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The Blue Book of Iowa Women A History of Contemporary Women

Compiled by Winona Evans Reeves, 1914.

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Mrs. Sherman I. Pool

Minnie Alice Lewis Pool, of Waverly, daughter of James Sawyer Lewis and Harriet Stebbins Lewis, was born Oct. 27, 1866, in Apple River, Ill.  Descended from seventeen lines of New England ancestry, noted for their piety and patriotism, many of whom bore coats-of-arms, coming to America from England about 1630, helping to found many New England towns, and being men of affairs in their towns.  The Stebbinses were original settlers of Springfield, Northampton, and Deerfield, Mass., and trace back to 900 according to the Domesday Book.  The Odell line is very ancient, tracing back to 795, closely related to four kings of England, William the Conqueror, Alfred the Great, Edward II, and Henry VIII;  also related by blood or marriage to fifty families entitled to bear arms.  The first Baron Odell was Count of Flanders, a powerful, noble family, said to have possessed a complete and unbroken record back to Priam, King of Troy, about 1200 B. C.  Numerous ancestors served in King Philip's War, the Inter-Colonial Wars, French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and her father served three years in the Civil War.

One noteworthy fact in connection with Mrs. Pool's Odell lineage is that she is the 36th generation by direct descent from the first Count of Flanders, and that thirty-two generations the line from father to son was unbroken.  She has in her possession the whole line of genealogy;  it is said to be correct beyond question, being founded upon documentary evidence and traced by eminent scholars and is one of the most ancient lineages on record.  She belongs to the Taft-Emerson line.  She and Ralph Waldo Emerson are descended from the same immigrant ancestor, Thomas Emerson.  Robert Taft, the immigrant ancestor of William Howard Taft, is also her immigrant ancestor on that line.  Roger Sherman, the signer, and Ethan Allen, are both connected with her line.

Educated in the public schools of Illinois, and the State Normal University at Normal, Ill., she was, for twelve years, a successful teacher in the schools of Jo Daviess county.  Married Nov. 24, 898, at Rush, Ill., to Sherman Ira Pool of Upper Sandusky, Ohio, who is of Revolutionary descent.  Member of the M. E. church.  For many years an active Sunday School worker.  Member of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, class of 1901;  member of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, a noted historical society of Massachusetts;  an ardent Daughter of the American Revolution, joining in 1901;  had seven Revolutionary forefathers.  In 1908 helped organize and named the Revolutionary Dames chapter of Waverly, and served four years as registrar and historian, one year as regent.  During her regency, was instrumental in locating and marking the site of a pioneer fort at Janesville.  Appointed state chairman committee on Preservation of Historic Spots, N. S. D. A. R.  Elected state historian at the 14th conference, Iowa D. A. R.  Represented her chapter at the 22nd and 23rd continental congresses at Washington.  Devoted to the best interests of the society, and particularly to its historical work.  Mr. and Mrs. Pool are antiquarians in taste, devoted to genealogical and historical research, and have made many historic pilgrimages.  On one --- which led them through the New England States, New York, and Canada, to the homes of their ancestors, --- they attended a Field day of the P. V. M. A. at Deerfield, Mass., where Mrs. Pool had a prominent part in the program, at the unveiling of monuments to two of her Colonial ancestors, who were original settlers of Deerfield, 1686.  They plan to take a trip every year, and an extensive one every two years.  Mrs. Pool favors equal suffrage.

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