The Poel [pronunciation = pool] Family originated in Holland. The earliest known ancestor lived in Alphen aan den Rijin in the province of Zuid-Holland, east of Leiden. The following 3 generations the Poels were citizens of Amsterdam. At that time the family name was spelled Pool, without exception. The spelling of the first names varies in the various documents and certificates. Initially all individuals carried the father’s name along with their baptised name.

The most relevant sources for the history of the first four generations are:
1) the documents on records at the archives of “Gemeetelijke Archiefdienst van Amsterdam”pertaining to baptisms, public notices, funerals and citizen’s oaths.,
2) the archives kept in the “Algemeen Rijksarchief“ in ’s-Gravenhage of the East India Company (Koloniaal Archief Nr. 4386 Resolutieboek van de Equipagie 1665-1778

The Pools were members of the middle-class, primarily sailors and ship builders, then accountants and ship building carpenters, apparently foremost in the services of the East India Company. It appears that one member of the family emigrated to the Cape province.

"Een Johannes Pool von Amsterdam, die in Dienst van de Oostindische Compagnie naar Zuid-Afrika
vertrok en (daar?) op 9 juni 1715 huwde med Lucretia Touwke (Tauke) van Mauritius, wordt vermeld bij C.C. de Villiers,
Geslachtregister der Oude Kaapsch Familien (Kaapstad 1894 deel 3 bladzijde 51.“

Pool are reformed.

First known  P o o l  was  Cornelis

The first known P o o l  was Cornelis. He lived in Alphen. It is uncertain whether he already used the name Pool. On September 29, 1629 when his son Claes’s wedding was noted, he was still living.
Cornelis and his wife died prior to June 27, 1637. He had (at least) the sons:
Claes Cornelisz. P o o l  and Cornelis Cornelisz. P o o l.

With Jan Pool´s, son of Gerrit Claesz Pool, immigration to Russia it seems that connections to Holland ceased. Later only one grand uncle of Jan Pool’s was living in Holland, i.e. Wilhelm Poel . Which relatives accompanied Jan to Russia is unclear. His son Jacobus had been born in Holland in 1712. Over four generations Poel family members (new spelling) enjoyed close relations with the Russian Empire; they attained status, wealth and some high positions at Court and, where applicable, belonged to the so-called service nobility. Legally they were Russian subjects; in actuality, as members of the Dutch expatriate society and the protestant-reformed church, they enjoyed a special status. Personal relations with the Czar’s family and marriages to daughters of influential, wealthy families (i.e. van Brienen and Baron Stieglitz) secured their position in the upper class.

Czar Peter the Great received Jan Poel in St. Petersburg with open arms. Jan worked there as a master carpenter, building ships and wind mills. Jan and his wife died prior to 1762.

The only children known from this marriage were three:
1. N.N. Poel
2. Wendelina Poel
3. Jacobus P o e l now begins the History of the family P O E L, before named Pool

The family divide into two lines Pieter (1.Linie) and Gustav (2.Linie)