Mattie Bobo Poole was born Saturday 17 March 1900 to Thomas Pitts Poole and Jemmie Elizabeth Alexander. She was the eighth, and final, surviving child born to Thomas and Jemmie.¹

The 14 April 1915 edition of the Laurens Advertiser reported on the “successful individual contestants in several departments of the county fair Friday”. Listed in the School Work category was “Booklet- Mattie Bobo Poole Sandy Spring.”²

The 8 November 1916 edition of the Laurens Advertiser reported that they were “sorry to learn that Miss Mattie Bobo Poole is sick with pneumonia”. She had recovered fully by summer, and when the 25 July 1917 edition of the Laurens Advertiser reported the activities of a “Sabbath School Convention” to which the local churches sent delegates, Mattie and her eldest brother Martin were the two delegates from Langston Baptist church. In addition, at the close of the convention, Mattie was selected as the “superintendent of elementary work in the district” for the coming year.³ Continue reading “Mattie Bobo Poole (1900- 1924)” →

The Census of 1790 and 1800 enumerate a George Pool living in Spartanburg county, South Carolina. Using the Census age brackets, he was born before 1774.¹ The family in 1800 consisted of one male age under 10 years, one male age 26-44 (presumably George) and four females age less than 10 years, one female age 10-15, and one female 26- 44 (presumably the spouse).

George Pool of Spartanburg does not appear in the Census of 1810 or 1820, at least in Spartanburg or Laurens counties. The next appearance of a George Pool is in the 1830 Census, in Laurens county, South Carolina.² While it is tempting to connect the two, I do not believe that there is sufficient circumstantial evidence to support a connection. Continue reading “The Elusive George Pool” →

We first suspect that there were two men named “Seth Pool” in the Laurens county area in the early 1800’s while examining the 1819 Probate papers of Robert Pool.¹ In the sales papers are references to sales to “Seth Pool” and a sale to “William Pool for Seth Pool”. This suspicion is confirmed in the 1822 Probate papers of William Petty Pool, when sales are noted to both “Seth Pool” and “Seth Pool Sen’r”.² Continue reading “Seth Pool, Junior” →

As with her brother John Belton Poole,  tradition describes Elizabeth as the daughter of Robert Pool and a granddaughter of Seth Petty Pool (c. 1754- 1837) of Laurens county, South Carolina.  This tradition is recorded in the book- Bessie P. Lamb, Mary-Mack Poole Ezell, A Genealogical History of the Poole, Langston, Mason Families and Kindred Line of Upper South Carolina, 1931- on page 12:

(2) Robert Poole and His Children:  Robert Poole son of (1) Seth Poole, married Elizabeth Davis…. His children were (3) Belton (1816-) and (3) Elizabeth R. (Sept. 17, 1818).

To date, no independent confirmation of this linage has been found.  The children of Seth Petty Pool (d. 1837) were not fully enumerated, and Robert Pool has been found only in scattered citations from 1810 through 1815;  has not been reliably located in any Census; and his probate in 1819¹ does not list any family members.

Elizabeth was born 9 March, 1817.²  Sometime before 1840, she married William H. Fowler.³

Continue reading “Elizabeth R. Poole” →

By tradition, Belton Poole is the son of Robert Pool and a grandson of Seth Petty Pool (c. 1754- 1837) of Laurens county, South Carolina. This tradition is recorded in the book- Bessie P. Lamb, Mary-Mack Poole Ezell, A GenealogicaL History of the Poole, Langston, Mason Families and Kindred Line of Upper South Carolina, 1931, on page 12:

(2) Robert Poole and His Children: Robert Poole son of (1) Seth Poole, married Elizabeth Davis…. His children were (3) Belton (1816-) and (3) Elizabeth R. (Sept. 17, 1818).

To date, no independent confirmation of this linage has been found. The children of Seth Petty Pool (d. 1837) were not fully enumerated, and Robert Pool has been found only in scattered citations from 1810 through 1815; has not been reliably located in any Census; and his probate in 1819 ¹ does not list any family members.

Continue reading “John Belton Poole” →