Judge Charles A. Pollock. North Dakota has already become distinguished for the high rank of her bench and bar. Perhaps none of the newer states can justly boast of abler jurists and attorneys. Prominent among these is Judge Pollock, of Fargo, who now occupies the bench of the third judicial district. He is a native of New York, his birth occurring in Elizabethtown, Essex County, September 27, 1853.
His parents, John and Eunice E. (Ellis) Pollock, were natives of Ireland and New York, respectively. The father, who was a teacher by profession, came to the new world in 1830, at the age of nine years, and was graduated from the Troy Conference Seminary of New York, then presided over by Bishop Jesse T. Peck. He was ordained as a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but he devoted the greater part of his time to teaching. He founded the Rainsburg Seminary at Rainsburg, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, where he remained for some years, and in 1856 went to Iowa and the following year opened the Epworth Seminary at Epworth, Dubuque County, remaining there two years. He then went to DeWitt, Iowa, as principal of the public schools at that place, and later served as county auditor of Clinton County for four years, and as deputy treasurer eight years. In 1895 he came to Fargo, North Dakota, where he died a Year later. His wife had passed away in 1895. To them were born four sons; one a resident of Dubuque, Iowa; another of San Francisco, California, while our subject makes his home in Fargo, North Dakota, and the fourth died in infancy. The paternal grandfather, James Pollock, was a farmer by occupation.
Judge Pollock, of this review, was educated by his parents, and at the age of fourteen commenced work as deputy in the office of the register of deeds in Clinton County, Iowa, where he remained six years. He then entered Cornell College at Mt. Vernon, Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1878, and the following two years was principal of the public schools of Lowden, Iowa, during, which time he also studied law. He graduated from the law department of the State University of Iowa, in 1881, and on the 15th of July, that year, opened a law office in Fargo, Norte Dakota, where he has since engaged in practice, meeting with marked success in his chosen calling. He has recently been chosen to lecture in the law department of the State University of North Dakota and has accepted.
In 1882 Judge Polk married Miss Martha Clinton, daughter of Rev. John W. Clinton, a native of Ontario, Canada, and by this union four children were born, namely: John C., who died at the age of three years and a half; Clara A.; Martina L. and Dewitt C. The family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Judge is a member of the Masonic order and the Bar Association. Politically he is an ardent Republican and as an orator has taken an active part in campaign work throughout the state. In 1885 he was elected district attorney and creditably filled that office for two terms. He was elected judge of the third judicial district in 1896, in which position he is now serving with distinction.
Source: Compendium and History of North Dakota 1900 Page 191