The Search For Our Lancashire Poole Family

The Family of Richard Edward Poole

Forward & Introduction by Warren & Leonard Poole

I had known of my brother Leonard’s interest in genealogy for many years. I had watched in 1967 when he had interviewed our maternal grandmother’s aunt about the extended family. He had kept me apprised of his recent efforts, and although I was vaguely interested, I never responded with anything much other than “uh-huh”.

However, when he told me that he had cracked the mystery of our great-grandfather Richard Edward Poole, that he now had a long list of names of our grandfather’s half brothers and sisters, and when I saw a census document our great-grandfather had signed so long ago, I became much more involved. I think those long dead people became more real then.

Leonard showed me how he had done the hard, tedious labour of searching through census records to find our great grandfather. Now that my interest had been piqued, I wanted to contribute something to the effort, and I thought it might be possible to use the internet to connect the names of those long ago people with people living today. People who would be relatives, albeit distant ones.

So around Christmas of 2010 I started putting names into Google. I had no idea what would happen, and I certainly didn’t know how obsessed I would become.

The following represents our co-operative effort. The first part is what Leonard wrote, which describes how he found Richard Edward Poole, and what assumptions he made to find him. I think Leonard is very Spartan with his story, and I know it only represents a tiny portion of the effort which went into it, and the research he continues to do.

My part is much longer. Not only am I more verbose, but because my part relates what we have learned about Richard Edward Poole’s children and their amazing story.

Except checking some specific facts, I have left finding official records to him. I concentrated on the social history aspects of the story, which I find more interesting. But almost every time I came to a dead end, Leonard used his searching skills to bail me out.

We hope you find this as interesting as we did.

Now before you start, a warning: This is a very long and involved narrative. Our ancestors appeared to have absolutely no imagination when naming their children, so there are numerous repeated names. I’ve done my best to make it clear who I’m talking about, but I have no doubt you will be cursing me in a few minutes, and likely flipping back to the lists of Poole children.

In addition, to understand the logic behind some of the assumptions we’ve made I have included a significant amount of background information about life in England between 1870 and about 1930. So, if you’re interested in learning about our great uncles, their families and the times they lived in, I suggest first you put the kettle on, make a cup of tea and find a comfortable chair. This will likely take a while.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

-Warren

Discovering Our Great Grandfather - Richard Edward Poole 1829-1912

For my brother Warren and I, the ancestral history of our grandfather, Thomas Poole, was shrouded in mystery. As children, we would hear various stories about where he came from; but he was never the one to tell the tale. He maintained a quiet demeanour, staying in the background as the rest of the family chattered around him.

Legend had it that his family of the early 1900's was so poor that when he went off to work in the coal mines of Lancashire at the age of 12 his mother had sold his bed by the time he returned home. We were told that he joined the British Army as an underage youth.We have since discovered that he entered the "Theatre of War" in France on June 13, 1915. Serving as a Lance Corporal in the Machine Gun Corp, he was wounded in battle, and gassed, but at least he did return, if only to work once again in the coal mines. There is a family picture of him with his mates. He is the one on the left, holding an over sized shovel with his over sized muscular arms.

We were all told that his father was about sixty years of age when he was born in 1899 and that he was the youngest of three children of Richard Edward Poole and Eliza Jane Bird. This, however, was supposedly the third marriage for Richard Edward. Little was known of these other families beyond there being numerous half brothers and sisters, many of whom had immigrated to America. Other than that brief wisp of history, no one seemed to know anything more of these ancestral siblings.

Over the years attempts have been made to piece together the story of our great grandfather Richard Edward Poole. Research was based on the assumption that he was born about 1839, probably in Lancashire. England has had a census every ten years since 1841 and the standardized collection of civil birth, marriage and death records have been maintained since 1837. That is where the search began.

He was relatively easy to find in the census records of 1881, 1891 & 1901. In this time period he lived at various addresses in the town of Golborne, Lancashire, employed as a tinsmith. From this initial research marriage certificates were obtained for two of his marriages. In 1883 he married Alice Speed with whom he apparently had at least two children, Richard Edward, born about 1882, and Alfred, born in May, 1888. Alice died in May, 1888, likely as a result of complications from child birth. In 1895 he married Eliza Jane Bird with whom he had three more children, Mary Jane, born in 1896, Herbert, born in 1897, and finally our grandfather, Thomas, born April 9, 1899. On both of the marriage certificates Richard's father's name is recorded as Robert. Robert's occupation is “joiner”(aka cabinet maker) and he is deceased. All records state Richard Edward's birthplace to be Salford, (part of Manchester), Lancashire.

Oddly though no reference to him could be found in any census prior to 1881, nor could records of a birth be found. Searches were made of military and immigration records for the time period, but there was no one that came close at all to matching the criteria. It was as if he simply “appeared” out of thin air as a 40 year old male working as a tinsmith in Golborne.

Another line of research opened up, however, when it became possible to search the 1911 census, which was recently released to the public. This record is distinct from any previous census in that it is completed by the head of the household, and signed by them. Each document can be downloaded and viewed. There was no record of a 70 year old Richard Edward Poole, but Thomas Poole, born April 8, 1899 was easy to find, living with his siblings and parents. The form was signed “Richard Poole” who recorded his own age as 82.

