- Jean Poingdestre
Jean Poingdestre (1609 - 1691) was a native of
Jersey and a supporter of the Royalists in theEnglish Civil War . He was born in the parish of St Saviour, at the Poingdestre fief of Granville. He graduated at Cambridge, and was made a fellow ofExeter College, Oxford in 1636, after studyingClassics , specialising in Greek. Poingdestre was offered the job of Charles I's Latin Secretary (foreign translator) during the war, but seems to have declined. In 1648 he was forced to take refuge in Jersey, where he participated in the defence ofElizabeth Castle in 1651. After the Restoration, Poingdestre returned to England before becoming LieutenantBailiff of Jersey , resigning in 1676. During this time, he wrote "CÆsarea or A Discourse of the Island of Jersey", a comprehensive survey of Jersey geography, customs, law, governance, folklore and trade.An English lawyer, William Trumbull, visited Jersey and met Jean Poingdestre in 1676. He described him thus:
"Jean Pointdextre, Esquire is the next in Place, & was the late Lieut.Bailiff: He was admitted Jurate upon a Recomendatory Letter obtaind from above & putt into the place of Lieutenant ... He is a person of Experience & Capacity, as well in the businesse of the Publiq (having a good knowledge of the Court of England) as in that of the laws of that Country, which he has studdyed beyond any other, & digested the laws of Normandy into a Method sutable to the Practise of the Island. His great fault is His very passionate temper, ... He is undoubtedly the fittest person to help to Compile a Body of Law & is acquainted with all the Abuses in the Practise" " [sic throughout] "
The
Poindexter family of America is descended from Jean's great-nephew, George Poindexter.ources
* [http://www.jerseylegalinfo.je/Publications/jerseylawreview/Oct00/a_17th_century_poem.aspx Biographical portrait from the Jersey Legal Information Board]
*"Cæsarea or A Discourse of the Island of Jersey", Preface to the 1889 Société Jersiaise edition.
* [http://www.poindexterfamily.org/history/Jersey/JeanPoingdestre/index.html Poindexter descendants association website. Contains an online version of "Caesarea". (some erroneous information)]
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