Wellesca Pollock
Wellesca Pollock Allen Dyar was an American educator and an early adherent to Baháʼí Faith in the United States. She was at the center of a Washington, D.C., society scandal in 1916.
Early life
Wellesca Pollock was the youngest survivor of the thirteen children born to Louise Plessner Pollock and George H. Pollock, at Weston, Massachusetts. Her brother, George Freeman Pollock, was the founder of Skyland Resort in Virginia. Their mother was an educator prominent in the kindergarten movement. Wellesca trained as a teacher, graduating from her mother's Washington Normal Kindergarten Institute in 1891.Career
Wellesca Pollock trained kindergarten teachers with her mother in Washington, D.C., and taught a kindergarten class for African-American children in the capital. In 1900 she began to identify as a follower of the Baháʼí Faith, and used the Persian name "Aseyeh" in that context. She traveled to Egypt, Syria, and Palestine to meet ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1907.Wellesca Pollock made some significant money selling real estate in Washington, D.C. She also did part-time work at the Smithsonian Institution, assisting entomologist and fellow Baháʼí Harrison Gray Dyar Jr.