In 1887 Richard Augustus Bendall purchased the 61 1/2′ lot of land at what is now identified as 217 Jefferson Avenue. By 1889 he and his brothers, Oliver Perry and Isaac Skipwith Bendall had developed the lot, and the Italianate house that presently stands there was constructed.

The earliest records available regarding those who resided in the home are dated sometime after its construction. The 1890 Census records are not available to us as they were burned, but we do have the 1894 city directory which lists Oliver P. Bendall residing here with his sister Rosa. Oliver fought in the Civil War, serving in Company A of the 13^th Virginia Cavalry. Oliver was present during the surrender at Appomattox Court House. Before arriving in Danville, he was employed as a grocer in Dinwiddie County. He and his brothers, upon arriving in Danville about 1880, formed the partnership of Bendall Brothers Tobacco firm.

About 1893, Richard and his wife, Lydia, along with their only child, Frances (two children died in infancy) moved into the house, while Oliver moved out to their county home in Tunstall along with his sister. When he and Rosa returned to Danville, they took residence in the Robert Ross house at 225 Jefferson Avenue. Oliver died in 1904, and Richard shortly thereafter put the house up for sale. It was purchased in 1906 by Nicholas Pollock, and Richard and his family relocated to his brother’s home at 225 Jefferson Avenue.

Richard died in 1913 and Isaac in 1920 of “the infirmities of age and an affliction of a wound received in the Civil War”. All three brothers are buried in Green Hill Cemetery.

Nicholas Lewis Pollock was born August 9, 1851, in Pittsylvania County. In 1876, at the age of 25, he moved to Danville and entered the grocery business. In 1879 he married Rosa Agnes Branch. The couple had eleven children, but suffered the tragedy to have lost several of them at early ages. Lucy, born in 1884, died at the age of five of “congestion”, while Walter, born in 18876, died five months after his birth of “brain fever”. Another child, Lula May died at the age of 29 following complications after a surgery to remove a goiter. Mabel died of tuberculosis at the age of 23.

Nicholas, Rosa, and their seven remaining children moved into 217 Jefferson Avenue, and though several of the children would eventually marry and move on, the family maintained the home for the next 25 years.

Nicholas died November 19, 1928, at the age of 77, leaving the house to his wife and two of their three sons, Franklin (30) and Edgar (26), who remained at home. When Mrs. Pollock died three years later, she left a penciled will indicating her wish that a trust fund in the amount of $2,000 (about $30,000 today) be set up for Edgar. The remainder of the estate, estimated at $10,000, was to be divided between the six remaining children.

It’s unclear why a trust fund was deemed desirable for the 30-year Edgar, but he does appear several times in accounts in the local newspapers reporting various scrapes concerning money, one in which he struck a woman who allegedly owed him.

In 1939, a sister, Annie Wooding Pollock Carter was killed in a car accident when, after passing a truck, she lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a tree. It is believed she died instantly. Her husband, Rutledge Carter, riding as a passenger, suffered minor head injuries.

After their mother’s death, Nicholas Jr took possession of the house and resided there with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Wooley Pollock and their three children, Nicholas Lewis III, Benton Holt, and Elizabeth Conway. Brothers Frank and Edgar remained; Edgar having taken up trade in the tobacco business. The Pollocks shared the home with a “Renter” Paul H. Young and his wife Elizabeth, as well as “Lodger” Margaret Walker, a practical nurse.

In 1942, the house was sold to plumber, Clarence Coley who resided in the home with his wife. It was he who enlarged the house and converted it, over time, into four apartments. By 1970 the house was the home of four married women living alone.

In 1985, the house became the property of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Moss, who restored and renovated the home and gave it several sensitive and timely upgrades, including electrical and heating. The home was maintained as a multi-family apartment building, however, and eventually converted to a triplex with the uniting of the two upstairs apartments into one large, “luxury” apartment with large bedrooms and a modern bathroom with large, garden tub and separate shower.

After changing hands several times over the last twenty or thirty years, it has been vacant for some time and is presently awaiting sensitive new owners who will lovingly and carefully bring it back from its neglected state.

Sources:
Vital records available on Familysearch.org
FindAGrave.com
The Danville Register as found at Newspapers.com
The Danville Historical Society Holiday Tour archives, 1986