Plymouth July. 20. 1770. Sir,

In the inclosed Extracts, I1 think you will find a full Answer to your Enquiry about Mrs. Pole.2 Here is an account of her Age and the Day & Year of her Death; and from hence also may be inferred her eminent Piety, Such Assurance & Consolation on a Death bed not being compatible with a Sinful Life; I say, her Death-bed, for it appears by the Dates, that her will was made but 4 Days before her Death; And the General Esteem the Court & Colony had for her (upon the account of her Piety & Usefulness) appears from the 1st. article, wherein She is Singled out from all the other Settlers of Taunton and joyn'd with the two ministers Mr. Hooke3 Pastor, Mr. Streete4 Teacher as deserving more Regard than any other Lay-Inhabitant: And indeed from this & other Considerations I am Satisfied She was the chief Pillar in the Settling that Place, (which was made a Town that Year her Grant was dated & at the same Court)—And therefore I am glad to hear that any of her Kindred have Tho'ts of perpetuating her memory. For the memory of the just if Blessed—and the Righteous shall be in everlasting Remembrance. I find her name mentioned Several Times in the Records; but I have selected out the chief Articles and all that I apprehend will be of Service in the present Case—Only adding, that She in her Will made a Donation to the Church of Taunton; and also made Provision for her Nephew John Poole's 5 being educated at College; but it seems he did not follow her Direction in this, tho' he proved an eminent man in his Day. I have taken Pains in the affair, and have looked over most of the Colony Records—and hope what is done will be satisfactory & answer the intended Purpose. I rest yours &c.,

JOHN COTTON

Her personal Estate only in her Inventory amounted to £188.11.7

Extracts:

1639. Bradford Govr.

At the general Court of our Sovereign Lord the King held at New-Plymouth the third of March.

The Court doth further order, that they will See Mr. Hooke Mr. Streete471and Mrs. Pole shall have competent Meadow & Uplands for Farms laid forth for them about May next by Captain Standish and Such others with him as shall be especially assigned thereunto.

The last will & testament of Mrs. Elizabeth Poole exhibited before the Court held at Plymouth the Sixth of June 1656 on the oaths of Lieutt. James Wiate and Richard Williams, and by the said Court order'd to be recorded.

"The Seventeenth Day of the 3d. Month 1654, In the name of GOD Amen. I Elizabeth Pole of Taunton in Colony of New-Plymouth in New-England of the Age of Sixty and five or thereabouts, being sick and weak under the visitation of the Lord, Yet being of perfect memory & understanding and willing to set my House in order according to the Direction & Message of the Lord unto Hezekiah when he was sick, that I might leave mine Affairs So as might be peaceable & comfortable to my Friends remaining behind Me; I therefore commit my Body to the Grave according to the Appointment of GOD who took me from the Dust and saith we shall return unto the Dust, there to remain until the Ressurrection, And my Soul into the Hand of GOD my heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, Who is to me all in all, and hath as I believe and am perswaded throught the Mercy of GOD reconciled me unto GOD and taken away the Guiltiness of Sin and Fear of Death which would otherwise have been heavy to bear, and makes me willing to leave the World and desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all. And as for that Portion of wordly Goods which the Lord of his Mercy hath yet continued unto me I give and Bequeath as followeth . . . "

"The Inventory of the Estate left by Mrs. Elizabeth Pole of Taunton who departed this Life upon the one & twentieth Day of May one thousand Six hundred fifty & four, Taken by William Hailstone, Me. Ann: Street and Alice Parker in Presence of the Overseers" (Deac. Richard Williams Deac. Walter Dean & Oliver Purchis) "and exhibited unto the Court held at Plymouth the Sixth of June 1656 and by the said Court order'd to be recorded as followeth."

Extracts from the Records of the ancient Colony of Plymouth, Attest, John Cotton Regr. & Keeper of said Records

Acts made and confirmed at the general Court the 3d. March 1639.

472

That Cohannett Shall be called Taunton.

Copy from the 1st. Plymouth Colony Law Book. P. 56, Attest John Cotton Regr. & Keeper of the ancient Records.

By 1639 is meant what is called in common Speech 1639/40. as appears by the Records.

Mr. William Poole was admitted a Freeman of this Government of New-Plymouth March Court 1636.—and 'tis likely he was admitted not long after his Coming—and I Suppose his Sister Mrs. Eliza. Poole came into the Country with him. Plymo. Oct. 6. 1770.

JOHN COTTON Regr.

A Person nominated for the Priviledge of a Freeman was wont to be propounded one Court & admitted the next quarterly Court if there was no objection to his Piety or Morality.

RC ; addressed: "For Robert-Treat Paine Esqr. At Taunton"; endorsed by Charles C. Paine: "Letter of John Cotton & Extracts from the Records & other mems. relating to Elizabeth Pool an Early Proprietor of Taunton."

1.

John Cotton (1712–1789), minister of Halifax, Mass., supporter of the Great Awakening, and later register of deeds for Plymouth County (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 8:681–691).

2.

Elizabeth Poole (1589–1654) is considered by some as the founder of Taunton. John Winthrop in his History of New England (ed. James Savage. Boston, 1853) wrote the following under the year 1637: 'This year a plantation was begun at Tecticutt by a gentlewoman, an ancient maid, one Mrs. Poole. She went late thither, and endured much hardship, and lost much cattle. Called, after, Taunton."

3.

William Hooke (1601–1678) was the first minister at Taunton and was later associated with Rev. John Davenport at the First Church of New Haven until his return to England in 1656 (Emery, Ministry of Taunton, 63–73).

4.

Nicholas Street (d. 1674) was the first teacher and second minister of the church at Taunton, and afterwards colleague and successor of Rev. John Davenport at New Haven (Emery, Ministry of Taunton, 156–164).

5.

John Poole (d. 1711) became a merchant in Boston. He married Elizabeth Brenton, a daughter of Gov. William Brenton of Rhode Island (James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 4 vols. [Boston, 1861], 3:454).