EDMUND POLK, JUNIOR HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS Compiled by Katherine Gentry Bushman 1964 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword 1 Manuscript of Coat of Arms 2 Chapter I 3 Polks of England, Scotland, Ireland Chapter II 6 Robert Bruce Polk of Somerset County, Maryland, and William Polk, Senior Chapter III Charles Polke, the Indian Trader 11 Chapter IV Major Edmund Polke of Nelson County, Kentucky 17 Chapter V Edmund Polk, Junior 21 Chapter VI 29 Children of Edmund Polk, Junior Chapter VII 33 Wilson John Polk Chapter VIII 39 Descendants of Wilson John Polk Chapter IX 55 Miscellaneous Records Acknowledgements 65 Bibliography 67 Index of Names i-vii ILL UST RAT IONS Coat of Arms of the Polk Family facing page 2 Map of Maryland and western Pennsylvania 16 1812 War record of Edmund Polk, Junior 24 Marriage Bond of Edmund Polk, Jr., and Margaret Brown facing page 28 Land grant, Cook County, Illinois, 1835 28 Tombstones of Edmund Polk, Jr., and Margaret Brown Polk, Lyonsvllle Cemetery facing page 29 Marriage bond of Wilson Polk and Rosann Howsley 36 Tombstone records of Wilson Polk and Rosann Howsley 37 Lineage chart, Wilson Polk family, 38 Foreword The genealogy of the one son of Edmund Polke, Senior, who was not included in detail in the Polk Family and Kinsmen by w. H. Polk, was undertaken after the death of my mother, Grace Polk Gentry, in 1954. The realization that the knowledge of the Polk side of her family was incomplete triggered the research which this book represents. In the beginning, it was not even known that the lineage went back thru the Ednund Polke family. The only fact at hand was the name of her grand­ father, Wilson Polk, and that of his wife, Rosann Howsley. It has been a great source of satisfaction to be able to trnce this branch of the family with all questions answered on each generation--especially the recent ones. The early generations were recorded. The generations living only 75 years ago have been the most difficult to trace. These pages represent much correspondence and innumerable hours of research to locate each person recorded. In 1875, in a letter tow. H. Polk, Col. William Polk, of Vicksburg, Mississippi, gave a description of the Polks as a people which is still true today: •'The members of our branch of the Polk family have never been famous for oratorical powers or talent, nor much inclined toward offices, yet somewhat talented in the way of mechanical genius and general industry; what you may call plain, old-fashioned, sober, good common-sense people almost invariably doing well;--" This book comes to you with the hope that you will enjoy the family history as much as I have enjoyed compiling it. Katherine Gentry Bushman 12 Taylor Staunton, Virginia 2 POLK ORIGIN AND MEANING OF FAMILY NAME: In its original form the Polk was Pollock. It is traced back to the great Barony of Pollock, that gave its name to the ancestors of what for many centuries was one of the great families of Scotland and England, and at a later period, of America. The name Pollock meant a small pool. ARMS: Vert, a saltire or, between three hunting horns in fes·se and base argent, garnished gules. ' CREST: A boar passant quartered or and vert pierced through the sinister shoulder with an arrow proper. MOTTO: Audacter et strenue (Boldly_and earnestly) AUTHORITY: Burke's General Armory, 1884 edition, page 812 Smith's Dictionary of American Family Names Americana Illustrated, 1931, page 252 TINCTURES AS ABOVE DESCRIBED: The shield is vert (green) . Thereon is a saltire or (gold, between three hunting horns usually described as argent(silver), ribbons gules(red) The crest is a boar quartered (green and gold) SIGNIFICANCE OF TINCTURES AND CHARGES: Green-•joy, love, and gladness Green with gold--all in pleasure and joy Green with silver--a sure lieutenant the saltire was called St. Andrew's cross; in old times, it was the height of a man, and was borne to use in scaling the walls of towns. The hunting horns usually referred to a huntsman. The boar was also a symbol of the hunt. Here both the horns and the boar refer to an ancestor who saved the life of his king when attacked by a wild boar during a hunting trip. Notes: Altho the name is of Scotch origin, the ancestry is Saxon, in the direct line, a line which rivals in its unbroken length that of any other house in Britain. For the Polk, or Pollock, families can trace their ancestry back to Fulbert the Saxon, who flourished about 1053 A. D., and was a follower of Edward the Confessor, the last of the Saxon kings whose reign was secure and unchallenged. After the Conquest in 1066, Fulbert appears to have been quite in favor at the new court, and to have won the con­ fidence of William, who is said to have made him his chamberlain, and certainly rewarded him with the barony of Pollock in Renfrewshire, Scotland. COATS OF ARMS Mildred Cox Hodson Lawrenceburg, Kentucky ') . ·, '- -·: - .