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Born on the level! Born on the square!
BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM MECKLENBURG POLK 1758-1834
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Family History
Undwin the Saxon and his son Maccus are identified in a document dated circa 1080 that indicates they had acquired lands and status in Scottish royalty. Two generations later John Maxwell de Pollok, 1270-1306, fixed the family name. The word is a place name for a section of Glasgow, and earlier, a Scottish body of water. There are no connections with Poland, polka dots, and so on.
Unaccounted generations later we find Robert Bruce Polk, 1630-1793, marrying Magdalen Tasker, 1640-1726. From then to this day every Polk has been charted.
Robert and Magdalen had three children: William, 1664-1739, Robert II, who died in 1727, and Ephraim, 1671-1718. A great grandson of Robert II was Charles Peale, the famed artist. A great-great grandson was Trusten Polk, governor of Missouri. A great grandson of Ephraim was Charles Polk, governor of Delaware.
But it is William Polk, 1664-1739, who leads history experts to the most illustrious members of the Polk family in America. He had three sons: William, 1700-1753, Charles, 1703-1753, and David, 1705-1778. David’s great granddaughter Esther married Enoch Lowe, governor of Maryland. Charles’ great great great grandson was Leonidas LaFayette Polk, 1837-1890, the populist leader and agrarian reformer.
William Polk, 1700-1773, was the father of two sons who changed history—Thomas, 1730-1794, and Ezekiel, 1747-1824. Thomas, 1730-1794, was the man who first read and signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence at the courthouse at the Square in Charlotte. Ezekiel became the grandfather of James Knox Polk, 11th president of the United States.
Thomas Polk, 1730-1794, and his wife Susanah Spratt, had nine children including William or Will, 1758-1838, the eldest and the focus of this story, Thomas, killed in battle in 1781, and Martha, who married Ephraim Brevard, 1744-1781, a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration.
A charming and refreshing way of looking at the flow of family history is this personal note from William R. Polk, author of Polk’s Folly, to his daughter Milbry Polk:
“I make it: Robert Bruce Polk> William> William> Thomas> William> George> James H> George W> William R> Milbry> Adelaide+Bree+Mary, that is 11 generations. Charles was not a direct ancestor and there were two Williams between Robert and Thomas. Lovest, Dad.”
read more | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
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Produced by the public relations committee of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of Masons in North Carolina,
2921 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27628 MMVIII
Author/editor: Walter J. Klein wklein(at)carolina.rr.com
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