A. Ann Pollard is believed to be Amy Ann Pollard, based on a common family naming pattern, but the "Amy" is not yet proven. A handwritten note from an ancestor, Lillian Galloway, says that Ann's father, referred to as "Great Grandfather Pollard", printed the first calico cloth made in America. A scrap of that cloth has been analyzed by the curator of fabrics at Winterthur Museum and found to be very old, but not old enough to be the first made in America. Additional research, however, shows that it is entirely possible that the family's piece of fabric was the first, or among the first, calico cloth to be machine printed in America.

This Pollard is now believed to be James Pollard, who married Elizabeth "Betty" Clayton 3 Jan 1803, in Lancashire, England. If you can shed light on this topic, please contact the administrator of this memorial.

Amy Ann Pollard married Samuel Robinson circa 1832. Their first child, Thomas W. Robinson, was born in Massachusetts in 1833. The next three were born in New York and the last three in Rhode Island. Samuel Bacon Robinson was the last born, May 31, 1849 in Pawtucket.

Thomas is listed in the 1850 US Census as living in Pawtucket and working as a print maker. Pawtucket was the home of Jacob Dunnell, who was a major printer of calico cloth, a new industry in America in the early to 1800's. It would have been the grandfather of Thomas -- James Pollard -- who printed the cloth that has been handed down through this family. Several Pollards came to America as print makers from the huge textile industry in Lancashire.

Thomas's sister, Amy Ann, was born in Dutchess County, NY, in 1834. There were very early calico printing businesses in that area at that time. It is very possible that is where our calico swatch was printed.