Family History and Research

About the Name and Coat of Arms

This version of the crest is the one used by the Poindexter Descendants Association. This artwork was done by Vanita Chandler in 1999, based on the crest shown in the Landers (1) book. The artwork is copyrighted by her and by the PDA, 1999. Mrs. Chandler is the mother-in-law of Bill Poindexter of San Diego, CA. Bill and his wife, Kay, are members and are or have served as officers of the PDA. The PDA version replaces the cuff at the base of the hand with the branch, which would usually hold up the helmet. The cuff is usually part of most examples of the crest, see more examples. Other versions of the crest are found in various references. And at St. John's Parish Church on Jersey, there is a wood carving of it and several other prominent fief surnames. Most of these other crests have the hand based in a sleeve cuff as described at right. We don't know where John Landers found the version used in his book. More examples of the Poingdestre Crest

Poingdestre Standards

The Poingdestre Family Coat of Arms can trace its roots back to ancient times where it was carried onto the battlefield with honor and chivalry to defend family, allies, King and country. The coat of arms of the Poingdestre Family of the Isle of Jersey, from which the Poindexter families of America are descended, is described as follows from Burke's General Armory 1884 (2):

The Earliest "Poingdestre"

Landers (1) 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, Landers did publish over 25 years ago. Recent research by Dr. Judith Everard (3) indicates a Richard Poindestre lived in the Bayeux area of the Bessin in Normandy in 1180 and in 1195. Dr. Everard is co-author of the book "Jersey 1204-The Forging of an Island Community" (3) . Eight hundred years ago, Duke John of Normandy (aka King John of England) lost Normandy to King Phillip of France. This event was crucial to Jersey's development to what it is today. In the years following 1204, families with lands in Normandy and Jersey were forced to abandon lands in Jersey if loyal to Phillip Augustus or in Normandy if loyal to John. Some families were able to split the lands between two siblings, thus creating a split in family genealogies.

The Name "Poingdestre"

The name Poingdestre is claimed by some authorities to have been 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. It is considered more probable, however, that the name originated in the heraldic term 'point dexter' one of the nine chief local 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'.

From the web site "www.last-names.net", POINDEXTER is described thus:

Today, you will find Poingdestre's around the world, in Australia, New Zealand, England and even in America. But you find few Poindexter's outside the U.S. where our immigrant's Latinize version is used.

Poingdestre or Poindexter?

According to Landers (1), educated persons of the Renaissance would Latinize their surname to, as we would add Dr. to the begriming or our name or "PhD" at the end. Poindexter is the Latinized form of the old Jersey surname Poingdestre. Since our immigrant, George, was educated at Oxford, he probably used the Latin form in his business dealings, and somehow that is the form that stuck with us, his American descendants.

During medieval times, the name was pronounced Pon'-dest, with a Norman French accent, of course. Today, in the Isle of Jersey, it is pronounced Pon-chess-ter or Pon-des-ter, depending which branch you are asking on Jersey. While touring Jersey in 1998, the webmaster found residents of Jersey instantly recognizing and pronouncing my American spelled name as if it was spelled as it is in Jersey. One ticket taker at Gorey Castle informed me that I spelled it wrong!

The Jersey Datestones Project has an example of a marriage stone between Jean Poingdestre and Elizabeth Touzel as seen here and on the Project's web page with a more detailed description.

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