LeRoy Pope (Jan 30 1765 – June 17 1844) was a prominent
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
planter, lawyer, and early settler of
Madison County, AlabamaMadison County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is a major part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The county is named in honor of James Madison, fourth President of the United States of America, and the first to visit the state of Alabama. According to the Census'...
. He purchased much of the land on which downtown
Huntsville, AlabamaHuntsville is a city, centrally located in the northern most part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located in Madison county and extends west into neighboring Limestone county. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison county, and the fourth largest city in Alabama. The 2000 census estimated...
now stands, and for his role in the establishment and early growth of that city, has been called the "Father of Huntsville."
Pope was born in Jan 30 1765 in
Northumberland County, VirginiaNorthumberland County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state in the United States. In 2000, its population was 12,259. Its county seat is Heathsville...
, the son of LeRoy Pope, Sr. and Elizabeth Mitchell.
LeRoy Pope (Jan 30 1765 – June 17 1844) was a prominent
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
planter, lawyer, and early settler of
Madison County, AlabamaMadison County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is a major part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The county is named in honor of James Madison, fourth President of the United States of America, and the first to visit the state of Alabama. According to the Census'...
. He purchased much of the land on which downtown
Huntsville, AlabamaHuntsville is a city, centrally located in the northern most part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located in Madison county and extends west into neighboring Limestone county. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison county, and the fourth largest city in Alabama. The 2000 census estimated...
now stands, and for his role in the establishment and early growth of that city, has been called the "Father of Huntsville."
Early life
Pope was born in Jan 30 1765 in
Northumberland County, VirginiaNorthumberland County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state in the United States. In 2000, its population was 12,259. Its county seat is Heathsville...
, the son of LeRoy Pope, Sr. and Elizabeth Mitchell. He was educated in his home state, and moved with his parents to
Amherst County, VirginiaAmherst County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 31,894. Its county seat is Amherst.Amherst County is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
. He is said to have served in the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
, and was present at the siege and battle of
YorktownThe Siege of Yorktown or Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by General Lord Cornwallis...
, but no official documentation of this service exists.
Moving South
In 1790, Pope and a host of friends and relatives removed to the town of
PetersburgThe dead town of Petersburg, Georgia was an upriver market located in Wilkes County, Georgia County. Named after Petersburg, Virginia, it was founded by Dionysius Oliver in 1786 to serve the rapidly growing Broad River Valley region of Georgia , and enjoyed connection via pole boat with Augusta,...
, in
Elbert CountyElbert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on December 10th, 1790. As of 2000, the population was 20,511. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 20,525 . The county seat is Elberton, Georgia.-Geography:...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
, where he was a tobacco planter. In 1809, was among the first wave of wealthy settlers to Madison County,
Mississippi TerritoryThe Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Mississippi....
(now Alabama). He acquired a large tract of land which included the highly-sought Big Spring, where pioneer John Hunt had settled in 1805. Hunt, like many other squatters, could not afford to purchase his land.
Pope was successful in petitioning the territorial legislature to select his land as the site of Madison County's seat of government. He named the new town Twickenham after the home in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
of his distant relative
Alexander PopeAlexander Pope is a famous eighteenth century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson. Pope is famous for his use of the heroic couplet.-...
. In 1811, the town was renamed Huntsville in honor of the pioneer Hunt.
LeRoy Pope's mansion, called Poplar Grove, was erected in 1814, in time to entertain General
Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . He was military governor of Florida , commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans , and eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy...
on his return home from the
Battle of Horseshoe BendThe Battle of Horseshoe Bend , was fought during the War of 1812 in central Alabama...
. It was one of the earliest brick structures in Alabama, and remains a prominent Huntsville landmark atop Echols Hill in the
Twickenham Historic DistrictTwickenham Historic District was the first historic district designated in Huntsville, Alabama. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 4, 1973. The name derives from an early name for the town of Huntsville, named after Twickenham, England by LeRoy Pope...
.
Public life and civic leadership
Pope was a wealthy and successful planter, and was active in the early government and civic leadership of Huntsville and Madison County. He presided as chief justice of the first county court, and was among the founders of the first Episcopal church in Huntsville, organized in 1830. He was named by the legislature as a commissioner for the Planters' and Merchants' Bank of Huntsville, Alabama's first banking corporation, and for the Indian Creek Navigation Company.
He was married to Judith Sale, daughter of Cornelius Sale and Jane Dawson of
Amherst County, VirginiaAmherst County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 31,894. Its county seat is Amherst.Amherst County is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
. His daughter Matilda Pope married
John Williams WalkerJohn Williams Walker was an American politician, who served as the Democratic-Republican United States senator from the state of Alabama, the first senator elected by that state....
, who became Alabama's first senator, and was the mother of
LeRoy Pope WalkerLeRoy Pope Walker was the first Confederate States Secretary of War and issued the orders for the firing on Fort Sumter, which began the American Civil War...
,
ConfederateThe Confederate States of America was a separatist political entity existing between 1861 to 1865, established by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States...
secretary of war and
brigadier generalBrigadier General is the lowest ranking General Officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of Colonel and Major General.The rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a brigadier general, or simply a brigadier, would command a brigade in the field...
;
Richard Wilde WalkerRichard Wilde Walker was a prominent Confederate States of America politician.Walker was born and died in Huntsville, Alabama. He was the son of John Williams Walker, the brother of Percy Walker and LeRoy Pope Walker, and father of Richard Wilde Walker, Jr. Richard Walker, Sr...
, Confederate States senator;
Percy WalkerPercy Walker, , a Representative from Alabama; born in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama, in December 1812; completed preparatory studies; was graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1835; commenced the practice of medicine in Mobile, Alabama;...
,
United States representativeThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
; and several other children. Another daughter, Maria Pope, married Thomas George Percy, Sr., and became the ancestor of such notables as Senator
Charles H. PercyCharles Harting "Chuck" Percy was chairman of the Bell & Howell Corporation from 1949 to 1964 and United States Senator from Illinois from 1967 to 1985. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Bell & Howell:...
of
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
, Senator
LeRoy PercyLeRoy Percy was a wealthy planter from Greenville, Mississippi in the heart of the Delta. He attended the University of Virginia where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity...
of
MississippiMississippi is a state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the...
, poet
William Alexander PercyWilliam Alexander Percy , was a lawyer, planter, and poet from Greenville, Mississippi. His autobiography Lanterns on the Levee became a bestseller. His father LeRoy Percy was the last United States Senator from Mississippi elected by the legislature...
, and author
Walker PercyWalker Percy was an American Southern author whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is best known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of which, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962...
.
Pope died in Huntsville on June 17 1844, and is buried in
Maple Hill CemeteryMaple Hill Cemetery is the oldest and largest cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama. Founded on two acres in about the year 1822, it now encompasses nearly 100 acres and contains over 80,000 burials...
.