Elizabeth Poole or Pole was an English settler in Plymouth Colony

Plymouth Colony

Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...

 who founded the town of Taunton, Massachusetts

Taunton, Massachusetts

Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County and the hub of the Greater Taunton Area. The city is located south of Boston, east of Providence, north of Fall River and west of Plymouth. The City of Taunton is situated on the Taunton River...

. She was the first woman known to have founded a town in the Americas. Poole was a well-born woman from Shute in East Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, near Axminster

Axminster

Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of Devon in England. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. It has a population of 5,626. The market is still...

. She was the daughter of Sir William Pole, who was knighted by James I in 1601, and Mary Peryam, the daughter of Sir William Peryam

Sir William Peryam

Sir William Peryam was an English judge who, in 1593, rose to the top position of Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.-Life:...

, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Her family's descendants, the Pole-Carews

Pole Baronets

There have been three Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Pole, one in the Baronetage of England, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...

, still live in the Devonshire house she was born in, Shute Barton

Shute Barton

Shute Barton, located at Shute, near Axminster, Devon, England, is a mediaeval manor house, today a property of the National Trust.Shute Barton is one of the most important non-fortified manor houses of the Middle Ages still in existence. It was commenced in approximately 1380 and finally completed...

, a National Trust property which is open to the public twice a week, during the summer.

Elizabeth sailed from Plymouth, England in 1633. Although the Taunton town seal depicts Poole purchasing land from the local Wampanoag Indians, she was not actually involved in the original transaction. However, together with her brother William Poole, she acquired a large section of this land in 1637. This led to the development of the Taunton settlement in 1638. The next year, on 3 March 1639, the settlement was officially incorporated.

The inscription on her gravestone reads:

Here rest the remains of Elizabeth Poole, a native of Old England, of good family, friends, and prospects, all which she left in the prime of her life, to enjoy the religion of her conscience, in this distant wilderness; a great proprietor of the township of Taunton, a chief promoter of its settlement, and its incorporation in 1639-40; about which time she settled near this spot, and having employed the opportunity of her virgin state in piety, liberality, and sanctity of manners, died May 21, 1654, aged 65.