Peter Pool was born in West Virginia in 1845. His parents William Pool and Mary Ann (Woodyard) Pool moved the family to Spencer, Roane County, WV, about 1853. The town was divided in its loyalties during the Civil War which was also true within the Pool family. Peter enlisted in the Confederate States Army (CSA) in July 1861 in Charleston, Kanawha Co., WV. He held the rank of corporal in Company G of the 60th Virginia Infantry. His father William served in the Union Home Guards in Roane County under Capt. Pell (who later led a company in the 11th Regiment WV Infantry after William Pool's death.) On August 24, 1861, just one month after Peter enlisted, his father William was killed by Confederate snipers in Spencer. Peter's brother Presley ("PLW") Pool (1832/3-1912) is listed on an 1864 Union draft registry (Ancestry.com), but there is no indication that he served.

Peter was promoted to sergeant in 1862. On March 2, 1865, he was captured by Union forces at Waynesboro, Virginia. He was imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland, and Fort Delaware. On June 22, 1865, he was released after signing an Oath to the United States. (Source: Ancestry.com). In 1885, Peter attended a reunion for both Union and Confederate soldiers held in Higginsville, Missouri. See his name in attached newspaper article.

Peter married Elizabeth Tanner (1840-1928) in 1867 according to WV marriage records. About 1871 they moved to Saline County, Missouri. According to the 1880 and 1900 census reports, their children were:

- Charles Pool (b. abt. 1867)

- John Pool (b. abt. 1870)

- Horace Greeley Pool (1872-1948) m. Mary Eunice Tunks

- Alyce Cary Pool (1874-1953) m. William Perkins

- Jesse Pool (1877-1947) m. Martha Bell Hibbard

- William Pool (1880-1959) m. Nellie Francis Jones

- Thomas L. Pool (1882-1922) m. Daisy Dean

- Hattie Pool (1884-1958) m. Louis J. Simmons

[Note: In the 1900 census, Elizabeth reported that she had given birth to 9 children with 7 still living. Only 8 are listed in the 1880 and 1900 census reports. The missing child could be a Peter Pool, who died at age 17 near Grand Pass, Missouri according to the Iron County Register (issue Nov. 5, 1896, image 6). The obit states that he hanged himself from a tree. It is strange that he is not listed with the Pool family in the 1880 census, but then again, neither is son Horace.]

Peter Pool died in 1905 and was buried in Grand Pass, Saline Co., Missouri, an area in which he and Elizabeth had resided since the 1870s. His headstone in Grand Pass lists his military information.

There is a gravestone, erected in 2003, in Spencer, WV, which mistakenly has Peter's name and regiment but with his brother Presley's (PLW's) birth and death dates. This was the location of Presley's deteriorating gravestone and Presley initials "PLW" Pool were likely misinterpreted by the WPA in 1940 or the local Veteran's groups in 2003 to be for Peter Pool. That would explain how the errors got inscribed on the 2003 headstone that still stands in Goff Cemetery, Spencer, West Virginia. This confusion of the brothers might also explain why the middle initial "L" is sometimes associated with Peter Pool on family trees when it was his brother's initial. NONE of Peter Pool's census or military documents ever show a middle initial.

Researched and submitted by FAG member 49523294. Please contact me through Findagrave (it's free) if you have any comments or additional information.