The Arkansas banner., 1844-06-19
From he Democratic Repiep, Mag. 1888.


 Carolina, on the second day of November, l795, and is consequently in the forty-third year of his age. His ancestors, whose ori- ginal name, Pollock, has, by obvious transi- ton, assumed its present form, emigrated, more than century ago, from Ireland, country from which many of our most dis tlngulshed men are proud to derive their ori- gln. They established themselves first in Maryland, where some of their descendants still so]ourn. The branch of the family from which IS sprung the subject of this memoir, removed to the neighborhood of Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, and thence to the western from tier of North Carolina, some time before the commencement of the Revolutionary war. Its connection with that evenauI struggle, is one ot rare distinction. On the twentieth of May, l775, consequently more than twelve month anterior to the declaration of the Fourth of July, the assembled inhabitants of Mecklenburg county, publicly absolved them- selves from their allegianeey 10 the British crown, and issued formal manifesto of in- dependence, in the terms of manly eloquence, which have become ''familiar as household words" to the American people. Col. Thomas Polk, the prime mover in this act of noble daring, and one of the signers of this first Declaration of Independence, was the great uncle of the present Speaker, who is also connected with the Alexanders, Chairman and Secretary of the famous meeting, as we'll as with Dr. Ephraim Brevard, the author of the Declaration itself.*
 MT. Jefferson having, sincerely, no doubt, but ,,,orolyy ,l., ed the authenticity of this interesting piece of history, the legislature of North Carolina, with becoming pride of patriotism, caused the evidence establishing its validity to be collected in a complete shape, and deposited in the archives of the State. The people of Mecklenburg were, almost to a man, staunch Wings, in the genuine, revolutionary, accop- tatlon of the term, and have been up to the present day remarkable for their unwavering adherence to the Democratic principles As an evidence ofthe sturdy independence which characterizes them, 1t is often pleasantly ob- served that, at the last war, they took up arms six months before, and did not lay them down until twelve months after the Govern ment, In the contest for independence seve- ral of Mir. Polk relatives distinguished them- selves, even to the peril of life. To be allied to such people and lineage, is fit subject for honorable pride. Liberty does not frown upon the indulgence of sentiment so natu- ral. She does not reject the heritage of honor. while refusing to add to it, social or political distinctions subversive of equal rights. The American people have always minilested an aflectionate regard for those who bear the names of the heroes or martyrs of the Revo- lution. They furnish not proof of the al- legged ingratitude of republics.
 The father of Mir Polk was a farmer of unassuming pretensions, but enterprising cha racter. Thrown upon his own resources in early life, he became the architect of his own fortunes. He was warm supporter of Mr. Jefferson, and through life firm and consis- tent Republican. In the autumn of 1906, he removed sto Tennessee, where he was among the first pioneers of the fertile valley of Duck river, then wilderness, but now the most flourishing and populous portion of the State The magical growth of country which was but yesterday redeemed from the sole domin- ion of nature, is phenomenon of great moral and political interest, and cannot fail to impress a character of strength and enter prise upon the authors and participators ol the wonderful result. How can man Ian guish or halt, when all around him is expand ing and advancing with irrepressible energy In this region, Mr. Polk still resides, so that he may be said, literally, to have grown with it's growth, and strengthened with it's strength Of course, in the infancy of its settlement, the opportunities for instruction could not be great. Notwithstanding this disadvantage and the still more formidable one of a painful aflliction, from which, after years oI suffering, he wasfnally relieved by surgical operation-he acquired the elements of a good English education. Apprehending that his constitution had been too much impaired to permit the confinement of study, his ia ther determined, much, however, against the will of the son, to make him commercial man; and with this view actually placed hin with merchant Upon what slender thread. hang the destinies of lfel little more, ant the uncompromising opponent of the Bank of the United States, the Democratic Speake of the House of Representatives, might have been at this day, in spite of his origin ant early tendencies, Whig preacher of panics uttering jeremiads for the fate of that shadowy and intangible thing pt"Credit system,' elf shape it might he call'd that shape had none, Distinguishable in member, joint or limb;
 Or substance might be called, that shadow seem'd For each seemd either.''
 He remained few weeks in a situation adverse to his wishes and incompatible witt his taste Finally, his earnest appeals sue ceeded in overcoming the resistance of hi father, and in July 1873, he was placed unde the care of the Rev Dr. Henderson, and sub sequently, at the academy of Murfreesboro' Tenn, then under the direction of MT. Samue
 *Iradition ascribes to Thomas Polk the principa agency in bringing about the Declaration He ap pears to have given the notice for the election of tn Convention, and (being the colonel of the county to have ssuperintended the election in each of tn militia districts. He had been for long time CT gagged in the service of the province as surveyor and as a member of the Assembly and was thu intimately acquainted, not only in Meckenburg, bt in the counties generally. His education had bee acquired, not within the classic walls of an Englis university, but among his own native hills, an amidst the passions and feelings of his countrymei Dr. Ephraim Brevard, (the author of the Declar;