Background
Pope was born on January 30, 1765 in Northumberland County, Virginia, the son of LeRoy Pope, Senior and Elizabeth Mitchell.
Pope was born on January 30, 1765 in Northumberland County, Virginia, the son of LeRoy Pope, Senior and Elizabeth Mitchell.
He was educated in his home state, and moved with his parents to Amherst County, Virginia.
He purchased much of the land on which downtown Huntsville, Alabama now stands, and for his role in the establishment and early growth of that city, has been called the "Father of Huntsville." He is said to have served in the American Revolution, and was present at the siege and battle of Yorktown, but no official documentation of this service exists. In 1790, Pope and a host of friends and relatives removed to the town of St. Petersburg, in Elbert County, Georgia, 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. 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 his distant relative Alexander Pope. 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 Jackson on his return home from the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
lieutenant was one of the earliest brick structures in Alabama, and remains a prominent Huntsville landmark atop Echols Hill in the Twickenham Historic District. lieutenant was restored in the early 21st century. Pope was a wealthy and successful planter, and was active in the early government and civic leadership of Huntsville and Madison County.
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.
Another daughter, Maria Pope, married Thomas George Percy, Senior, and became the ancestor of such notables as Senator LeRoy Percy of Mississippi, the poet William Alexander Percy, Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois, and the author Walker Percy. Pope died in Huntsville on June 17, 1844, and is buried in Maple Hill Cemetery.