Origin of Surname
The Rev George Balleine believes that Poingdestre means right fist, suggesting a pugnacious person. Guy de Gruchy wrote, in 1922, in manuscript notes, of Poingdestre: "It probably means right fist", which does indeed seem to be the general consensus. The fist is found on samples of the family crest of this family.
An explanation claimed by some authorities and popular in Victorian times, is that the surname is derived from the Latin word "punge", meaning to "Spur" and the French word "destrier", meaning "a steed or Courser". Its literal meaning under this reasoning would be "Spur the Steed" and it would probably have been originally used as a nickname.
Some also consider, however, that the name originated in the heraldic term 'point dexter' one of the nine chief points of escutcheon or shield. The name is also frequently given the significance of "the right hand" from this last mentioned source, dexter being the heraldic term for 'right'. Why a man should derive his surname from a point of escutcheon or shield is hard to determine.
There is not a little dispute over how the name should be pronounced. During medieval times it is believed that it was probably pronounced "Pon'dest", becoming "Pon`daitr". The French pronunciation is closer to "Pwang’dest’’ or "Pwang`daitr", and this is how the name was pronounced among French-speaking Jerseymen in the 19th and early 20th centuries. By way of contrast, in Jersey`s Norman-French language it was, and is still, pronounced "Po`daitr". Today the pronunciation of Poingdestre, as with many old island names, has drifted to a form with an anglicized influence, in this case, towards "Poin’chester". There are even slight variations among Jèrriais speakers, often reflecting which part of the Island they come from, on how exactly to pronounce this and other old Jersey names, but there are now so few of them that it is a somewhat academic question. Members of the Poingdestre family themselves invariably say ‘poinchester’ with the stress on the first syllable.
Early records
The name appears in the Assize Roll of 1309, with a mention of Pierre Poingdestre of St Saviour. Jean Poingdestre was Receiver-General in 1363. In 1419, another Jean Poingdestre bought the Fief Mottier in St John, to which was eventually given the name of its bearers. The family continued to reside, however, in their ancestral heartland of St Saviour. The Jersey Chantry Certificate of 1550 includes Clement Poingdestre.
The American family historian, John Poindexter Landers, says: "evidence indicates that the name is actually endemic to Jersey, no traces of its early use existing elsewhere on the mainland of France or England". The earliest record he cites is 1250 in the archives at St Lô in Normandy, that mentions that Geoffrey and Raoul Poingdestre are land owners in Jersey. However, there is no real evidence for the name, which is fairly common throughout the Manche and Calvados departments of France, having been 'exported' there from Jersey.
Dr Judith Everard indicated in 2004 to Jamie Poindexter, of the Poindexter Descendants Association, that a Ricardus Poingdestre lived in the Bayeux district of the Bessin in Normandy in 1180 and in 1195. Her source was the Pipe Roll Society publications of the Norman Pipe rolls of those years. Guy de Gruchy had made this discovery in the 1920s, but his source was the Norman Exchequer Roll of 1180.
There are no records of the surname between 1195 in Normandy and 1250 in Jersey. It is possible that as a family in the Duchy of Normandy they owned land both near Bayeux and in the Channel Islands. Upon King John's loss of his duchy to Phillip of France in 1204. As stated in the book Jersey 1204 [1] it was impossible to be loyal to two kings. To retain land in both Normandy and Jersey, the land would be divided between two sons. A few generations later, the connections between the two branches became forgotten.
Today
Today there are Poingdestres around the world, in Australia, New Zealand, England and in America. But there are few Poindexters outside the US where immigrant George Poingdestre's (1650s) Latinized version is used. According to Landers (Poingdestre Poindexter - A Norman Family 1977), educated persons of the Renaissance would Latinise their surname. However, this appraisal of the use of the Latin form of surnames is almost certainly inaccurate. The fact of the matter is that in Medieval times official documents were written in Latin and a Latinised version of surnames and forenames was invented for inclusion in such documents. Because the landed gentry would be more likely to be recorded in official documents than the peasantry, it is assumed that they chose to adopt this form of their name, but it is more likely that it was imposed by officialdom.
The New World
It has been more than 30 years since Landers' book was published, but much of his reported research of George's ancestors is supported by more recent studies. Research in 1998 by the Channel Islands Family History Society resulted in the creation of several poster-sized family trees of the Poingdestre family's branches. The paper scrolls of these trees can be found in the library at the Société Jersiaise and in the Members Ares of the PDA web site. Also, in 2017, Professional genealogist Robert de Barardinis reported his decade long research to the Poindexter Descendants Association ( PDA ). He reviewed records at Jersey Archives, British Archives, Guernsey, France, etc. He again proved the linage found on the CIFHS tree for Poingdestre of St. Saviour leading to George who immigrated to Virginia. Robert's presentation is available in the Members Area of the PDA web site.
