Surnames were generally derived from a persons occupation, such as Miller; their personal characteristics, like Armstrong; a family relationship, Edmondson or son of Edmond; or a place name like Pond. In most cases the surname Pool(e) is derived from a 'place' name. Since most families that emigrated took their 'place' name with them, it means that there are many trees that can be called Pool(e) and each tree may have branches with different derivatives of the surname. One of the original, early Pool(e) trees started in France from the surname De la Pole. Descendants from this line emigrated to the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, and to America.
There are connections between the family names of Pool(e), Walpool(e), Vanderpool(e), Claypool(e), Pooler, and Pettypool(e). The 'e' at the end of Pool can come and go, seemingly at will, through different generations. A good example of the way the name changed over the years is the Pettypool(e) name. There are Pool(e)'s today that descend from the Pettypool(e) family of early Virginia. William Pettypool lived in the same vicinity as the suspected progenitor of my line, William 'The Joyner' Poole. Over the years, some of the Pettypool(e) line gradually changed their name to Pool(e). The general transition of the name was to Petty Pool(e), P'Pool(e), and to P. Pool(e). If you are tracing your name and find a branch of the family that has an abundance of children with the middle initial 'P.' then there is a good chance you are a PettyPool(e).
Since my branch of the Pool(e) family has not been traced to a known immigrant, both the country of origin and the original derivative of the surname remain unknown. For now the line starts around 1703 with William 'The Joyner' Poole in an area of Virginia that was originally Prince George, County. In 1720 the area became part of Brunswick County, in 1746 it shifts to Lunenburg County and finally becomes part of Mecklenburg County in 1765. There are records of land transactions in the area involving William from 1735 to 1768. Most of the transactions were in the general vicinity of Flatt Creek, Virginia (Map).
What's a 'Joyner'? [UP]
Records of early settlers often refer to an individual by both his name and either his occupation or the location of his dwelling. This helped to distinguish the individual from other people of the same or similar name who lived in the vicinity. William was a joiner or finishing carpenter and there are records showing he was paid for work on the local parish church and the county clerk's office.