Pollard, Marie Antoinette Nathalie Granier Dowell, 1840-1900

Marie Antoinette Nathalie (Granier) Dowell Pollard, reader and lecturer active in the 1870's and 1880's, was born in Norfolk, Virginia, the daughter of a West Indian planter, Pierre Granier. Her birth date is not known. She was first married to James R. Dowell, by whom she had several children, but separated from him during the Civil War because of political differences. Mrs. Pollard supported the Union cause. In 1865 she divorced Dowell, and in 1867 married Edward Albert (or Alfred) Pollard (1828-1872), the Southern editor and author. After his death in 1872 Mrs. Pollard began her career as a lecturer and reader, playing in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and other cities around the country. She was best known for her lectures on temperance, for her satires on social life in Washington, and a series on her travels through the West. She toured California on behalf of the Democratic Party ticket in 1876. In 1890 Pollard was the first woman to apply for a seat on the Consolidated Stock Exchange. Pollard died December 6, 1900 in a carriage accident in Paris.