George Washington Soles, Benjamin Gabriel Soles, and David Albert Soles were born the sons of Aaron Soles and Catherine Belfour of Ontario, Canada, in 1843, 1852, and 1857 respectively.

In the early 1870�s George and Benjamin left their home in Ontario to seek employment in the United States in the oil fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania. They traveled first to Cleveland in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where George was married and Benjamin�s first child was born. From there they went to Petrolia, Butler County, Pennsylvania, where Benjamin and his family settled. George is said to have gone on to Knox, PA before establishing his home in Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.

While their families stayed behind in these Pennsylvania towns, Benjamin and George went on to pursue work (and presumably their fortunes) elsewhere: Benjamin, in California and Alaska; George, in Ohio and Texas. David reportedly followed his brothers to Ohio and Pennsylvania, but he evidently returned to Canada, where he lived and farmed in the Adolphustown and South Fredericksburgh Township areas of Lennox and Addington County, Ontario.

It seems that the three brothers� families kept in touch for two generations before family connections were lost to time and distance. It was in the 1980�s, more than one hundred years after the Soles brothers first sought work in the oil fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania, that the remembrances of Benjamin�s granddaughter, Mary Mildred Powell Jones (1912 - 1987) sparked a quest to find the origin of the Soule family of Butler, Pennsylvania.

Mary Mildred had a photograph of young Benjamin with his bride Mildred that had been taken in Napanee, Ontario. The Bible the young couple received on their wedding day listed Benjamin�s native area as �Canada West.� An examination of the 1871 census returns for Lennox and Addington County revealed that Aaron, his wife Catherine, and son David were living in the Napanee area of Lennox and Addington County. (The settlement of Napanee was founded in 1789 with the building of a government gristmill for United Empire Loyalist settlers). With these scant clues, the quest commenced.

It was in the summer of 1987 when the museum genealogist at the Lennox and Addington County Museum in Napanee, Ontario brought two researchers together. One was researching David�s branch of the family, and the other, Benjamin�s. Their collaboration resulted in a compilation of fact, family tradition, and hypotheses that has since been added to by others as well. The result is a compilation of hundreds of the descendants of George Washington, Benjamin Gabriel, and David Albert. Many of the descendants can still be found living in and around the areas where their ancestors settled: Butler and Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Picton, Ontario.

In each branch of the family, the spelling of the surname evolved from Soles to Soules. In some documents, the spelling Souls can be found for various members of these families. In Benjamin�s branch, the final �s� was eventually removed. In David's branch, it remains.

The "Soule Search" is far from over (the ancestors of Aaron Soles have not yet been discovered). The puzzle is far from complete (there are more descendants to be found). Additions, suggestions, corrections, and (especially!) connections are enthusiastically welcomed.