As with her brother John Belton Poole,  tradition describes Elizabeth as the daughter of Robert Pool and a granddaughter of Seth Petty Pool (c. 1754- 1837) of Laurens county, South Carolina.  This tradition is recorded in the book- Bessie P. Lamb, Mary-Mack Poole Ezell, A Genealogical History of the Poole, Langston, Mason Families and Kindred Line of Upper South Carolina, 1931- on page 12:

(2) Robert Poole and His Children:  Robert Poole son of (1) Seth Poole, married Elizabeth Davis…. His children were (3) Belton (1816-) and (3) Elizabeth R. (Sept. 17, 1818).

To date, no independent confirmation of this linage has been found.  The children of Seth Petty Pool (d. 1837) were not fully enumerated, and Robert Pool has been found only in scattered citations from 1810 through 1815;  has not been reliably located in any Census; and his probate in 18191 does not list any family members.

Elizabeth was born 9 March, 1817.2  Sometime before 1840, she married William H. Fowler.3

The exact composition of the family of the Fowler family is difficult to determine.  Lamb enumerates two children, Catherine ( b. 1839) and Harriet (b. 1842) who do not appear in any Census- possibly the result of having no 1850 Census record.  To date, I have not found any 1850 Census record that can be positively identified as the Fowler family.  An additional confusion arises in that the 1840 Census enumerates one male child less than 5 years of age, yet Lamb records a female child born before 1840.

The 1860 Census4 provides a snapshot of the children in the family, and includes one child of particular interest- Mary Elizabeth:

  • William Dixon (21 April 18446 June 1922) 5
  • James Robert (25 March 184612 January 1910) 6
  • Mary Elizabeth (10 April 184825 November 1929) 7
  • John W. (4 January 185114 May 1932) 8
  • Sarah Ellen (31 January 185415 May 1939). 9

Mary Elizabeth Fowler

As noted by the Reverend Tolaver Robertson, “On  the 28th of September, same year (1865), I married Franklin Pool and Mary Fowler.”10  Franklin Pool was born 27 August 1840, the son of Berry P. Pool and Jane Pool.11 His mother Jane was born 20 January 1819,  the daughter of Berry Pool (c. 1792- 10 September 1847) and Mary Blackstock ( 14 August 1801- 17 November 1874).12  Mary Elizabeth and Franklin were cousins.

Mary Elizabeth and Franklin had a number of children before his death on 13 October 187313, including Ida Eleanor Poole Henderson (23 December 1866- 4 October 1954)14, Eva Carolee Poole Jackson (7 August 1868- 30 November 1932)15 and Ula Barte Poole (23 February 1870- 3 March 1950)16.  Ula Barte Poole is of note as the father of Robert Franklin Poole (2 December 1893- 6 June 1958), the ninth president of Clemson University.17

After Franklin’s death, Mary Elizabeth married Thadeous R. Simpson.

Final Years

Returning to Elizabeth R. Poole, she makes her final appearance in the Census of 1880, living in Dials, Laurens county, with her husband William H Fowler.  She died 29 November 1881, and is buried at Warrior Creek Baptist church cemetery in Gray Court, South Carolina.18

Elizabeth R. Poole is my second cousin twice removed.


  1.   Laurens County Probate Court, Laurens County Ordinary/Probate Judge Index to Estate Papers 1800-1939, Box 56 Pkg. 12. 
  2.   Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 11 October 2015), Memorial# 8956063 Elizabeth R wife of W H Fowler. 
  3. 1840 United States Federal Census, Year: 1840; Census Place: Laurens, South Carolina; Roll: 513; Page: 7; Image: 18; Family History Library Film: 0022510; family of W H Fowler.  See also :Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 11 October 2015), Memorial# 8956063 Elizabeth R wife of W H Fowler. 
  4.   1860 United States Federal Census, Year: 1860; Census Place: Laurens, South Carolina; Roll: M653_1222; Page: 300; Image: 165; Family History Library Film: 805222; family of W H Fowler. 
  5.   Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 8 November 2015), Memorial# 31790321 William Dixon Fowler. 
  6.   Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed ), Memorial# 114297115 James R Fowler. 
  7.   Mary Elizabeth Simpson, death certificate 19650 (25 November 1929), SC Division of Vital Statistics State Board of Health, DHEC, Columbia, SC. 
  8. Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 8 November 2015), Memorial# 8956078 John W Fowler. 
  9.   Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 8 November 2015), Memorial# 67035626 Sarah Ellen Owens. 
  10.   Edited by Joseph R. Gainey, An Account of Marriages Solemnized by Tolaver Robertson in South Carolina between October 1842 & February 1867 (1985 A Press, Greenville, SC), p. 10. 
  11. 1850 United States Federal Census, Year: 1850; Census Place: , Laurens, South Carolina; Roll: M432_855; Page: 241A; Image: 82; family of Berry Pool.  See also  Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 11 October 2015), Memorial# 8956058, F T Poole. 
  12.   Bible, Power Family Bible; photocopy of Birth section; original privately held, “Jane Pool was born Jan the 20 th 1819”.  See also 1820 United States Federal Census, 1820 U S Census: , Laurens, South Carolina, Page: 4; NARA Roll: M33_121; Image: 16; family of Berry Poole. 
  13.   Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 11 October 2015), Memorial# 8956058, F T Poole. 
  14.   Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 24 September 2015), Memorial# 38631617, Ida Eleanor Poole Henderson. 
  15.    Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 24 September 2015), Memorial# 8955975, Eva Carolee Poole Jackson. 
  16.   Ula Barto Poole, death certificate 50-004877 (3 March 1950), Department of Health and Environmental Control, DHEC Vital Records, 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201.  See also “Ula Barto Poole, Clemson Head’s Father, Dies,” obituary, The State (Columbia, SC), 4 March 1950, p. 3; microfilm,  (: accessed 10 October 2015), Richland County Public Library, Columbia SC. 
  17.   Michael Kohl, Register of the Poole Papers, 1898- 1965, Robert Franklin Poole, 1893- 1958 Mss 73, 1.3 cu. ft.; Cooper Library, Clemson University, 1986., p. 1. 
  18.    Find a Grave, “Find A Grave Index,” database, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com (http://www.findagrave.com/: accessed 11 October 2015), Memorial# 8956063 Elizabeth R wife of W H Fowler.