Notes: 1. The PDA's DNA Project results from test subjects in Jersey, England, and North America show that the CIFHS tree has an error that couldn't have been known without DNA. Descendants of Guillaume Poingdestre of Maufant (d. 1536) as shown on the St Saviour family tree, are not descended from the same seigniorial line of George who immigrated to Virginia in the 1650s. There may have been an adoption or DIT use of the Poingdestre surname by Guillaume or his son Michel. 2. Landers research in Jersey may be fairly reliable. However, in his book is a family tree in America leading to him. On the second page of that tree (page 105), he makes a connection that DNA has proven is not correct. Lander's branch of the family have the Y DNA of the Brechin family. Y-DNA is the chromosome passed from father to son to grandson, etc. In our culture, Y follows the paternal surname. This was not Lander's fault, as most American genealogists in the 20th century believed that all Poindexters in the U.S. descended from George.
DNA testing and member research of the Poindexter Descendants Association has provided details of additional immigrants from Jersey to North America.
George Poindexter went to Virginia in the 1650s as a businessman, partnered in ownership of ships, received land grants, built a colonial plantation and was the progenitor of the majority of Poindexter's living in the US today. He was third born to the Seigneur of the fief es Poingdestres. John Poingdestre, who was a secretary to Charles I and with Charles II at Elizabeth Castle and later became Lieut-Bailiff of Jersey, was George's great half-uncle.
Around 1698, a Henry Pendexter was a mariner who settled in Maine (United States). His immediate descendants are generally in the New England area of Maine and New Hampshire.
Henri Puddester, a fisherman, settled in Newfoundland around 1730. The language difference of the Scottish settlers may have led to the spelling variation.
Brechin Descendants - John C Poindexter was once believed by some of his descendants to have emigrated to Virginia from France or Jersey. However, Y-DNA testing of descendants indicate a close relationship to test subjects by the surname of Brechin (of name of Scottish descent). A Rev. James Brechin in the early 1700s married Sarah CRAWFORD Poindexter, widow of Thomas Poindexter. Thomas is believed to be the son of immigrant George, but paper records have not been found to confirm this. Thomas could be the son of George's brother Jacob or son of George's son George. Back to the Brechin's, the Family history Research Committee of the Poindexter Descendants Association, using their DNA Project analysis, suggest a Brechin child was adopted by a Poindexter family, or a Brechin adult used Poindexter as a dit name, in the first half of the 18th century, narrowed down to two possible persons, a father or a son.
Payne's Armorial of Jersey
So early as 1250 Geoffroy and Raoul Poingdestre are mentioned as landowners in Jersey, in certain documents preserved in the archives at St Lo, in Normandy.
In 1424 Jean Poingdestre was Bailly of the island; in 1452 his son, another John, filled the same office; and in 1467 the grandson of the first-named, a third John, occupied this honourable post. In 1485 Jean Poingdestre was Lieut-Bailiff, as was his descendant, still named Jean, in 1669.
This family has, for several generations, possessed the fief of Grainville, in the Parish of St Saviour; and it has always held a high social position in its native island.
One of its eminent members was John Poingdestre, son of Edward, who was born in 1609. [2] He became fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and was one of the first who partook of the benefit, after their foundation, of the Jersey scholarships. He appears to have possessed every quality calculated to adorn public and private life, and these he exercised in the sphere of his eventful career. He was esteemed one of the soundest Grecians of his day, in the penmanship of which language he was an elegant adept. He prepared, for private use, emendations of the text of several Greek poets, which still exist in manuscript. He held an official appointment, the nature of which has been forgotten, under Lord Digby, Secretary of State to Charles I. He was ejected from his fellowship by the Parliamentarian visitors, when he retired to Jersey, and was with Sir Philippe De Carteret in Elizabeth Castle, during its siege by the Republicans. He had the honour of being deputed by Sir George Carteret to proceed to France, there to confer with Charles II, on the state of affairs in Jersey. After the ultimate expulsion of the Royalists from the island, he went into voluntary exile, as an earnest of his loyalty, until the Restoration, when he was rewarded by the office of Lieut-Bailiff, under Sir Edouard De Carteret, in 1669. After some years, he retired from this appointment, owing to an alleged informality; but he retained his seat as Jurat until his death.
