Census

The 1880 Federal Census ¹ enumerates the children of George B. and Frances Pool as:

1.  Harvey

2.  Thomas

3.  Mary L.

4.  Arthur R.

5.  Farrow

Farrow Pool is listed as a son, age 1, implying a birth year of 1879.

The loss of the 1890 Census limits the ability to follow Farrow, and I have not been able to find him in the 1900 Census, by which time he would have been about age 21, and reasonably could be in his own household. Both George B. and Frances are deceased by the time the 1900 Census was taken.²

Evidence from Obituaries

Mary Frances Farrow Pool died in a kitchen fire August 30, 1885. The notification from the Laurens Advertiser on September 2, 1885 states that she “leaves a sorrow stricken family, her husband, four sons and one daughter.” This would imply that Farrow is still alive at age 6.

George B. Pool died 8 May, 1900, and his obituary in the May 16, 1900 issue of the Laurens Advertiser noted that “he leaves a widow and three sons”. Arthur Russell had died in March, 1887 from a gunshot wound.³ Mary L. Powers, his daughter, had died sometime between 1897 and 1900.⁴ Since both William Harvey and Thomas Pitts are well documented after 1900, the inference is that Farrow is also still alive at age 21.

A Secondary Account

Failing to find any primary or contemporary account of Farrow, I turned to the most comprehensive compiled history of the Laurens County SC Poole family, Bessie Poole Lamb and Mary Mack Poole Ezell’s 1931 book A Genealogical History of the Poole, Langston, Mason Families and Kindred Lines of Upper South Carolina. On page 56, she enumerates George and Mary’s children as:

1.  Thomas Pitts

2.  Harvey

3.  Ora

4.  Luke

As is common with genealogies of the era, no sources are cited for the list.

Comparing this list with the obituary of George B. Poole it seems that Lamb is aware of the late 1890’s family, if it is assumed that Ora is a nickname for Mary L. Powers, as the description of her on page 59 implies:

“Ora, the third child of George Poole, married in 1886 her first cousin (4) John Powers…”.

From this account, it is evident that Lamb’s source gave Farrow the name “Luke”, and, unfortunately:

“Of (4) Luke, the fourth child of (3) George Poole we have no record.”

 

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1.  Year: 1880; Census Place: Scuffletown, Laurens, South Carolina; Roll: 1233; Family History Film: 1255233; Page: 197C; Enumeration District: 104

2.  A possible 1900 Census record for Sarah (Sallie) Horton Pool, George’s second wife does not contain any individual that could reasonably be Farrow. Year: 1900; Census Place: Scuffletown, Laurens, South Carolina; Roll: 1533; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0059; FHL microfilm: 1241533; household of Willie T. Pool.

3.  Laurens Advertiser, 23 March 1887, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn93067760/1887-03-23/ed-1/seq-3/

4.  The 1900 Census for John H. Powers shows him as widowed, with a daughter Mary L, born June 1897. Year: 1900; Census Place: Scuffletown, Laurens, South Carolina; Roll: T623_1533; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 59.