the immigrants moving through Nachioches on their way to Texas and became tempted to join. There might be other reasons given that politics had become very unstable at the time (this was during the lead up to the Civil War), but I don’t have any additional evidence yet as to why they made their move.

Now a few interesting things and Trinity county. The Texas legislature created Trinity county in 1850 and by 1854 Sumpter (which processed Sylvester Pollard’s Census report) became the county seat. By 1860 there were over 4,392 people living in Trinity County with cotton, corn and tobacco being the major crops. In addition, famous gun fighter John Westley Harding taught school in Sumpter. At the time of the Civil War, the population was pretty evenly divided as to whether to support secession, but after the war started the area strongly supported the Confederacy with three companies of solders being raised. I don’t know how the Pollards felt about secession, but I do know that Sylvester Pollard joined the Texas home guard (probably do to his age) and Frederick Hosea Pollard joined the confederacy.

Sometime after the civil war the Pollards moved to Falls county Texas. The closest major city to Falls county would be Waco. I am not sure why they moved to Falls county, but it seems like they moved there sometime before 1871 because in that year Hosea Pollard married Rebecca Prewett in a town just outside of Waco called Robinson. After getting married Hosea and Rebecca had I think 9 kids. My great grandfather was his fifth child Nathan Pollard.

By 1880 Hosea Pollard had his own farm in I believe the Blue Ridge part of Falls county. Now there are two things that I have questions about. One, why/how did Hosea get his own farm given he seemed to have been working his fathers land before then. One theory I have is that he received free land for being a Civil War veteran. I have no evidence for this, but I do know that veterans received free land in 18880 from the State Government. Another thing that has confused me a bit is that it seems like some of his kids where born in Falls County while others have been born in Cooke County. I am not sure what the connection to Cooke County, but for some reason the Pollards all moved there sometime before 1905. For more information about Cooke county click here.

The paper trail from 1880 to 1910 is pretty dry so far, so I don’t know what happened to the Pollard farm in Falls county. In the 1910 census Hosea Pollard lived with his second oldest son James Pollard along with my great grandpa Nathan Pollard. They lived in the south western part of the county off of Rosston Road. At the time they rented the house. James and Nathan Pollard listed their occupation as farm laborers.

Its very possible Hosea lived with James even earlier along with Hosea’s wife Rebecca, but right now I just haven't found any evidence to help fill the 30 year gap. Rebecca passed away in 1905 in Cooke county, but I have not found any information about her final resting place. Hosea passed away in 1910 and I read that he was buried at Hood Cemetery in Cooke county. I haven't been able to validate the source though (the other who made the claim didn't provide her source and has passed away since she wrote the book). I haven’t made a trip there yet to research it myself. It does make since though if you follow this link.

It seems like most of Hosea and Elizabeth’s children remained in Cooke county for a while. In fact his daughter Ida was buried in Fairview Cemetery in 1975. In 1907 Nathan Pollard married Birdie Pollard (she was from a town in Oklahoma right across the border with Texas). Birdie’s father was born in Grapevine Texas (Christmas capital of the Texas) and moved to Cooke county. Nathan and Birdie I believe had 10 sons, but only 6 survived. Although Nathan lived in Cooke county, they did seem to move around quite a bit within the county. In 1910 they lived on the south western edge of the county, then also lived in the north eastern tip of the county. Finally, in 1930 they moved into a house in Gainesville, the biggest city in Cooke county.

By 1931 Nathan had moved to Altus Oklahoma. I have a solid theory why they moved there (click here). Nathan rented a house about a block away from his brother James, but nether house exists. Nathan lived in Altus until sometime in 1942, but this part gets a little difficult.

Nathan is in the 1940 Census report for Altus Oklahoma, but his WW2 draft card shows him living in CA in 1942. Yet, I know that he also lived Wichita Falls Texas in 1942 with most of his kids (see here). Finally, he shows up in Corpus Christi Texas in 1942, so he didn’t stay in Wichita Falls or CA very long. Finally, in 1944 Nathan Pollard passed away rather unexpectedly of a heart attack. It seems like he was retired at the time and he lived a block away from his brother James. Again, neither of their homes are still standing. Nathan’s brother James passed away in 1955 in Corpus Christi and had his body moved to Altus Oklahoma for burial. I am not sure why he requested to be buried in Altus, but James’ wife later joined him in Altus.

Birdie Pollard later moved to California where she lived until 1977. I actually remember meeting her once when I was really young, but I don’t really remember her face. That’s basically where this story ends. I will continue to add links to the main link to provide additional information and evidence as I see it without distracting from the main story. In addition, I’ll add later family information in another post.