- _, . {'. r·--.✓ .'· ;i 3 Chapter I England, Scotland, and Ireland The following information on the English, Scottish, and Irish history of the Polk family is taken from "The Polk Family and Kinsmen", by William H. Polk, Louisv·ille, 1912, Chapcers I and II. "The history of the Polk family is traceable bac-k into what is called the Dark Ages, when the progress of civilization was arrested and obscured for several centuries by a cloud of war and destruction, evoked by super­ stition. From members of the family in Ireland and Scotland, and from official records in Maryland, have come down to us the Polk family history beginning in the year 1053, during the reign of Edward the Confessor. "Fulbert the Saxon", the first recorded progenitor of the family, had come over to England before Harold was overthrown at Hastings by William the Conqueror. He is said to have been Chamberlain to the latter, and one of his beneficiaries. "From· British genealogical sources, and from descendants of Fulbert in Scotland and Ireland, was derived the pedigree down to the emigration of Robert Bruce Polk and family to America. From off icia 1 rec·ords of Maryland and Delaware, and from family documents, this hmstory of the family has been continued down to the present. We thus have presented a view of the family history during a;::period of 858 years, a length of retrospect possessed by but few families in America. "Fulbert the Saxon, a native of Normandy, in France, was an uncle of Heloise, whose love of Abelard, and its finale of sorrow, constitute one of the most pathetic human stories of the Middle Ages. As stated above, he was Chamberlain to William the Conqueror. He accompanied him to England and was engaged with him in the battle of Hastings(l066). Shortly after, he received from William a large grant of land in Scotland, which became known later as the Barony of Pollock." Scotch and Irish History of the famly A. D. 1073 "In the reign of King David 1st, the vast feudal barony of Pollok, in Renfrewshire, was held by "Fulbert the Saxon", a great noble and territorial King, who had come from Normandy, France, to England, as Chamberlain of William the Conqueror. Fulbert died in 1153, at the beginning of the reign of Malcolm the 4th, and was succeeded by his son Petrus. "Petrus assumed as a surname, (which at that time only came to be used), instead of a patronymic, the name of his great hereditary lands of Pollok. The Lord Baron Pollok of this feudal kingdom, was a man of great eminence in his time, and a benefactor of the Monastery of Paisley, which donation was confirmed by Joceline, Bishop of Glasgow, who died in 1190. Petrus was a law unto himself, and equalled the sovereign in wealth, rank and power. He was the ancestor of many brave warriors and Crusade kinghts, who joined in the mighty struggle of Europe, during the eleventh and twelth centuries, to free the Holy Sepulchre from the grip of the Moslem. "Petrus de Pollok was greatly distinguished for valor in arms and prowess in the chase, and his exploit.sin them were the subject of many minstrel lays. His next brother, Helias, gave to the same Monastery the church of Mears, the next parish to eastward. "Besides the vast estates in Renfrewshire, the chevron of which barony is still borne on the shield of arms of the Prince of Wales, he held the great Ba.rony of Rothes, in Aberdeenshire, which he gave to his only daughter, Mauricle, who married the celebrated Sir Norman de Lesley. 4 Mauricle de Rothes was the· ancestress of the great Earls of Rothes and Lords of Lesley. The 8th Earl of Rothes was constituted after the Restoration, Marquis of Ballenbriech, Duke de Rothes, President of the Council and llord High Chancellor of Scotland. ''The State records show that many inter-marriages have taken place between the Lesleys, Polloks and Royal Stuarts. Sir John Pollok Leslie (Knight) was receiver General to King James 4th, and married a grand­ daughter of that monarch. "On the death of Petrus de Pollok, his ancient patrimonial estates of Pollok being settled on heirs male, passed to his brother,Robert de Pollok(ll7~), and it is noticeable how the name of Robert has been handed down from father to son to the present generation. "Robert 1st was witness in the donation of the Kirks of Strathgry and Ninerwick, by Walter, founder of the Monastery of Paisley in the beginning of the reign of William the Lion.