Fannie POLSON

March 6, 1831 - March 7, 1889

*Obituary
Fayetteville Democrat
Friday, March 15, 1889

POLSON, Fannie POLLARD Quarles - It was said by Israel's wisest king that the day of death is better than the day of birth. The wisdom of this saying was fully realized in the recent death of Mrs. S.F. Polson, who for weeks and months had been the subject of indescribable sufferings. "It is finished" and "free at last," were the thoughts that instinctively came to the heart, when death, which had so long seemed so near and yet so far, finally held the dear sweet lady in his strong embrace. Her sickness began more than a year ago and stubbornly and steadily pushed on its course like the resistless tide of a mighty river, overleaping and sweeping away every barrier. The most skillful physicians, the most devoted and tender nurses fought the disease at every point and spared no pains to arrest its onward march; yet it was all in vain. The subject of this notice was the daughter of the venerable and gifted Dr. Thomas J. Pollard, the oldest, best known and most highly respected citizen of Fayetteville. She was born in Versailles, Ky. March 6, 1831. When an infant her parents moved to Palmyra, Mo., a town noted for the wealth, culture and hospitality of her people. In 1839, just fifty years ago, she came with her parents to Fayetteville; here she grew to womanhood and here most of her long and useful life was spent. She attended Georgetown Female College, Ky., where she graduated July 21, 1848. This was one of the best institutions of learning in the country and was presided over by Thornton F. Johnson, one of the most eminent educators of his day. After graduating she returned to Fayetteville where she was married to William R. Quarles March 27, 1850. Ten years after this event she was left a widow with five children, her husband dying Aug. 18, 1860. Only two months after the death of her husband she buried her babe beneath the roses. After 25 years of widowhood she was married to Dr. W.D. Polson, Sept. 14, 1885. She brought sunshine and gladness to the home of the Dr. and his motherless children and now that the shadow has again come over their hearts they have the deepest sympathy of a large circle of friends. Mrs. P. was a member of the Christian Church in Fayetteville for forty years. R.

*Obituary
Fayetteville Democrat
Friday, March 29, 1889

Editors Sentinel: You have already announced in your columns the death of Mrs. S.F. Polson which occurred at her home in this city on the 9th instant and promised a more extended notice by one who had known her for many years. I had been personally acquainted with her for nearly forty years and had better opportunities to learn her true character than any one else of her many friends in Fayetteville who survive her unless it be her own immediate family and relatives. In 1849, just forty years ago, she was the belle of the little village of Fayetteville, having just returned from a female seminary in Kentucky where she had graduated with honors, and her many accomplishments and personal charms soon won for her the admiration of every one who came within the circle of society in which she moved. In 1850, when it was announced that William R. Quarles, a young gentleman lately from Tennessee, was soon to be married to the beautiful and accomplished Miss Fannie Pollard, he was congratulated by his friends on having won such a prize. Mr. Quarles was then the junior partner in the dry goods firm of James Sutton & Co. which at that time had a larger retail trade than any house in the State outside of Little Rock. On the 8th day of March 1852 I commenced clerking for this firm and was taken by Mr. Quarles to his house to board and on that day received my first introduction to his young and accomplished wife whose first child - Emma - was a baby ten months old. I was received into her pleasant home where I remained for nearly four years a regular boarder and no sister could be more kind or thoughtful of the comfort and pleasure of a brother than was that grand woman to me and other young men who were also boarding at her home. There were four other young men boarding there during the summer and fall of 1852,viz: A.J. Mcllroy, who was clerking for James Sutton, and three students of Arkansas College - James Johnson and Buck Rogers, now of Fort Smith, and W.D. Polson; whose wife she became 35 years later in life and whose home and heart are so desolate and sad by reason of her death. Jack Mcllroy died in the Confederate army in Little Rock in 1863; Capt. Jim Johnson, Buck Rogers, Dr. Polson and myself are all that are left of the once happy group that daily surrounded her table, feasting upon the choice viands with which it was always laden, and presided over by her with so much dignity and womanly modesty, together with such thoughtful care and pleasant speech as to make all happy and contented and feel that it was indeed home. Her husband she adored and his and her children's happiness and pleasure were her chief delight. Her devotion to her husband and long, patient and tender care of him during his protracted illness which resulted in his death in 1860, were subjects of remark by every one who came about her home. Left a widow with four small children to provide and care for she went to work in earnest to do her whole duty and right well did she perform the task. The war came on soon after her husband's death and thus was quickly swept away all the property that she and her husband had accumulated during the ten years of their prosperous and happy married life and she was compelled to work hard and undergo many privations and hardships during the four years of the war in order to feed and clothe her children and others depending upon her for sustenance. It is often remarked that "those were days to try men's soul," and the saying is true; but the ladies of the South had souls to be tried, too, and they were tried, and the noble soul of this good woman was tried, and triumphed over all obstacles and came out like gold tried by the fire. All the male relatives and friends upon whom she had any claim for protection or support, had to leave Fayetteville and she was left to take care of her home and her helpless children. She opened a boarding house and did her own work, cooking and waiting upon her boarders, some of whom were Federal officers whom she regarded as enemies to the land and people she loved most dearly, yet she treated all with uniform kindness and courtesy. And notwithstanding the fact she was known to be a Southern woman, in full sympathy with those who were battling for Southern rights, those Federal officers were kind and obliging to her, treating her with the utmost respect and civility. They knew her to be a true lady and respected her as such. She was never afraid to speak her true sentiments and never failed to befriend her southern friends when opportunity offered and yet she was respected by the union officers who appreciated her as a true and noble woman. When the war was ended and her friends returned from the South, destitute and homeless, she did all that a brave noble woman could do to assist them. I speak from personal knowledge of her hard struggle during the war to support her own family and others less able to work and I know of my own personal knowledge of her devotion to duty and to her Southern friends during those terrible days, that not only tried men's but women's souls. No children ever had a more loving, self sacrificing mother than the children of Mrs. Quarles. And a truer friend, braver of purer woman than she is seldom found in any land. As to her christian virtues, her devotion to her church and Sabbath school, others have already written who are more familiar with her christian life, all of which I endorse most fully. Her friend of thirty-seven years. J.H.V.H. Fayetteville, March 17, 1889.

Contributed on 5/21/13 by judyfrog
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