Deacon Luke Pollard House (1806)
One of the Town of Harvard’s most impressive houses, topped with a distinctive belvedere, is the Pollard House at 14 Fairbank Street. It was built around 1805-1806 by Luke Pollard (1774-1866), a deacon of the town’s Congregational Church who became a founder of the seceding Evangelical Congregational Church. Later owners of the house included William and Regina Howerton and Homer F. Harman.
Rev Luke Pollard was my 3th great grandfather. I am working on a family history project that traces the movement westward. I don’t know anything about Luke’s son Henry (2nd GGF) but Henry’s son Charles, who was my great grandfather, was discharged from the Army at the end of the Civil war in Ohio and moved west with the railroad to Nebraska and Wyoming, becoming a well known rancher and county commissioner. Charles’ son Percy was a “wild cowboy” who ran horses on the open range, his son Herbert was a cowboy who later became a civic leader and bank officer in Oregon, and that is how I came to be born in the west. I hope to take a look at this house in a week as I have a trip planned to Massachusetts.
Since this historic home is in Harvard Massachusetts, and was owned by a notable Congregationist deacon, I would suspect that there were other notable people who visited or stayed at the home. Is there any record of this?