The story of the Tyrone emigrant who invented the dollar sign

A ‘forgotten’ letter in a US archive helped uncover the Tyrone heritage of the man who invented the dollar sign.

Oliver Pollock became a hugely successful businessman after emigrating from Ireland to America in the 1760s.

His place in history is secured because he is credited with inadvertently creating the dollar sign – one of the world’s best known financial symbols.

For more than 200 years, it had been believed Pollock was a Co Derry man, with historians saying he had lived in the Coleraine area before emigrating.

However, a letter found in the archive section of the US Library of Congress, described as the world’s largest library, revealed he was, in fact, from the Bready area of Tyrone. The discovery of the letter in 2007 set in motion a chain of events which led to a plaque being unveiled in Bready in honour of the village’s most famous son.

The amazing story of Pollock’s life and legacy is the focus of the latest episode of the WAT’s The Story podcast.

The podcast was launched recently by the North West News Group to tell stories about the people and places of Tyrone.

Historian Dr William Roulston tells the podcast that Oliver Pollock emigrated around 1760 with his father and brother.

“Pollock grew up in a rural community which was largely Presbyterian. It was largely composed of those who were descended from Scottish settlers in the 17th century,” he said.

“His family would have been involved in farming and all the challenges that that brought in terms of price fluctuations, economic crises, agricultural depressions, even diseases in livestock that had a major impact on farming families, not to mention drought, harvest, failures, severe storms and so on.

“So, the opportunities for him here in Ireland were limited and like many young men, he decided to try his fortune on the other side of the Atlantic.”

Pollock is known to have first settled in the Carlisle area of Pennsylvania, before moving to Philadelphia.

It wasn’t long before he made his mark in the city.

“He obviously was very skilful when it came to commerce and finance,” said Dr Roulston.

“He understood business. He built up trading links with the West Indies and became a very successful merchant within a relatively short period of time of arriving in America.

“He also had a skill for being able to work with a broad range of different people. He was able to build good links with the Spanish in the Caribbean.”

Within a few years, Pollock was one of the most successful businessmen in the region, and news of his success had reached back home.

The letter found in US Library of Congress was sent in 1767 to Pollock by his brother Charles, who was still living in Bready.

“Charles is finding life difficult at home and he refers in the letter to fact he had one cow but had to sell it because of the financial position he was in,” said Dr Roulston.

“There he is writing to his brother Oliver, who was a very successful merchant in America, and he’s actually telling Oliver it would be great if he could come home, but clearly Oliver is not going to give up this life in America.

“It shows really the American dream in a nutshell, that there are so many from Ireland going to America and like Oliver Pollock, doing well. But the letter shows us the poverty and the tough life that he left behind, which members of his family were still going through.”

Despite his brother’s request, Pollock stayed in the US and his business interests continued to flourish.

When the American Revolution begins in 1775, Pollock was based in New Orleans and threw his huge financial strength behind the Patriots who were fighting British forces in a bid to secure American independence.

“Pollock clearly has very strong sympathy with the American Patriots,” said Dr Roulston.

“He basically throws his lot in with their cause and he writes numerous letters to the Continental Congress, which was essentially the body of the American Patriots.

“Pollock encourages them, suggests ideas and in recognition of his willingness to support them, in 1777, he’s appointed the commercial agent for the Continental Congress at New Orleans.

“In effect, he is their man in Louisiana, and through Pollock’s influence with the Spanish, he actually brings the Spanish into the war on the side of the Americans.

“He personally finances the American campaign in the Mississippi Valley, which was of crucial importance in securing a vast area for the American cause.

“So, it’s reckoned he invested something like the modern equivalent of nearly a billion dollars in the American War effort. That’s a colossal sum of money when you think of it.”

However, after the Patriots’ victory in the revolution, Pollock tried unsuccessfully to recoup some of the money he had given to their cause.

His subsequent financial problems led to him spending time in prison.

Pollock, who died in 1823, eventually did succeed in getting some of the money back, but felt bitter at how he had been treated by the Patriots and their political masters.

While Pollock’s support for the Patriots is recognised by historians as an important aspect of the revolution, he is most associated with the creation of the dollar sign.

“The story goes that because he was dealing with the Spanish in the Caribbean and in New Orleans he would often use the peso and would abbreviate it in such a way that it sort of came out to be the S with the two strokes through it, which then became the dollar sign that is so recognizable to this day,” Dr Roulston.

“So it’s believed he was the one who came up with the dollar sign, basically because he was abbreviating the peso in such a way that it became a sign.”

The fact it was Washington’s Superintendent of Finance, Robert Morris, a long-time friend of Pollock’s, who chose to adopt the dollar symbol as the symbol of the US currency in 1797 only adds to the strength of argument that the Bready man was the person who ‘invented’ the dollar sign.

Dr Roulston played an important role in uncovering Pollock’s Tyrone connections, which led to the unveiling of a plaque in his honour in Bready in 2016.

“It was back in 2007 and my colleague Rd. Brian Turner and I were speaking in Philadelphia.

“We’re giving a presentation on behalf of the Ulster Historical Foundation and John Polk, who lives in Maryland, was in attendance in that.

“He showed me the letter which he had found in the Library of Congress from Charles Pollock to his brother.

“It was the discovery of this letter that allowed us to focus our research and focus our attention on the Bready area. When I came back from America, I remember going to the Bready Ulster Scots Development Association and telling them, did you know, the man who invented the dollar symbol came from Bready.

“I think that just blew everyone away. It was just such an incredible story that somebody who came from a small rural community in Co Tyrone had made such an impact.”

You can listen to podcast on Oliver Pollock on Spotify or YouTube. Just search for WAT’s The Story podcast.