DANIEL FLING POLLARD

The following bio was taken from page 347 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Tx

Daniel Fling Pollard was born January 31, 1856 in Meriweather County, Georgia.  He was the son of Joseph J. Pollard, a teacher and Frances E. Smith Pollard.  The family came to Texas when Dan was about eighteen years of age and settled in the Concord Community in Rusk County – near the home of the Charles A. Smith, Frances Pollard’s brother.

 Dan soon married his first cousin, Lady Dean Smith, daughter of his Uncle Charles.  Lady Dean and a baby son died in 1882, leaving a small daughter, Georgia Pollard.  The mother and baby boy were buried in the Ross Cemetery near Mt. Enterprise.

 While growing up, Dan lived near Atlanta, Georgia and as a boy of eight years, was there when Sherman made his infamous march through the state.  His father sent him to the woods to keep the Yankees from getting the horses, and this event Dan remembered well all his life.

 When Dan’s daughter, Georgia, was about sixteen years old, the family moved to New Prospect where they bought land near the church and cemetery.  While living here, Georgia married Hansel Wright.  They became the parents of eight children.  They and their spouses are as follows: Lady Dean married Melvin Rettig; Margaret, Gordon Brown; Douglas, single; Willard, Ernestine Phillips; Joe Memory, Martha Jane Hammer; Faustine, Leroy Skinner; Anita, Douglas Bradford; and Joyce Wayne Boyd.

 Dan’s second marriage was to Lizzie Wiggins, a widow with one son, Sam Wiggins.  His third wife was Kizzie Antoinette Weaver, daughter of Andrew Jackson Weaver and Mattie Walling Weaver.  They became the parents of twelve children.  Their names and spouses are: Frances, Gyce Teal; William, (1) Ellie Johnson, (2) Mary Lou Gregory; Pauline, Fred Risinger; Mary, (1) Raymond Hughes, (2) Foris Horton; Wilson, Evelyn Crawford; Marshall, (1)Evelyn Smith (2) Mickey Mooney; Joe, Helen Morris; Wilma, Marvin Skinner; Curtis, Evelyn Smith; Martha Moss, Claude Porter and Mozelle, Quinten Barrington.

 Dan moved from Rusk County to the Tennessee community in Shelby County where he died March 16, 1930.  He is buried in the New Prospect Cemetery.  Also buried here are his wife, Kizzie, and their oldest son, William.  Joseph Hansel Wright, his wife Georgia, and their son Douglas are buried near the Pollards.

 Submitted by Margaret Wright Brown