In early 1993, I corresponded with Donald C. Pauley [1] in Charleston, West Virginia. I don’t recall how I got his name, but I do remember that I knew he was conducting genealogy research on the Pauleys. I eventually received two letters from his wife, Cherie, with some helpful information. In August 2001, I was in a room at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, making some copies. A lady was at a nearby counter requesting some microfilm, and the attendant was taking her name and filling out a request form. It was the same Cherie Pauley! It turns out that she and Don had a summer home in Park City, Utah (about 30 miles east of SLC) and lived in the Atlanta area for the rest of the year. [2] The following night, I went to their house, and we spent several hours talking. It became quickly apparent that Cherie was the keeper of the facts and that Don was the storyteller. I certainly wish that I had had a tape recorder with me to capture all his stories. One of his stories was about how the Pauleys got to the U.S. While we don’t currently know anything about Edward Polly’s ancestors, I will share Don’s theory about the possible origins of the Pauleys as best I can remember it. [3]
In the mid-1500s in France, many French Protestants were members of the Reformed Church, established by John Calvin. These church members were known as Huguenots (a term derived from a term describing dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church). In the late 1600s, many Huguenots left France to escape persecution by King Louis XIV. At least 200,000 French Huguenots fled to countries such as Switzerland, Germany, England, America, and South Africa. (This information is from the web page of the Huguenot Society of South Africa [4].) Here is where Don’s story starts.
Don said that one of the confidants of the Huguenot leader in Switzerland was a man named Pauley. The English kings and land barons would often recruit outsiders to wage their battles, and many Huguenots were recruited to fight battles in the countries that would become Great Britain. The victors would often give land and/or captured castles to the leaders of these imported armies. Of course, when times became bad, these outsiders would also be the first ones to leave. Don believes that this is how Pauleys got to these countries (primarily Ireland) and from there to America.
Since hearing this story, some information came to light that may lend it credence. In September of 2001, I found the web page of Dr. John Pauley, who provides geology consulting to the international petroleum industry and is from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. I shared Don Pauley’s story about the Huguenot connection with him, and he, in turn, discussed it with his uncle. His uncle, who is from a large family of Pauleys in Northern Ireland, reckons that the Pauleys were Huguenots who came to Somerset and Dorset in England, then moved to Ireland.
They then moved up to Northern Ireland, establishing Huguenot settlements. During the potato famine (1845 - 1851), some would have immigrated to America. The uncle mentioned the towns of Cork and Dunleary (formerly Kingstown), which may have been emigration locations. He believes that there may also be a connection with King William, Prince of Orange (1650 - 1702, a Protestant king of Dutch descent, who fought in Ireland. This would lend some credence to Don’s story and provide fuel for much more research. Although the potato famine era falls after our Edward Polly’s timeframe (our earliest known ancestor at present), we know that some early Pauleys had arrived in the U.S. by then. See my Where Did Our Family’s Ancestors Come From? page.
There were several early French Huguenot settlements in Colonial America. In 1562, Jean Ribault established a Huguenot colony (Charles Fort) at Port Royal in South Carolina. It was abandoned the next year. In 1564, a second colony of Huguenots under René de Laudonnière was established on the St. John’s River in Florida. A French Huguenot nobleman from Poitou, de Laudonnière, was selected second in command under Ribaut’s plan to develop the colony on the St. Johns River. The first mission established only an outpost at Port Royal, South Carolina, but while Ribault was in a London jail, de Laudonnière established Fort Caroline in 1564. The 300 civilians and limited resources were no match for a Spanish army under Pedro Menendez de Aviles. De Laudonnière was wounded but escaped to France, where he wrote a history of his colony and died in 1582. [5]
Huguenots came to Virginia as early as 1620, when Elias La Guard, James Bonnall, and David Poole settled in Elizabeth City [6]. In the I630s Nicholas James, John Broche, William Savary, Nicholas Martiau, Giles Tavernor, John Vallet, and John Galliott settled in what is now York County. At that time, many French names also appeared in the Upper County of New Norfolk. More French settlers came over the next three decades, settling in Lower Norfolk, Princess Ann, and Isle of Wight Counties. [7]
In 1700, four ships arrived within a few months of each other, coming from London: The Mary and Ann, the Peter and Anthony, the Nassau, and a fourth whose name and passenger list do not exist today. Though many of these settlers went to Manakintowne [8], several went to Williamsburg, and others settled on the Rappahannock River. A review of the available ship passenger lists shows that all were French nationals. Manakin, Virginia, was settled by these French refugees on 10,000 acres, with most of the land patents well documented.
While this is an interesting concept, a check of last names on the Huguenot Society of America's website [9] reveals no matches for Polley or Pauley, or similar spellings.
There are many Pauleys today in England, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as in New Zealand and Australia. While there has been no direct connection yet made to any Pauley on that side of the ocean, it is probably only a matter of time.
Continuing Don’s speculation about the early Pauleys, he said that many of the emigrating Pauleys landed in New England and that Edward was likely originally from that area. A problem with researching this part of our history is that people who came to America often stayed for a while, then went back to England or Ireland for whatever reason, and later returned. This, coupled with the fact that many first names were fairly common, and some sons had the same name as their fathers, leads to trouble for today’s researchers. There is an Edward who was born in Massachusetts in 1699 and could be related to or the same as our Edward. Further research is needed to establish whether a connection exists. As noted, there were others with the same or similar spellings in the Tidewater Virginia area during the late 1600s.
I also corresponded via email with Gerry Pauley, a third-generation Australian, in the summer of 2001. He advised that a cousin of his has a medal awarded to “Gunner Pauley” at the Battle of Waterloo. Not being up on my European history, I was hoping this battle had occurred in the 1600s and that there was a natural progression here, since we suspect that Edward was born in Virginia in the early 1700s. Although this was not to be, since a Pauley was involved, I thought it would be interesting to add a bit of a history lesson here in case there is some sort of connection later on.
The Battle of Waterloo was fought in Belgium in June 1815. Here is how it started. In 1814, Napoleon had been exiled to the Island of Elba but escaped to France in March 1815. Very quickly, he managed to form a new army with which he wanted to reconquer his lost empire. The first parts he wanted to reconquer were Belgium and the Netherlands. The European powers, at Congress in Vienna, mobilized their armies to defeat Napoleon. Two major armies made their way to Belgium. The first was an army comprising divisions from different countries (Belgian, Dutch, and British) under the command of the Duke of Wellington. The second army came from Prussia and was led by Marshal Blüücher. On the 18th of June 191,300 soldiers fought one of the most decisive battles in the history of Europe in only one day. The Wellington army had 67,000 soldiers Blüücher’s army 52,300, and Napoleon’s army 72,000. A total of 48,500 men fell or were severely wounded. After being surrounded and outnumbered, Napoleon retreated with his troops to France.
The bottom line is that at present, we do not know the ancestry of our Edward Polly.
NOTES:[1] My third cousin once removed. Our common ancestor is my 4th great-grandfather, Samuel A. Pauley. [2] Don passed in November 2016, and Cherie passed in May 2016. [3] I first wrote this article about twenty years ago, and some sources were not listed. I updated it and added some source information in March 2026. [4] https://huguenotsociety.org.za/ [5] See https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-874 for additional information. [6] Elizabeth City was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor, the Virginia Company of London, acting in accordance with instructions issued by Sir George Yeardley, Governor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_City_(Virginia_Company) [7] See https://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/blog/huguenot-settlers-in-america-1564-1784 [8] https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/growth/text4/frenchvirginia.pdf [9] https://www.huguenotsocietyofamerica.org/
Updated March 19, 2026