San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN J. POPE
A review of the life of John J. Pope
shows how potent an element is persistency of purpose in the active affairs of
life. Dependent upon his own resources
from ten years of age he came to California in the days of its mining
excitement and has steadily worked his way upward. He was born in Washington County, Arkansas,
December 22, 1854, a son of Robert and Sarah (Eddlemon)
Pope. Robert Pope met an accidental
death in 1858. Grandfather and Grandmother
Pope were natives of North Carolina.
They left their native state when very young and settled in east
Tennessee in 1818 and were married there in 1827; the removed to Arkansas in 1841
and in 1861 came to California, both of them dying ten years later. They were the parents of thirteen children,
three of whom died before their parent came west. On coming west they left Washington County,
Arkansas, March 10, and with ox teams and with some livestock they crossed the
plains and mountains, having some trouble with the Indians on the way, who
stole their cattle, two horses and two mules.
Thomas Pope, an uncle of our subject, pursued the Indians and recovered
the cattle, but not the other property.
They landed in San Joaquin County, September 6, 1861. Grandfather Pope was made captain of the
train to pilot it across the plains and Mrs. Robert Pope, with her family,
joined the train. There were ten
children in the family: Lee; John J.;
Benjamin F. of Lodi; Robert and Tilly, deceased; Nettie resides at Bakersfield;
Daisy resides in Arizona; the three younger children died in infancy. Mrs. Sarah Pope later married a Mr. McFadden
who settled at Copperopolis and worked in the mines; later they removed to
Oakdale where they purchased a home. She
lived to be seventy years of age.
John J. Pope had very little
opportunity for attending school; however, before leaving his native state of
Arkansas he attended school for a short time; then later he was able to attend
the old Salem school in Lodi for a short time. After his mother’s marriage to Mr. McFadden,
his stepfather made life unbearable for him, so he left home when he was ten
years old and never returned for any length of time, except an occasional visit
to his mother, to whom he was devoted.
After leaving home he went to Butte County and worked at various jobs, then he returned to San Joaquin County and worked on
threshing machines, hard work for a young boy.
In 1876, he and his brother Benjamin F. bought a 250-acre grain farm on
the Waterloo Road northeast of Stockton; this place was afterwards sold and Mr.
Pope purchased 160 acres across the road from the Harmony Grove school house,
where he has since made his home. About
twelve years ago the first house erected on the ranch burned down and Mr. Pope
erected another on the same spot.
On December 8, 1866, at Waterloo,
Mr. Pope was married to Miss Laura Light, a native of Waterloo, California, a
daughter of Solomon and Mary (Straiter) Light, the
former a native of Illinois and the latter of Missouri. Her parents came to California in 1864 and
settled three-quarters of a mile east of Waterloo where Mr. Light bought a
quarter-section of land, thirty-five acres of which he set to vineyard. They were the parents of six children: Sarah Elizabeth, deceased; Louisa Alice is
Mrs. Benjamin Pope of Lodi; Lucy Ella is Mrs. M. E. Mason of Waterloo; Mary M.
is Mrs. Bouckou of Oakdale; Mrs. Pope; George W.
resides at Escalon. Mr. Light passed
away at the age of seventy-two and the mother at the age of forty-four. Mr. and Mrs. Pope are the parents of three
children: Clora,
Mrs. Wesley A. Mowrey of Waterloo, has one son,
James; Jessie is Mrs. Kay Willits of Linden; and Ila is Mrs. J. P. Milligan of Stockton and the mother
of two sons, Roland and John Robert. Mr.
Pope has equipped his ranch with fine buildings and other improvements. Of the original quarter-section, he now owns
100 acres, having disposed of sixty acres some time ago, and he is now engaged
in buying and selling horses and cattle.
In politics he is a Republican and with his family are members of the
Methodist Church of Lodi.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
868. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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