WILLIAM POLLOCK
WILLIAM POLLOCK, of the National Kittanning Bank, has a record as a bank cashier not often equalled for he has served fifty-four years continuously in that capacity, beginning in 1859 with the old Kittanning Bank, and associated since in turn with the First National, Kittanning National and National Kittanning. As a financial adviser and authority on the commercial situation, there is no man in the borough whose opinions are more thoroughly respected, for his conscientious devotion to high principles and comprehensive knowledge of business conditions. He is of Scotch-Irish stock, and his branch of the Pollock family has been settled in Pennsylvania since established here by his great-grandfather, Charles Pollock.
Over two hundred years ago, Mr. Pollock's ancestors settled in the vicinity of Londonderry, in the North of Ireland, emigrating from Glasgow, Scotland. Charles Pollock came to America from Coleraine, Ireland, in the same county, from which fact it is inferred that this is the same branch of the family to which President Polk belonged, his family name being originally Pollock. In the "Genealogies of the Presidents" we find : "James K. Polk, born in Mecklenburg county, N.C., Nov. 2, 1795, son of Samuel (1771-1827) and Jane Knox (1773-1848) Polk, grandson of Ezekiel (born about 1737) and Mary Wilson (daughter of Samuel Wilson) Polk; and great-grandson of William (1701-1769) and Mary Knox Pollock. William Pollock (the original form of the name "Polk") was the son of Robert (died in 1727) and Magdalena Tasker Pollock, who emigrated with their family from County Londonderry, Ireland, to Somerset county, Md., about 1694. William Pollock removed from Dorchester county, Md., to Hopewell township, Cumberland Co., Pa., about 1738, and thence a few years later to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina."
Charles Pollock came alone to this country, settling in Dauphin county, Pa., where he began farming. A year later he was joined by three brothers, one, a doctor, returning to Ireland soon afterward, not finding the practice he liked here. Another went South, to North Carolina, and the third settled near his brother Charles in the vicinity of Lewistown, in what was called Buffalo Valley; he married and had a family.
After coming to America Charles Pollock married Agnes Steele, who was from the neighborhood of Lewistown, a member of the old Steele family of Lancaster and Dauphin counties. Five children were born to them: James became a farmer of Erie county, Pa.; Thomas, also a farmer who lived and died in Clarion county, Pa., attaining an advanced age, was married twice, his first wife being a Fruit, his second a Knox (his grandson, W.W. Pollock, is a business man of Kittanning, Armstrong county, where the latter's son, Roy W., also resides, engaged in the insurance line); Adam and Robert went to Erie county; William was the grandfather of William Pollock, cashier of the National Kittanning Bank.
William Pollock, possibly the third son of Charles Pollock, went to Clarion county, Pa., settling east of Parker, where he engaged in farming. He was a Presbyterian like his ancestors. His wife, whose maiden name was Fruit, was the daughter of Robert Fruit, a Revolutionary soldier, and sister of his brother Thomas' wife. Robert Fruit married a daughter of Richard McClure, a Revolutionary soldier of McClure's Fort, in the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Pollock's family consisted of seven children, three sons and four daughters, the sons being Charles, Robert and Adam. Robert, who lived in Philadelphia, married and had a family; Adam, whose home was in Erie, Pa., married but had no children.
Charles Pollock, of the above family, was born in Clarion (then Armstrong) county in 1808, and died in 1874. Farming was always his occupation. His wife, Ann (Stewart), whom he married in Venango county, Pa., was a native of Huntingdon county, this State, daughter of Samuel Stewart, and belonged to a substantial old family. Her father settled in Venango county, where he owned a large farm and remained until his death. He followed agricultural pursuits. His wife's maiden name was Moore. Mr. and Mrs. Pollock were members of the Concord Presbyterian Church in Clarion county, when he served as elder, and they were highly respected among their neighbors. Their family consisted of nine children, viz.: Eliza J. married William Livingston, who is now deceased, and they had a family of four children, Annie (unmarried), Ella (wife of Frank S. Heisley), Willa Bell (wife of Matthew Garret) and Fremont P. (who is married and lives in Denver, Colo.). William is mentioned below. Eddie S., who resides in Washington, D.C., married a Miss DuBois and they have two children, Clarence and Gura. Sarah died in 1907 unmarried. Oliver, a farmer on the old homestead in Clarion county, married a Miss Miller, and they have three children, Mateer (who is married and living in Wilmerding, Allegheny county), Mary (unmarried, who lives with her brother at Wilmerding) and Ora (who lives at home in Clarion county). Robert is a retired oil producer living at Clarion, Pa., is married and has four children. Rosanna, who is unmarried, lives with her brother Oliver on the old farm in Clarion county. Narcissa, widow of J.N. Best, lives in Perryville, Pa; she has three children, Charles, Rudolph and another son. Mary died when a young woman.
William Pollock was born on the old homestead in Clarion county, where he was reared. He attended school winters, the rest of the year finding ample employment in the work of the home farm. When only a boy he came to visit his siter in Kittanning, where he obtained a position clerking for Brown, Phillips & Co., with whom he was engaged for a period of five years. Then in 1858, he entered upon what proved to be his life work, becoming bookkeeper for the State bank known as the Kittanning Bank, of which James E. Brown was president. After filling that position one year he was elected cashier, in 1859, and was connected with the bank as such until it wound up its affairs in 1867. This was followed by the First National Bank (organized in 1863, but which did no business until 1867), of which James E. Brown became president, William Pollock cashier, and James E. Brown, James Mosgrove, Charles T. Neale, John B. Finlay, and William Pollock, directors. Again he continued with the institution until the organization of the Kittanning National Bank, in the year 1881, when James Mosgrove became president and Mr. Pollock cashier, an association he maintained until the charter expired in 1902. That year the National Kittanning Bank was established with the following officials: H.A. Colwell, president; William Pollock, John A. Colwell, James McCullough Jr., and John D. Galbraith. John A. Colwell retiring a year later, Mr. H. G. Luker was elected in his stead. Mr. Pollock is still acting as cashier, and his long and intimate cooperation with the leading business men and interests of Kittanning and vicinity has given him an insight into the necessary elements of profitable operations here which renders his judgment invaluable. His keeness of perception, sharpened by years of experience is regarded by many as infallible.
On Sept. 19, 1861, Mr. Pollock married Arabella Robinson, in Kittanning. She was born at Rural Valley, Armstrong county, daughter of Robert A. and Matilda (Cogley) Robinson, the former a pioneer merchant of Rural Valley; her grandfather, Robert Robinson, was one of the prominent early settlers in Kittanning. Mrs. Pollock died june 2, 1907, a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Kittanning, of which Mr. Pollock has also been a faithful member and worker for years; he has given long service as trustee, holding the office until he resigned it. He has not been much associated with public affairs, business occupying practically his undivided attention, but usually supports the Republican party in politics. Socially he holds membership in the Sons of the American Revolution.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Pollock: Alice is the wife of F.J.Rouk, a merchant on Washington Street, Boston, Mass.; they have no children. Helen Mar is the wife of C.A. Bray, of Glendale, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the employ of the General Electric Company at that city, and they have children, Alice Pollock and Myra Norwood.
Source: Page(s) 326-328,
Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914Transcribed May 1998 by Sue Brosnahan for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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