Leroy Alabama

LeRoy Pope (1765 - June 17, 1844) was a prominent American planter, lawyer, and early settler of Madison County, Alabama. He purchased much of the land on which downtown Huntsville now stands, and for his role in the establishment and early growth of that city, has been called the "Father of Huntsville. " [1]

Pope was born in [Jan 30, 1765] in [Northumberland County, Virginia], the son of Leroy Pope Sr. and Elizabeth Mitchell. He was educated in his home state, and moved with his parents to Amherst County, Virginia. There is no official record of military service in the American Revolution, however, his uncle, William Pope, was in the Virginia State Navy and was For his service as Midshipman in the Virginia State Navy during the American Revolution, William was declared eligible propositi in The Society of the Cincinnati.

In 1790, Pope and a host of friends and relatives removed to the town of Petersburg, in Elbert County Georgia. Wunder Photos. where he was a tobacco planter. In 1809, was among the first wave of wealthy settlers to Madison County, Mississippi Territory (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. [2]

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 England of the poet Alexander Pope.