Louis Folsom Pollard

Louis Folsom Pollard was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1886 to John Henry Mingo Pollard and Julia Evans Pollard. His father was an Episcopal priest and archdeacon.

Pollard attended St. Augustine's School in Raleigh, North Carolina and Hopkins School in New Haven before coming to Yale in 1906. At the time of his Hopkins graduation in 1906, newspapers reported he was the only Black student in his graduating class. In a scholarship application, he listed Yale and Hopkins alumnus Charles Boyer, an instructor and later dean at St. Augustine's, as a reference. At Yale, he roomed with William Emanuel Hendricks (Class of 1908) in Lawrance Hall. He left after his first year - he reported in an alumni survey that it was due to financial reasons. In 1909, he married Bertha Cornelia Scott. He joined the cleaning and dyeing business of his father-in-law, Herman Scott, with whom he and Bertha lived on Orchard Street. The couple had four children. Bertha died in 1916.

Around 1913, he began working as a railway postal clerk in New Haven. He continued in this position until 1927. That year, he wrote to University Secretary Carl Lohmann inquiring about possible jobs in the New Haven area. He said he had left his job for personal reasons and "on account of my color I have experienced great difficulty in securing a local position." He said he was writing to Lohmann on the suggestion of "Dave Daggett," who may be David Lewis Daggett (1888-1970) or his father David Daggett (1858-1916).

At the time of the 1920 census, he was married to Addie Mero and they were living on Gregory Street with the Pollard children, Addie Mero's two children from a previous marriage, and Herman Scott.

He later returned to the cleaning and dyeing industry. In the 1930 census, he and his son, Gale, are listed as living in Worcester, Massachusetts and working as dry cleaners in a cleaning plant, and for some period in the 1930s he was employed by Manhattan Cleaners at 50 Ashmun Street in New Haven.

In 1936, Pollard married Katherine Occomy of Providence, Rhode Island in New York City. The 1940 census shows them living in Providence, with Louis Pollard working as a silk spotter and Katherine Pollard offering palmistry services. Pollard died in 1943 and is buried in Providence, Rhode Island.