| Poll | |
| Species: | African grey |
| Known For: | Shouting profanities at Andrew Jackson's funeral |
Poll, nicknamed Polly,[1] was a pet African grey parrot originally owned by Rachel Jackson, but adopted by her husband Andrew Jackson after her death. It is commonly reported that Poll learned to shout profanities by listening to Andrew Jackson, and had to be removed from his 1845 funeral due to causing a disturbance with her foul language.[2]
Reverend William Menefee Norment, who attended Jackson's funeral, recollected that Poll "got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house",[3] [4] [5] although Snopes notes that this anecdote only arose decades after the funeral took place, and that no other eyewitness accounts of the alleged event exist.[6]
Andrew Jackson purchased Poll for his wife for $25 in 1827, but she died a year later in 1828. Jackson loved Poll dearly, and often wrote letters to his nephew, William Donelson, asking about the bird's health; Donelson took care of Poll while Jackson could not. In his letters, Donelson described Poll as "fat and saucy" and predicted that she would "live to be an old Bird". Poll appeared less frequently in Jackson's letters after 1837, due in part to Jackson living with the bird at that point and no longer enquiring about her health.
At Jackson's funeral on June 10, 1845,[7] Poll is said to have repeatedly cursed loudly, disturbing thousands of guests.[8] [9] In particular, Jackson's slaves were reported to have been "horrified and awed" by the parrot's "lack of reverence". Poll was then removed from the house.[10] Professor of history Dan Feller at the University of Tennessee stated that the story is "uncontroverted but also unauthenticated". The exact words spoken by Poll at the event are unknown.
After Jackson's death, Poll was likely cared for by Jackson's remaining family at the Hermitage. The last known reference to Poll was in an 1850 letter written by Jackson's adoptive grandchildren.