If you are just beginning to research for your Doles relatives or trying to find a lost branch, you should know that there are at least 8 non-related families to be found in the USA.

The two largest of these Doles families both have their origins in Virginia.
One is traced back to an early planter named Thomas Doles (also appears as Dause, Dowles, Dowlse) and his wife Mary. Thomas died abt. 1688 (will signed) in the Isle of Wight Co. Virginia. The other Virginian Doles family has its origins in Louisa Co. VA with the union of James W. Doles (Dols) to „a non white free person" Elizabeth Holmes (Homes, Hoomes).

It is helpful to know that these two families spread out differntly across the USA.
The Louisa Co. branch spread out west around 1820 from Ohio, Indiana and later on into California. So if you are researching a Doles from one of these states chances are that individual is a descendent of James W. Doles and Elizabeth Holmes. A helpful researcher of this line is Marilyn Doles (mdoles(att)bright.net)

Descendents of Thomas Doles (my branch) generally stayed more on the east coast and southern states. So if you are researching a Doles individual from VA, NC, SC, AL, GA, or TX then chances are that person is a Thomas Doles descendent. I would love to hear from anyone who is researching a Doles descendent from any of these states (I´m sure I have a lot of lost branches out there) fabian(att)doles.com

There are of course exceptions to the distribution of these families this generalization is only meant as a guide line and not a golden rule! Some overlapping also occurs, I have found for example both of these familes in Louisiana.

Another widely spread Doles family includes the afro-american lines; often descendents of slaves formerly owned by the Thomas Doles branch. One could of course argue that these families may also be blood related if you consider the promiscuity of slave owners as depicted in many films (ex. Mandingo, Roots). If anyone is researching an afro-american Doles line I would be interested in posting your lineage on my website www.doles.org .

Other non-related Doles familes include:
1. A Croatian line: contact Milton Doles, (m_doles(att)yahoo.com) 1900 6th Street North West, Great Falls Montana. U.S.A. 59404-1342
2. A German line with the most distinguished forefather being the composer Johann Friedrich Doles, born April 23, 1715 and was a follower of Johann S. Bach.
3. Descendents of a free slave María José DOLES of Puerto Rico. Contact: elpadreJAOP(att)hotmail.com
4. At least two american indian connections
A. 9 individuals with a double name Doles/Lavonture appear on Annuity Pay-Roll list of MIAMI INDIANS of INDIANA, June 12, 1895. and
B. According to Choctaw Nation Marrige List 1895-1907 a DOLES, John R. aged 21 married McDONALD, Ina age 17 13 FEB 1907 MONROE
5. Doles is also sept of the scottish Clan MacKintosh (MacIntosh). DOLES is actually a corruption of the name DALLAS (see www.doles.org for more info)
6. I have also come across some Doles families in Maryland but have not yet placed them to any of the above.
I have included all of these familes in my free searchable database at www.doles.org

Any comments may be sent to Fabian Doles fabian(att)doles.com

Please note that the @ symbol in all contact eMail addresses have been replaced by (att) to prevent crawlers from identifying them.