EPARC
was charged with gathering facts with sources and information
concerning our Immigrant and the first generations to follow in America.
One would think that these generations have all been well documented
in publications, such as Landers,
which many refer to as the "Bible" of Poindexter family history.
Dr. Edward H Poindexter (PDA Member #092) chaired the EPARC committee and led the research and wrote reports, available below. Upon retirement of EPARC about 2003, maintenance of EPARC reports and further research was folded into the PDA's Family History Research Committee (chaired by Jamie D Poindexter (PDA Member 336).
Landers did not provide references to documentation in his book that prove the lineage
he published in his book, leaving questions as to how he came to his
conclusions.
He
states that Thomas 3 (third generation in America)
is the
son of George 2 and his wife (Landers leaves her name blank),
but gives no sources for this conclusion. There may be evidence
that
he is
actually
Thomas
2,
son of George 1
and Susannah Nicolle1. Another theory raised by Ed is that Thomas
might actually be a nephew of George 1. This Thomas is the progenitor
of a large percentage of today's American
Poindexter
family, and
many
use the Landers book as their source for their own lineages.
So its important that the PDA finds the paper source (legal, church or family
bible, etc.) that gives Thomas' connection to his parents.
Genetic genealogy, using DNA testing, has determined that the American Poindexter family tree on pages 104 and 105 has errors. Several males that descend from those on page 105 are not actually descended from the immigrant George. Their Y chromosome indicates they match with males using the surname Brechin or similar spellings. They are probably descended from Rev. James Brechin, second husband of Sarah CRAFFORD whose first husband was Thomas Poindexter, son of the immigrant George. So somewhere in th range of about 1705 to 1750, a Brechin adopted the surname Poindexter.
Another
focus of searching for documents is the marriage of George 1 to
his wife Susannah Nicolle and the birth of their children, George
2,
John
2 and
Elizabeth 2 (and maybe Thomas 3). Research in Jersey and parts
of England have not surfaced these records to date. And searches
of
Normandy
and
Brittany
have been
limited. Nicolle is a prominent Jersey surname, even today.
Also
see:
"The Search for Proof, the Search
for John Landers Sources"
(members password required)
A compilation of information we have recently collected in an attempt
to find Landers' research notes. This was also published in the PDA
Newsletter in October 2004. Any resulting input is also on this page.
Certification
of Lineage Model (PowerPoint)
In 2002, EPARC chair Ed Poindexter commissioned a panel
to review 17 years of EPARC reports to determine if sufficient
evidence has been collected
to answer the two EPARC questions. The panel struggled with
the number of the reports and lack of the documents the
reports referred to.
As
a result, the panel could not determined we do not have definitive
original documentation (civil, church, legal) or sources
to prove the Landers tree is in error in Thomas’ placement
as grandson to the Immigrant George (1) at this time.
Until
such documentation is discovered and reviewed by EPARC, the
Certification Panel proposes that the
official PDA lineage recognizes
Thomas as the son of George 2
and grandson of the adult immigrant, George (1) and Susannah
Nicolle.
How
can you help?
Everyone's
help in this work is needed and much appreciated by the EPARC and the
PDA. First, read the collection of EPARC reports provided below to become
familiar with what has been done. Typical areas where we need help are
(but not limited to):
Provide
any references you have found while doing your own genealogy. If you
have found documentation that may be helpful, contact the EPARC chairperson
(see below).
If you can visit Virginia places of search interest, contact the EPARC
for what places need to be searched.
Planning a research trip to Jersey, France or England? Again, contact
EPARC.
EPARC
Reports: Reports are in the PDF format. If you are unable to view them, you
may need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. A free version
and a pay version is available at adobe.com. Ed H. Poindexter led the EPARC from 1985 to 2002. EPARC is not currently an active committee but Ed still contributes supplements and the Research Committee is still interested in any original source documents you find.
Contact
the EPARC Chairperson:
If you have
clues, or know of legal, civil or church records, Bible entries, etc.,
that document the marriages, deaths, births, probates, etc.,or other clues
to the linage of the first few generations of Poindexter's in America
that might help solve the Thomas puzzle (see above) or the marriage of
George l to Susannah, please contact the EPARC chairperson.
Do NOT
contact EPARC for questions about researching your Poindexter linage.
Instead, contact one of our researchers
that work with all generations.
Acting Chair
of EPARC:
Jamie Diana Poindexter
Wisconsin, USA
Another area of focus
is Gloucestershire and other areas
of England and in France, where we hope to find records of our Immigrants'
marriage and the birth of their children.
Other
web sites: Also review our links to other web sites when researching. There is
an ever growing wealth of information on the Web.
To
add content to the PDA Web Site's Family History and Research section,
contact the webmaster.