My role as administrator of the Pettypool DNA Project inevitably often directs my energies as a Pettypool family genealogist. Occasionally a descendant carrying the name “Pool” or “Poole” will join the DNA Project with a hunch or even evidence that he has Pettypool heritage but hasn’t been able to trace it to one of the early progenitors from the Colonial or immediate post-Revolutionary era.
As has been documented, William, the sole Pettypool immigrant to America (Virginia in the 17th century), had only one known son, also a William, who in turn left two sons, William (3) and Seth (3), also residents of Virginia.1
These two grandsons of the immigrant left behind large families, each including several sons. Although most of these fourth and fifth generation men began life in Virginia, many eventually migrated in the post-Revolutionary period either west to Kentucky and Tennessee or south to the Carolinas (or some combination of both). Although an exact accounting of the sons of William and Seth of this third generation is not totally resolved, all current descendants should, in theory, be able to trace their ancestry in a straight line back to William (3) or Seth (3). Continue reading “My Travails with Charley: How the Brother of Charles W. Poole of 19th Century Georgia Led to Their Pettypool Ancestor”