The story behind my arms.

[Jeff Poole]

When Barry produced his wonderful renditions of my Arms I said I would share the story, at least in part. So here we go!
I was raised as the only son of an only son of an only son of an only son of the “lower gentry”/middle class of old England if you get the picture. I had researched my family history for 30 years and had one branch back to Charlemagne. A pretty fair effort I thought, but my Poole line had been stuck at my GGG-Grandfather, one Kenneth Poole of London circa 1800-1839. I have never been able to find his parentage. One clue lay in a Stirling Silver Desert Spoon with a Crest of an Eagle Rising and the motto Pollet Virtus, hallmarked 1850. Imagine my shock at 53 years of age when a cousin decided it was time, and told me I was adopted! No idea, never had a clue!
To cut a long story short I set out to find my birth family and found them within 6 months of the shock. My birth parents had been married but divorced after my birth and I was adopted out. I had missed knowing my late birth mother by two years, but ironically had travelled 1800 km’s to Sydney in 2000 to fight fires within two kilometres of where she was living at the time.
My birth father ( German by birth), his second wife and family have welcomed my family into their fold with open arms, and one of the first things he told me on the phone when we first spoke was that the family was armigorous. My “new” younger brother sent me a family tree dating back to the early 1600’s showing that the family had lived in the one village in what is now part of Württemberg’s Black Forest for approximately 400 years and had used the arms for at least that long.
As a consequence of my long held interest in law, genealogy and heraldry I researched my position as to my right to my Father’s Arms given my unique position as a legitimate eldest son adopted out and with a different surname. The act I was adopted under preserved the” right to take property as heir or next of kin of his natural parents directly or by right or representation.” This established my right as a legitimate male heir to the Arms, or at least did not remove that right. Heraldic law still confused me a little and I had the great opportunity to meet informally with a former Garter Sir Conrad Swan. I put the question to him explaining the situation and he made no bones about it, in his opinion I was entitled to bear the undifferenced arms despite the difference in names. Further reading and research confirmed in my mind that right. That does not mean that I was totally comfortable with it though. It was at this time that I received considerable antagonism, some bordering on abuse, from some in the Heraldic world that I had shared my information with as part of my research and determinations, so it is not lightly that I am sharing now.
My Father’s Arms are registered in Germany as shown below

In consultation with Michael Waas I have differenced my Arms and registered them in Germany as well. They are as shown below.

The entire registration process with Michael has been exciting and educational, the small variations in Heraldic practice are intriguing. See if you can pick what many would consider to be heresy but is acceptable in German practice.
Part of Michael's work has uncovered "Branches" of my Father's surname ( a rare name in Germany) in the old Duchies of Cleves and Brabant with Arms that are clearly related to his, more research to do! It has highlighted that Siebmacher and Rietstap are sadly lacking in completeness (if that was not already known).
So there we go.
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Cheers
Jeff

[Kaj Malachowski]

Thanks for sharing it!. It is so interesting!. and I so appreciate your openness with it.

I share the opinion of my compatriot Sir Conrad Swan (H. G. Lord Konrad Jastrzebiec-Swiecicki as a hereditary nobleman of the Polish Commonwealth) that you are entitled to the Sayer arms.

But would you consider hyphenating the surname or a formal re-adoption to further strenghten your claim and silence those who are criticising it?

I hope I didn't go too deep into your privacy and didn't upset you somehow.
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regards! -

Kaj M.

[Ton de Witte]

an elegant solution to the problem of your arms, nice story
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Regards,

Ton.

[Peter Harling]

Congratulations Jeff and thanks for sharing with us your story. Life is full of these strange twists and turns.
My kind regards ................... Peter
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Peter Harling

[Chas Charles-Dunne]

Thanks for sharing your story with us - it shows what hard work and determination (and a bit luck) can achieve.

Regards

Chas
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Chas Charles-Dunne

[Jeff Poole]

Thank you all for your comments.

Kaj you have not over stepped at all, I have given my name some considerable thought but I have been a Poole for over 50 years and lived that family's history so I am a Poole.

Having said that I have some uncanny similarities with my birth family that makes my solution all the better for me and them.

If other people have a problem with the solution I have found then they have a problem not me. With out going into fine detail I can back every one of my decisions in this matter with Heraldic precedents, but I am happy as things are.
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Cheers
Jeff

[Bradley Smith]

Great story! Thank you for sharing it with us. I am sorry that you have taken some abuse for it.