According to most Pope-related family trees on Ancestry.com, Poole Hall Pope appears as "Winfield Poole Hall Pope". Additionally, it appears as though their families have been merged together into a single family and they have been named as the son of Charles Pope (b.1744) and Eleanor Wright (b.1747). From historic records, this appears to be incorrect.
Winfield Pope and Poole Pope were both enumerated as "Heads" of families in the first U.S. Federal Census of 1790 -
The AGBI (American Genealogical-Biographical Index) shows that Winfield Pope was born in 1750 in North Carolina. Ref: Heads of fams. at the first U.S. census. NC. By U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, 1908. (292p.), line 151.
The AGBI (American Genealogical-Biographical Index) shows that Poole Pope was born in 1750 in North Carolina. Ref: Heads of fams. at the first U.S. census. NC. By U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, 1908. (292p.), line 135.
At this point, any person serious about genealogy should be questioning how Charles (born in 1744) could be the father of "any" child born in 1750. If this were true, Charles would have been a father at the young age of only 6 years old... and Eleanor would have been a mother at the age of 3 years old. Impossible.
The date of birth for Charles was obtained from the 'U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900' collection of records at Ancestry.com. The ages for Winfield and Poole Hall, on the other hand, appear to have been extremely rough estimates based on the returns of the 1790 U.S. Federal Census.
It is important to note that in the 1790 U.S. Federal Census, the ages of both men were marked as simply being "16 and over". From this census, the closest anyone can estimate is that they were both born "before 1774".
In 1790, Winfield was enumerated as living in Wayne, North Carolina. Living in his household were four females (one presumably was his wife), a male under the age of 16, and another male over the age of 16.
In 1790, Poole Hall was enumerated as living in Dobbs, North Carolina. Living in his household were a female (presumably his wife), a male under the age of 16, and another male over the age of 16.
Winfield Pope presumably died in 1823. I have yet to locate records to confirm the date of his death. However, I have located census that demonstrate that from 1790 to 1820 he never resided outside of Wayne, North Carolina.
Poole Hall Pope presumably died in 1832. Once again, I have yet to locate records to confirm the date of his death. However, I have located census that demonstrate that from 1780 to 1830 he never resided outside of Cumberland, North Carolina. He appeared in Dobbs, Captain William's District, and Averasborough.
Since none of the people mentioned above appear anywhere in the Pope Family Tree database, some may ask what this has to do with my genealogical research. Actually, it appears to have a lot to do with the research covered on this web site. Read on.
So far, the head of the Pope family mapped out on the Pope Family Tree web site is Bennett Pope (b.abt.1750). It is important to know that due to the inability to find records relating to his age at any particular time, I roughly estimated his year of birth based upon the years of birth for his children. I made this estimate long before I ever began looking into the confusing family trees containing "Winfield Poole Hall Pope" so I know for certain that my estimate was not influenced in any way by the direction into which I am taking my research.
Bennett Pope had a son named Jacob Pope (b.1783). The census and other records show that Jacob was enumerated living in Stewart, Georgia (1840), Dale, Alabama (1850), and Barbour, Alabama (1860) before finally being put to rest in Marengo, Alabama (1871).
Of interest is the fact that the census shows Silas Pope (b.abt.1780) living with his family in Dale, Alabama in 1860. Calvin Pope (b.1833), son of Silas Pope, was married in Dale, Alabama in 1855. He and his family were also enumerated in the 1860 census living in Dale, Alabama. Additionally, Bryant Pope - also a son of Silas Pope - was enumerated with his family living in Dale, Alabama in 1860.
This is all of particular interest to this research because Silas Pope was the son of Poole Hall Pope.
Another son of Poole Hall Pope was Josiah (b.abt.1785) who married Lydia Beady Davis. Records suggest that Josiah lived and died in North Carolina, spending most of his life in Cumberland. Josiah and Lydia had eight children - six sons and two daughters. Amongst the six sons born to Josiah and Lydia was one named Bennett James Pope (b.abt.1829).
It appears Josiah never left North Carolina, and that he named his son "Bennett" twenty-five years before his brother Silas could have crossed paths with Jacob (son of Bennett Pope) in Dale, Alabama. As such, it is highly unlikely that his choice of name for his son was influenced by a "possible" crossing of paths that his brother had with a Pope who was the son of a Bennett Pope.
Are you following the logic of this research? Do you see where I am going with this?
I have yet to locate records to support this "theory", but I strongly believe that Poole Hall Pope was a brother of the Bennett Pope currently at the top of the tree at the Pope Family Tree web site. As such, that would make Jacob and Silas 1st cousins and would establish that Jacob cleared the path for his cousin's move with his family into Dale, Alabama.
As for the relationship between Winfield and Poole Hall Pope... These were most definitely two different men. They were probably brothers. If not brothers, then they were cousins - but I'm wagering on the theory that they were brothers.