Grace Phillips Pollard
Grace Phillips Pollard | |
|---|---|
 Photograph of Phillips circa 1915 | |
| First Lady of Virginia | |
| In role January 15, 1930 – May 4, 1932 | |
| Preceded by | Anne Byrd |
| Succeeded by | Violet E. MacDougall |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Grace Hawthorne Phillips 1873 Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | May 4, 1932 (aged 58–59) Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Spouse | John Garland Pollard |
| Children | 4 |
Grace Hawthorne Pollard (née Phillips; 1873 – May 4, 1932) was an American suffragist who was the first lady of Virginia from 1930 to 1932 as the first wife of John Garland Pollard. She is the only First Lady of Virginia to have died while in the role.
Early life and family
[edit]Pollard was born in 1873, the daughter of Charles T. Phillips (a Sergeant Major in the 9th Virginia Infantry) and Mary Hickman.[1][2] She was raised in Portsmouth, Virginia.[3][4]
In August 1898, she married John Garland Pollard.[5] They had one child who died in infancy and three children who lived into adulthood, including:[6][5][7]
- Dr. John Garland Pollard Jr. (1901–1995), president of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, chairman of the Lancaster County School Board
- Charles Phillips Pollard (1903–1990)
- Suzanne Pollard Boatwright (1906–1977)
Public life
[edit]Women's suffrage
[edit]In the 1910s Pollard became active in the women's suffrage movement in the United States, and was a member of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.[8] She was part of a committee to promote the viewing of the film Your Girl and Mine, a 1914 film promoting woman's suffrage.[9] Virginia women won the right to vote in August 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment became law and would go on to vote in the presidential election that following November.[10][11][12]
First lady
[edit]Pollard became First Lady of Virginia in 1930. As first lady, she was involved in historical preservation and horticultural beautification pursuits.[13][14][15] She supervised the planting of dogwoods and boxwoods on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol and the Executive Mansion. She was also a collector of fine art, including a sculpture by Attilio Piccirilli.[16] Pollard suffered from severe arthritis and was confined to a wheelchair by the time she was first lady.[17][15]
Death
[edit]Pollard died at the Executive Mansion in 1932, aged 58 or 59.[6][17] She is buried in her family plot in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Portsmouth. After her death, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bipartisan joint resolution in remembrance of her and in honor of her service as the first lady of Virginia.[14][18][19] Because of Pollard's work, dogwoods now line Virginia's highways.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (1908). Men of Mark in Virginia: Ideals of American Life; a Collection of Biographies of the Leading Men in the State. Men of Mark Publishing Company.
- ^ History of Virginia. American historical Society. 1924.
- ^ Who's who in Finance. Joseph & Sefton. 1911.
- ^ Virkus, Frederick Adams; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1925). The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy: First Families of America. A.N. Marquis.
- ^ a b Sobel, Robert; Raimo, John (1978). Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978. Meckler Books. ISBN 978-0-930466-00-8.
- ^ a b Heinemann, Ronald L. "John Garland Pollard (1871–1937)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
- ^ Who's who in the South. Mayflower Publishing Company. 1927.
- ^ Campbell, Alice. "The real story behind a famous 1915 photograph of Richmond suffragists". VCU News. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
- ^ "Your Girl and Mine (suffrage film)". Social Welfare History Project. 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
- ^ McDaid, Jennifer Davis (October 26, 2018). "Woman Suffrage in Virginia". Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
- ^ McDaid, Jennifer Davis (September 3, 2015). "Equal Suffrage League of Virginia (1909–1920)". Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
- ^ "Far-Reaching Changes: Virginia's Woman Suffrage Movement". Shaping the Constitution: Resources from the Library of Virginia and the Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 2020-08-20. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
- ^ Younger, Edward (1982). The Governors of Virginia, 1860-1978. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 978-0-8139-0920-2.
- ^ a b c Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Commonwealth of Virginia. 1989.
- ^ a b "Mrs. Pollard Dies At Mansion" (PDF). The Manassas Journal. May 5, 1932.
- ^ Virginia Cavalcade. Virginia State Library. 1988.
- ^ a b "Recorder 6 May 1932 — Virginia Chronicle: Digital Newspaper Archive". virginiachronicle.com. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
- ^ The White Paper: Activities of the General Assembly of Virginia. The Chamber. 1989.
- ^ Journal of the Senate of Virginia. Commonwealth of Virginia. 1989.