There was no doubt that this was the correct family as all of the names and ages perfectly matched what had previously been documented. The only oddity was the age of Richard Edward himself. In the three previous census records his birth year had been recorded by the census taker as 1840 or 1841. Now, when he completes the document himself, he reports his age as 82 making his birth year about 1829. At a loss to explain this discrepancy, it prompted further research to look again for earlier records of Richard Edward using this new birth date as a starting point.

Fairly quickly a new Richard Edward Poole was discovered by searching LDS records. A Richard Edward Poole was baptized at Manchester Cathedral on May 29, 1829. His parents were recorded as Robert and Hannah Poole. Records of two other children, James Henry, baptized 28 October, 1827, and Elizabeth Ann, baptized 19 June, 1825 were also discovered. A Robert Poole married a Hannah Saxton in Manchester on June 20, 1824. (Confirmation of her maiden name as Saxton is documented in the 1861 census where she is listed as a widow, and mother to the head of the household, James Poole.  Also residing there is Edward Saxton, listed as Uncle to James Poole.)  Although unconfirmed, Robert Poole quite likely dies sometime between 1829 and 1834 as on 27 April, 1834, there is a record of a Hannah Pool marrying James Cope in Manchester. Although no record or Richard Edward has yet been uncovered in the 1841 census, we do find, living on (back of) Thomson Street, Manchester, a ten or twelve year old James Pool recorded as a stepson, living with James and Hannah Cope.

It is the 1851 census record that is most revealing.  Residing at 5 Crowne Street, Hulme, Manchester, this document lists James Cope, age 43, head of the household, living with his wife Hannah, age 47, born in Nottingham, and sons James Poole, unmarried painter, age 23, and Richard Poole, married tinplate worker, age 22.  Also recorded are Mary Ann Wilsham (sp?), age 23, and Hannah, age 1.  A marriage of a Mary Ann Wilsham to a James Poole is found in 1853. Although Richard Edward is listed as married, his wife is not present.  A further search reveals an Eliza Poole residing at 9 Silver Street, Hulme, Manchester.  She is listed as a wife, married, age 23, living with a daughter, Elizabeth Ann, age 4 months.  It should be noted that no males are recorded at this address.
Extrapolating from the above data, we found a record of a baptism of a Hannah Saxton in Nottingham on January 22, 1804, listing her parents as John & Elizabeth Saxton.  As well, there is a record of a baptism of a Robert Poole in Manchester on November 6, 1803, recording his parents as Richard and Elizabeth Poole. Although somewhat speculative, it is quite likely that these people are Richard Edward's grandparents, or, our great-great-great-grandparents!

Richard Edward married Eliza Dodd on September 30, 1849. On the marriage certificate Richard's occupation is “Tinplate Worker” and his father is a “Cabinet Maker”. Census records of 1861 record the family of two adults and five children living at 28 Mallow Street, Hulme, Manchester. By 1864 they had moved to Halifax, Yorkshire where they had at least five more children as recorded in the 1871 census. In the 1881 census however, Eliza Poole is listed as a widow living with only three of her children. No other members of the previously large family can be found in the Halifax area.

However, no record of a death of a Richard Poole between 1871-81 who would have been born about 1829 could be found anywhere in England. Nor was there any evidence of another Richard Poole born in 1829 in Manchester who would have completed the 1911 document.

It was beginning to look like these two people were one and the same. Of course, to come to this conclusion required some unseemly assumptions. His first wife, Eliza, reported to the census taker in 1881 that she was a widow. Now, perhaps she thought this to be true, or, then again, maybe she didn't want to admit to the census taker that her husband had left. The storyline fits only if one accepts that there was a marital breakup that resulted in Richard abandoning his family in Halifax, starting up life again in Golborne, Lancashire by 1881 and ultimately committing bigamy!

We therefore must assume that once Richard shows up in Golborne, he starts to lie about his true age, and marital condition. In the 1881 census he lives at 71 Leigh Street. He is employed as a tinner in a cotton mill and his birth year is reported to the census taker as 1840. He lives with a boarder named Alice Speed, a cotton operative, birth year reported as 1856. On April 25, 1883 they are married. The ages on the marriage certificate record his age as 43, and she being 28. The question that must be considered is whether or not that is Richard's true age, or is he really 53, not 43 when he marries Alice? She is already marrying someone whom she thinks is fifteen years older than herself. Would Richard be prepared to admit that he is almost twice her age?

It is possible to explain these discrepancies without accepting that they are the same person. Perhaps the death of the older Richard was not recorded in the 1870s. Maybe he left the country. Maybe the younger Richard led a life of a vagabond and was never documented prior to 1881. One can make up all kinds of possible explanations. However, there is no denying the facts that do point to these two Richards being one and the same. They both have a father named Robert, employed in cabinet making. Each Richard is consistently employed as a tinsmith or tinware worker. They have the same middle name. They are both born in Manchester. And finally, the family story always was that Richard Edward had been married three times, and that our grandfather had numerous half brothers and sisters. Yes, a lot of facts do line up.

And, as Richard was possibly re-establishing himself, at least three of his young sons from his first marriage were keeping busy as well. By the 1870's they were in the process of making quite a name for themselves as acrobats in America known professionally as “The Poole Brothers”. But that is another story.

-Leonard