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Tolkien didn't write Elves as having pointy ears in any of the major books, but he did reference pointed ears in one of his Letters (#27 I think but I don't recall), and in the Etymologies, published in the Lost Road. (It's a study of his Elven languages). He wrote: The Quendian ears were more pointed and leaf-shaped than <blank>. It's assumed that he's comparing them to human ears but it's unclear because his writing was quite light and that word isn't readable in his handwritten manuscript. This is one of the classic Tolkien-geek arguments, along with whether Balrogs have wings (who gives a toss, I say) and a couple others. It does seem likely that he intended for Elves to have slightly pointed ears but it's never going to be 'decided' for sure.
As for hobbits, they were probably created in the First Age, but nobody paid attention to them (or knew about them? I don't know.) until the Third Age.
--matt
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