Among many other works, Mr Poingdestre left the framework of Falle's History of Jersey, a copy of which, in the author's writing, was presented to James II, and is now in the Harleian Collection. He also wrote a series of articles, not so well known, on the Grand Coustumier de Normandie, showing the variation of the Jersey laws from those of the parent Duchy. This was a subject of which the author was perfectly master, and which rendered his judicial decisions models of justice and impartiality. He is buried in the Church of St Saviour, where a Latin epitaph, penned by Falle, exists to his memory. His portrait is still preserved at Grainville.
For five successive generations, the head of this family sat as Jurat of the Royal Court of the island, the last of whom died in 1831.
DNA Research
The Poindexter Descendants Association is a not-for-profit organization whose members are descendants of the Poingdestre (Poindexter, Pendexter, Puddester/Puddister) family. Most members are in the United States, there are some in England, Jersey and Canada. The PDA hosts a Y-DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com where male descendants with the surname passed down from grandfather to father to son and so on, may participate by purchasing a Y-DNA test kit. The Project also hosts test subjects who have tested their mtDNA and autosomal DNA.
As of 2017, the PDA identified two groups of families using the surname that descend from Jersey. Group 1 are males living in the US whose Y-DNA match each other and using traditional paper genealogy, are the descendants of George Poindexter (bap 1627 at St Saviours) who emigrated to the colony of Virginia in the mid-1650s. Group 3 are males living in New England, England, Newfoundland and Jersey who match closely with each other. This DNA group includes those using the surname Poingdestre (England and Jersey), Pendexter (New England) and Puddister (Newfoundland). However, Group 1 and Group 2 (Brechin) only have a 2% chance of being related within 24 generations ago, so they are not likely related through the Y chromosome.
The two families might be related somewhere in time through a female line or because of adoption, use of a dit name, or some other reason, or they may truly be two different families. Group 3 participants in the project have helped us to confirm relationships depicted on three of the 1998 CIFHS Poingdestre family trees back to 1565 AD. The family history in Jersey for George Poindexter has been well documented by Landers (1979), the CIFHS Trees (1998) and by Robert de Berardini (2016) as George is descended from a long line of Seigneurs, Jurats and even a Bailiff here and there, to the 14th century. Research by de Berardini has indicated a "paper trail" lineage for George back to 1300 AD.
The Landers book, CIFHS Trees and de Berardini's report are available to members on the PDA web site at poindexterfamily.org. Links to all available family trees will be found below.
Variants
- Poingdestre (The only correct form in Jersey. Poindexter is found as a transcription of some records, but further investigation inevitably shows the original to be Poingdestre. Poindestre is also found in some records, but as an error. There are no other spellings in our database of church records)
- Poindestre (Sometimes found in Normandy as early as the 12th Century near Bayeux)
- Poindexter (Many in America)
- Puddester (Nova Scotia through Maine)
- Pendexter (Maine USA)
- Podester (is not a derivative of Poingdestre, but is often confused for it. An Italian family settling in Jersey for a time brought this name to the island)
Family records
Family trees
Several of these trees overlap to a lesser or greater extent but have been included because they cover the ancestry and descendants of an important emigrant to the USA and come from different sources. However, we are now reviewing all these trees, adding details, and deleting duplicates which cause confusion
- Descendants of Burnulf Poingdestre (1140)
- Tree linking Burnulf Poingdestre to Le Breton family
- Descendants of Thomas Poingdestre
- Descendants of Pierre Poingdestre
- Descendants of Josue Poingdestre
- Descendants of Edward Poingdestre/Pendexter
- Descendants of Jean Poingdestre and Marie Hamptonne
- Descendants of Edouard Poingdestre and Pauline Ahier
- Descendants of Raoul Poingdestre (1220- )
- Descendants of Jean Poingdestre and Rachel l'Isle
- Descendants of Michel Poingdestre Added 2021
- Descendants of Thomas Poingdestre - 2 Added 2021
- Descendants of Thomas Poingdestre - 3 Added 2021
- Descendants of Nicolas Poingdestre Added 2023
Church records
- Poingdestre baptisms in Jersey
- Poingdestre marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Poingdestre marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Poingdestre burials in Jersey
Biographies
- Charles Poingdestre, artist
- Jean Poingdestre, Bailiff
- Jean Poingdestre, historian clergyman, Royalist and Lieut-Bailiff
- Jean Poingdestre biography
Société Jersiaise Library records
- Bertram records in La Société Jersiaise Library, including references to members of the Poingdestre family Added 2018
Great War service
Family wills
Burial records
Family homes
Criss-Cross, Virginia, USA
The house was first known as Christ's Cross, due to its shape, a cross, looking down on the roof of the house from above, but later called and known as Criss-Cross, which is its name today.
