Origins of the Pole family

In a notebook written by Thomas Pole MD, he suggests that his family originated in Wales, but so far no evidence has been found to support this assertion.  The family home of his great-grandparents and grandparents was Buttle-Hay otherwise known as Battlehay roughly halfway between the villages of Wiveliscombe and Milverton in Somerset.  The notes below are shown as written in his style, spelling and punctuation.  The earliest records we have of the family are contained in this book where he states:-

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  "The drawing . . is a Representation of the House in which my great Grandfather lived.  The Estate upon which it stands is known by the Name of Buttle-Hay, situate in the Parish of Wiveliscombe in the southern part of the County of Somerset and appears to be of considerable Antiquity; it was a noted House for the Entertainment of Friends in the early periods of the Society, and the Road leading to it was by the neighbouring Inhabitants called Quakers Road, and was so wrote upon the Guide-Post directing thither."

"Mean as it appears in its present ancient Condition, it was once thought of no inconsiderable Respectability."

"The Court before the Door was formerly ornamented with Box or Hew Trees cut in representation of Birds &c. agreeable to the Stile of of those times."

"The Floor of the Kitchen is paved with small Pebbles, in which with white Pebbles are formed the the Initials of my Great-Grand-Father's Name and the date of the Year (see the Drawing) but I think the Building must be of greater Antiquity than the Date on the Floor discovers."

"One unusual and rather curious Circumstance is, that a small Parlour on one side of the House, not shown in the drawing, is entered by a Door going through the Kitchen Chimney Place."

"The estate on which this House stands is not large, but very fertile, and agreeably situated."

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  "On the Kitchen Floor of Buttlehay House.
  Supposed to be built about the Year 1665,
  and first repaired in 1695."

The house which was situated near a brook, has long since gone and all that can be seen today are a few fragments of slate from the roof of the out-houses, after the plough has turned them to the surface.  A few bushes and trees remain where the garden or orchard was, at the rear of the house, and a steep path down to the brook worn into a gully by the rain.  Even the road, of which he wrote, has mostly gone beneath the plough of modern times.

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Edward and Mary Pole were prominent Quakers at a time when Quakers were persecuted for their beliefs.  They were fined several times for non-payment of tithes.  In 1679 Edward Pole provided a small parcel of land on the parish boundary between Wiveliscombe and Milverton for use as a Quaker Meeting House and burial ground.  Later his grandson, Thomas, provided for a new Meeting House in Milverton and the old meeting house retained the name Quaking House.

The house has long gone but yew trees grow between the graves.  A few hundred yards north of this site was a farm known as Warrens in 1840.  A later owner took the signpost from the end of the lane and erected it again in the garden of Warrens.  It is now claimed that this house was the former meeting house but the claim is false.  Tithe maps of that period confirm the correct site of the old Meeting House.

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American Poles

The eldest known daughter of Edward and Mary Pole was Ann who married Marmaduke Coates.  They emigrated to America in about 1690-1700 where they had four surviving children.

Details of John Pole

When John died, five of his nine children survived him, though John, his son, died two years later.  Anna married James Bringhurst and Edward married Mary Warner, having six and nine children respectively.  Descendants of these families remain in America.   Ann didn't marry and after visiting England in the spring of 1792 she stayed on with her brother Thomas and died in Bristol, 1798.

John's youngest son, Thomas, was born in October 1753 just fifteen months before his father's death and his mother died by the time Thomas was seven.  Thomas left America to visit his family in England in the spring of 1775 where he settled and married Elizabeth Barrett, never to return.

Thomas's eldest daughter Mary Ann married Francis M. Fowler and they lived with their six children in America.  Another son, also Thomas, married Mary Martin and in turn had a son Thomas who married M.A. Blunt.  They had five children in America.

There are therefore five lines of the family in the USA.  The author has heard from two descendants of the Edward and Mary Warner line and would like to hear from you if you descend from any of these families.

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Thomas Pole MD

  Biography of Thomas Pole

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Thomas Pole of Milverton

The silhouette shown is roughly quarter size.

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Dr. Thomas Young, F.R.S.

Edward and Mary Pole's English granddaughter, Ann, married Christopher Young.  Their youngest son Thomas married Sarah Davis and one of their ten children Thomas Young became famous.  'Phenomenon Young', as he was nicknamed, was a very remarkable young man.  He could read at the age of two, could speak many languages and studied medicine, but his interests were much wider.  Any student of physics will have come across 'Young's Modulus' for elasticity in metals, he made discoveries concerning the properties of light and his linguistic work lead to the deciphering of the famous Rosetta Stone.  Thomas Young was born in the Milverton house above, where a plaque on the wall celebrates the fact.  His uncle left him £10,000 and a London House which meant that he was well provided for.  He married Eliza Maxwell in 1804 but left no children [that I know of].

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GeoffStone@Wedmore.org.uk

© Geoffrey Stone, Braintree   17-9-2002   Last Update 29-9-2006   minor bits 3-9-06       Visitors.