THE STACK ROCK. filSTORY AND GENEALOGY Of THE STACK_P0LE f AMIL Y :13}1 JG"erett $. $tadtpole. PRESS OF JOURNAL COMPANY, LEWISTON, llIE. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Origin................................................... 9 II. The Stackpoles in Ireland................................ 26 III. The Stackpole Coat of Arms............................. 30 IV. Pedigree of the Clare Co. Stacpooles...................... 32 V. James Stackpole, the Emigrant........................... 45 VI. Family of James Stackpole, the Emigrant.................. 54 VII. Lieut. John Stackpole of Biddeford and Family........... 63 VIII. Lieut Samuel Stackpole and Family...................... 70 IX. Descendants of Joshua Stackpole Jr....................... 82 X. Descendants of Charles Stackpole........................ 87 XI. Descendants of Ebenezer Stackpole....................... 98 XII. Descendants of Otis Stackpole ........................... 101 XIII. Descendants of Tobias Stackpole ......................... 103 XIV. Descendants of James Stackpole of Thomaston, Me ...... 109 XV. Descendants of William Stackpole of Boston ...•.......... II9 XVI. Descendants of John Stackpole of Durham, Me ........... 132 XVII. Descendants of Absalom Stackpole ............... ; ....... 158 XVIII. Descendants of Stephen Stackpole .......... .-.•........... 165 XIX. Descendants of Capt. James Stackpole of Waterville, Me .. 183 XX. Descendants of Andrew Stackpole of Biddeford........... 198 XXI. Descendants of Joseph Stackpole of Augusta .............. 201 XXII. The Stackpoles of Pennsylvania. 207 XXIII. Unclassified Stackpoles........................... : ....... 212 XXIV. Military Record .......................................... 215· XXV. College Alumni ................................••.....•.. 223 XXVI. The First Reunion ....................................... 225 Index...................................................... 229 ILLUSTRATIONS The Stack Rock ..................•........................ Frontispiece Stackpole Court ..................................... Opposite page IO Church of Stackpole-Elidyr.... 13 Sir Richard Stacpoole.. 15 Approach to Stackpole Court...................... '. 22 Post-Office at Stackpole, Wales .................... 23 Sir Elidyr Stackpole ............................... 24 Coat of Arms .•...•.....•.•..•..••.•.........•.•.••. JO John Stacpoole of Cragbrien ....................... 34 Edenvale, Ennis, County Clare, Ireland ............. 3i Charles Harper Stackpole .......................... 73 George Dallas Stackpole ........................... 74 Paul Augustine Stackpole, M.D .................... So Lorenzo Stackpole ................................. 105 William Stackpole ..•...•....... ; .............•...... 121 Joseph Lewis Stackpole ............................ 122 Joseph Lewis Stackpole ............................ 123 Joseph Lewis Stackpole ........ : ................... 124 John Ward Gurley Stackpole ............. ; ......... 126 David Dunning Stackpole .......................... 139 Samuel Owen Stackpole..............•...........•.. 151 William Stackpole .................................. " 154 Charles Henry Stackpole ........................... 155 Everett S. Stackpole ............................... I.;6 Everett Birney Stackpole ............· .........•..•.. 157 George F. Stackpole .........................· ...... 159 Edward James Stackpole........................... 210 PREFACE Fe~ words are necessary to explain the plan of this book. The first three generations of the Stackpoles in America are summed up on page 6g. The different branches of the family tree are then shown in successive chapters. The names of all persons who bear the surname Stackpole are printed in small capitals, and the surname is added in some cases for clearness or by special request. Roman numerals prefixed indicate the first generation of the chapter; Arabic numerals, the second; capital letters, the third : small letters, the fourth ; small letters in paren­ theses, the fifth. The usual genealogical abbreviations need 110 explanation. Fulness and accuracy of dates have been sought. Saving a few typographical errors, there is good evidence for every date given. The records of many towns and churches have been searched. Wills, deeds and public documents have yielded as­ sistance. Hundreds of letters have contained items of informa­ tion. Only a few persons could not be prevailed upon by the utmost diplomacy to ahswer repeated inquiries. Any reader who notices an error or can furnish further information is requested to notify the author. The first pµblication of a work of this kind is necessarily incomplete. It brings to light facts that otherwise would remain hidden. The author suggests the printing of an annual report of the