Biography of John Thomas Pool
John Thomas Pool, born in 1833 in Tennessee, moved to Howell County, Missouri, as an infant. Raised in a farming family, he had limited formal education but started working as a farmhand at 15. Pool acquired land through hard work and became a successful farmer and stock dealer, owning a 357-acre farm. He married twice, with several children surviving him. An influential member of the community and the Masonic Lodge, Pool contributed significantly to the region’s development from wilderness to a thriving area.