John Kilby Pollard
was brought up on a farm in Adams County, Ohio, and at the age of eighteen enlisted as a private in Company G, 70th O. V. I., October 16, 1861, serving therein until December 22, 1862, when he was honorably discharged on account of general debility incurred in the service. He re-enlisted in the spring of 1864 as a private in Company I, 182d O. V. I., and was commissioned from the ranks as second lieutenant in the same regiment, serving until the close of the war, participating in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Nashville, and numerous skirmishes. Upon his return home he attended school two years, taking an academic course. He then resumed farming; and while engaged in that pursuit, in the year 1867, was married to Miss Anna Watson, of Manchester, Ohio, a daughter of Lawson Watson. Two children were born of this union, Lucille E. and William S. Lucille was educated in the West Union public schools and at the Ohio Wesleyan University, taking a three years' course afterwards in piano at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She then traveled and studied two years in Berlin with Moritz and Moszkowski. William also attended the Wesleyan University, studied pharmacy two years afterward, and has since held many positions of trust and honor. In the fall of 1875, John K. Pollard was elected sheriff of Adams County on the Republican ticket. He was re-elected in 1877 by a large and increased majority. In the fall of 1879, he was nominated and elected state senator from the seventh senatorial district by a majority of one hundred and three votes, and was re-elected in 1881 by one thousand four hundred majority. In the fall of 1888, he was a Harrison presidential elector from the eleventh congressional district of Ohio. In 1892, he was appointed by Governor McKinley financial officer of the institute for the deaf and dumb, at Columbus, Ohio, which place he held until appointed by President McKinley counsul general of the United States at Monterey, Mexico, one of the most important posts in the service, so far as jurisdiction and trade are concerned, there being within its compass nine consulates over which the consul general has supervisory authority.
Among numerous other positions, he was elected lay delegate from the Cincinnati conference to the general conference of the Methodist Church, held in New York in 1888. He was a charter member of McFerran Post, G. A. R., West Union, Ohio, and a member of the military order of the Loyal Legion. He was also a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Manchester, Adams County, Ohio. After years of patient suffering, he died while in the consular service, October 22, 1899, and was buried at Manchester, Ohio.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900