The Dallas Journal, Volume 53, 2007 Page: 43
162 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Henry Pollack Trunk Company
By Tresa Tatyrek
[Authors Note: The research for this article was prompted by the discovery by Brad Camp of a packet of
old photographs in the attic of a house he purchased at 3316 Beverly in old Dallas. The photographs
depicted scenes in the Henry Pollack Trunk Company, which operated on Elm Street beginning about
1883. As I soon discovered, the history of the trunk company revealed the personal histories of several
generations of the Pollack family. And what a family! Complete with a mysterious death, charges of
abuse, lawsuits, and conflicting family loyalties, the Pollacks could have been the source for the
fictional "Dallas "family of television fame.
The article illustrates the use of the many sources available to us in Dallas. These include the court
records at the County Records Building, the Dallas Morning News archives and the Murphy & Bolanz
maps through the Dallas Public Library web page, the Sanborn maps through TexShare, and the census
records on microfilm in the Genealogy Section of the library. In addition, the extensive court documentsreveal how many Dallas people's lives were
touched by the Pollack family.]
The Henry Pollack Trunk Company was one of
the largest trunk companies in the southwest
during the trunk-making heyday. It was located in
the heart of downtown Dallas in the 1900 block of
Elm Street.' Its founder was of German descent.
This was a typical family with divorce, siblings
suing siblings, suspicious deaths, and contested
wills.
The Company was founded by Henry Pollack
around the time of his father Samuel's death in
1885. Samuel had been a traveling salesman for a
trunk company and gave Henry and his brother,
Charles, his wares of trunks and luggage.
The father P. Samuel POLLACK3 was born
between 1831 and 1835 in Hanover, Germany.4'5
Sometime after he immigrated to the United
States he married Marie S. (Mary)
WEUTARNITZ,67 who was born in 1837 in..::..:
5 .. s m... . t-. : . .
Henry Pollack Trunk Company 1911-1913
Main Street Side
Dallas Morning News, "Dogs Mourn as Henry Pollack, Blind Trunk Man, Passes Away, had Guarded Him Many
Years"; February 10, 1940 issue.
2 Court Records, District Court 101, Dallas County, Texas.
3 1880 US Census, St Louis Missouri, supervisor's district 1 enumeration district 77 page 32.
4 1870 US Census, 11 Ward City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri, page 50 (stamped) dwelling 659.
5 1860 US Census, Beat No 5, Harrison County, Texas, page 460 (stamped) dwelling 517.
6 Death Certificate, Missouri State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Registration District 791, File No 24376,
March Pollack 7 July 1913.
S1880 US Census, St Louis Missouri, supervisor's district 1 enumeration district 77 page 32.
Dallas Journal 2007 43. ..:.. :........::.: a.. - .,.. :. : :.. . ,
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Dallas Genealogical Society. The Dallas Journal, Volume 53, 2007, periodical, October 2007; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth186866/m1/47/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.