Reunions together with cor­ rections, additions, and such historical facts of interest as the future of the family may develop. Thus an edition in some future year may be more complete. If this book lead the youth who bear its name to a just amount of family pride and so become an incentive to broad education, earnest endeavor, sympathetic helpfulness, and noble living, the aim and wish of the author will be realized. I. ORIGIN The southwestern part of Wales has long been called "Little England." It was conquered soon after the invasion of William I. and settled by Normans and Flemings, who drove out the primitive Welsh. Pembrokeshire is its extreme western county. On its southern shore there is a columnar mass of limestone called the "STACK RocK," laid down on the Chart of Govern­ ment Surveyors, near the mouth of a wide estuary or pool, some­ times called Broadhaven. It evidently gave its name to the little harbor, and the place was anciently called Stack-pool. The name is variously spelled. A spelling older than 1300 A. D. is "S-t-a-k-e-p-o-1." A Welsh spelling of about the same date is S-t-a-c-k-p-w-1, where w is sounded like oo. In harmony with the genius of their respective languages the Normans would spell it without a k and the Saxons without a c. In process of time the two were combined as analogously in sack, back, etc. One letter is superfluous, yet modern English employs both in a large number of similar words. Many descendants of the family have always omitted the k in spelling the surname. Since the old Saxon name for a pool of water was pol, pronounced like pole, and since the fashion of Norman French was to write a silent e at the end of many words, it is easy to see how Stack-pool became Stackpole. It may be said, too, that stake and stack have a common origin. There is a tradition that GUILLAUME de MONTYALAI came over in the train of William the Conqueror and was assigned an estate at Horsham, Sussex, not far from the battle­ field of Hastings. His son Richard was knighted by William I. and settled in Pembrokeshire, near Stack-pool. The latter part of the tradition, at least, seems to be well founded, as will soon IO STACKPOLE FAMILY be shown. Before the Conquest no surnames existed in Eng­ land. They were just beginning to come into use in France. Many surnames arose from the name of the place in which a family lived. In a very old Roll of Knights the name is found "Sire Richard de Stakepol,'~ i. e. Sir Richard of the place called Stackpool,. making due allowance for Norman mode of spelling Saxon words. Such is the origin of the family name, and it dates back certainly to the e~d of the eleventh century. Very few surnames are as old. The historian Freeman smiles at the claim of some families in search of an ancient ancestry to a sur­ name dating before the· Conquest. A recent historian says, "The name Stackpool was at first the designation of the inlet near the Stack, a projecting rock at its mouth, and the first Norman settler, Sir Elidur, called himself De Stackpool. The spelling Stackpole is incorrect and mislead­ ing." He says again, "On a creek, sheltered and.woody, Stackpool Court, on .the site of a castle founded by the Norman, Elidur de Stackpole, eleventh century, formerly belonging to the Lorts, now to the Earl of Cawdor."* · The description given by Richard Fenton in 1810 is so inter­ esting that it is here copied at length. In a footnote he adds, '' Notwithstanding the modern spelling of the name I have taken the liberty to write it as above on the authority of the MS. referred to, and the most ancient documents I have consulted." His description is as follows :~ "Stackpool Court, the elegant seat of Lord Cawdor, undoubtedly took its name, and so I find it noted in a MS. I have had access to in the Bodleian Library, from the Stack rock at the mouth of the pool or estuary of Broadhaven, at the head of which it stands. The house is situated on the western side of the water, on a fine eminence at the edge of a bold declivity, and before it yielded to the present noble edifice, had partly a castel­ lated form, though it had been for a century before, by · every addition and alteration it experienced, gradually losing its ancient and honorable baronial· character, and moulding itself to the fashion of the time~ .. However, there can be no doubt *Annals and 'Antiquities of Counties. and County Families ·of Wales, by Thomas Nicholas. Vol. II, pp. 897, 836. London, 187,s. STACKPOLE COURT. ORIGIN II of its retaining much of its castle strength and massiveness at the time of the civil wars, as it was fortified and garrisoned for the king: for in the account given by the parliamentary forces of the siege they say, "The walls were so strong that the ordnance did but little execution." It surrendered on quarter,