Pollard, William A.

Flourished: 1836-1845 Mason County, Illinois

Pollard lived in Sangamon County as early as 1836; it is likely that he lived in the far northern part of the county, situated in present-day Mason County. In 1841, he purchased land near Havana on the Illinois River, and in 1842, he and two others received a permit to build a milldam on the Quiver River, a tributary of the Illinois River. In 1845, a local landowner sued Pollard and the others to recover damages for flooding caused by their milldam; Pollard and the two others retained Abraham Lincoln to represent them in court.

Petition of John Hines and Others to the Sangamon County Commissioners’ Court; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Mason County, 70:68, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1879), 424; Ritter v. Howell et al., Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135951.