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POOLE (POOL) Family History, Part I

The search for our Poole-Mosher family began with Susan Maria Poole⁴, her sister Caroline, and, according to family oral history, their half-brother Jacob, who all arrived in Coulterville, Mariposa County, California, from Massachusetts, on October 19, 1859. The following year she and her siblings were enumerated with "John and M. Russell," who traced back to Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, where, in 1850, Susan and her siblings were enumerated with Mariah Poole and some young men from the Reed and Russell families.

Upon review of various census records and Caroline's obituary, the children were likely born in 1843 (Susan), 1847 (Jacob), and 1848 (Caroline), which indicated that if family tradition held then Caroline was also a half-sister; however, as it turns out, the three were all full siblings.

DNA matches with Mosher descendants led to research that showed the Mariah Pool in the 1850 census correlated to Mariah (Mosher Poole) Reed⁵, the widow of Israel Reed (Sr.) and Jacob Poole (Sr.)³ who went on to marry John R. Russell and moved to California.

The main Poole family of Dartmouth was Sirbinus and Lurena Poole², whom, with numerous leads from DNA test matches, I now believe to be Susan's grandparents. From there we looked at son Jacob Pool³ who was first married to Hannah Weaver until her death in 1840, after which Jacob remarried to the widow Mariah (Mosher) Reed⁵. Jacob and Mariah had a few children before Jacob's death in 1848. Mariah and her children from both marriages were found in the censuses of 1850 along with a Russell family. At this time they were enumerated next to Abiathar Pool, Mariah's elder stepson. John R. Russell of the Russell family was widowed in 1854 and the following year he and Mariah wed. They were enumerated in the Massachusetts state census of 1855 next to Abiathar Pool.

The main discrepancy between oral family history and what I have since learned from the records, is that Susan was a half-sister to Jacob and Caroline. In view of Susan's birth in 1843, after the death of Hannah Weaver and a year after Jacob's marriage to Mariah, it is mostly clear that Susan, Jacob, and Caroline were all children of Mariah and Jacob and perhaps that the half-siblings recalled were those of the Reed boys, who also migrated to California by 1860.

Pool or Poole?

Good question. The majority of early imaged records show "Pool." Beginning in the 1870s, or perhaps as early as the 1850s, "Poole" began to appear in contemporary records. To achieve some sort of consistency, "Pool" will be used for the early families, and then for families when "Poole" appears, I will use it throughout.

Jacob POOL¹ (~1720-)

1. Jacob Pool¹, was named as the father of Sirbinus Poole² in vital records of Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He is reported to have married Mehetabel Elliott. As many as 14 children have been ascribed to them, but not yet proven, including:

Sirbinus POOL (Sr.)² (1755->1818)

11. Sirbinus Pool (Sr.)² is first found in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, where he was recorded to have been born on February 11, 1755, and married to Lurana (reportedly Lurana Lee). They had 11 children together:

Continue on to Part II