George was the first Poingdestre from Jersey to settle in America. He emigrated in the 1650s, before 15 March 1657 to Middle Plantation, Virginia, in what is now the Williamsburg and New Kent County, areas. Some sources indicate that George may have begun to build Criss-Cross as early as 1685, but many other sources agree that the completion of Criss-Cross was in the year 1690. George only lived there for about two years, and died on 15 January 1692. His widow Susanna lived there for another year, until her death in July 1693. Their son George continued to live in the house.
Described as an elegant mansion at this early period, the house had a great hall, several bed chambers, a wine cellar, and a decorated Tudor tower. It stands on a gentle knoll surrounded by cultivated fields and woodland and is reached by a paved state road, Criss Cross Road, then on to a sand clay driveway. The location has changed little since the house was built.
Although altered, restored and renovated, by the Harrison family, during the 1950s, the house still retains its original overall appearance and important late 17th century detail. Until St Peter's Parish Church, New Kent County, Virginia, was completed in 1701, Criss Cross served as the church meeting place for its first vestrymen and members. George Poingdestre was one of the first vestrymen and founders of Saint Peter's, which is one of the most visited attractions in Colonial Williamsburg. There is a plaque on the wall at one of its pews, with an inscription honouring George Poingdestre, as one of the first vestrymen of the original church.
- Maison du Mont au Pretre
- China Quarry Farm, St Lawrence
Family businesses
In 1862 Daniel Poingdestre was selling the Wheeler and Wilson Lockstitch Sewing Machine through Caesarean Auction Rooms in Halkett Place. In 1874 this business was at 32 Halkett Place, but it may have been at a different address in the street 12 years earlier
The sign on the left of this LL postcard from the 1900s advertises The Scientific Dress Cutting Association at 75 Halkett Place. This was a branch of a London organisation. It is possible that this business developed from the sewing machine business in the 1862 advertisement (left) but it would not have been at the same premises, because 75 Halkett Place was still numbered as part of Grove Place in 1862.
This advertisement from an 1886 almanac indicates that the Scientific Dress Cutting Association was first established in that year at 28 Halkett Place. Whether it was run by a member of the Poingdestre family is uncertain, but the fact that a Miss Poingdestre worked as a dressmaker for the Scientific Dress Cutting Association in the 1900s suggests a family connection.
A 1930s advert in a Chelsea Hotel brochure for their meat supplier, J Poingdestre, of the Meat Market
Family album
Harold Robert Poingdestre (1889-1968) s of Matthew John Mark and Annie Bertha Bisson
Matthew John Mark Poingdestre
Florence May Poingdestre (1899-1990)
Florence May Poingdestre
Harold Robert Poingdestre (1899-1968)
Matthew John Mark Poingdestre (1852- )
An unknown Amy Poingdestre photographed by E Hopkins, who was in business from 1912 to 1916 at 16 Parade as Vandyk Studio. We have not been able to find any church or census record which fits with an Amy Poingdestre at this time
.png)
A postcard sent from South Africa to Miss Poingdestre, at the Scientific Dress Cutting Association, Halkett Place, early in the 20th century (see Family Businesses above).
Another postcard from South Africa, sent in 1909 to Eva Poingdestre, whom the message suggests was by then married. However, in 1911 Eva, a dressmaker born in 1886, was still single and living at Navy Cottage, Millbrook, with her parents Philip and Jane, and five siblings all over the age of 20
A card sent by Eva, perhaps to her sister Florence
A card sent to a Mr A Poingdestre in Johannesburg, South Africa
An envelope addressed to Amelie Poingdestre in 1941
J Poingdestre, Wanderers forward in 1908
A 1925 cigarette card for First Tower's Phil Poingdestre
Although the Poingdestre brothers mentioned in this 1949 article from the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, undoubtedly had a Jersey ancestry, it has been impossible to place them into any Jerripedia trees with any degree of certainty. Online trees suggest that they were the grandsons of Charles Edward Grant Poingdestre, born in Jersey in 1855, but we have not been able to identify anyone in our database who would fit this suggestion
Rogues Gallery
Ernest Poingdestre, a 37-year-old native of St Helier, was sentenced by the Royal Court to 14 years penal servitude in 1916 for 'having carnal knowledge with his daughter' who was under the age of 13.
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Old Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Old Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
Mont a l’Abbe cemetery
St John’s Church cemetery
St John’s Church cemetery
St John’s Church cemetery
St John’s Church cemetery
St John’s Church cemetery
St Ouen parish cemetery
Surville Cemetery
St Brelade Church cemetery
St Lawrence
St Saviour
St Saviour
St Saviour
Links
- Poindexter Descendants Association, the website of the American branch of the Poindexter family.
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z
