Bio of Pope, Hon. John F. (b.1836) Wabasha Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Barbara Timm and Carol Judge
=========================================================================
This bio comes from "HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY" 1884.
Check out Barbara's site for more great information on this book:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnwabbio/wab1.htm
There are also some pictures and information from descendents for some 
of the bios on her pages.

Pope, Hon. John F., (page 1075), lawyer, and ex-judge of probate for
Wabasha county, was the fourth child and third son in a family of nine
children born to Ralph and Mary (Richardson) Pope, of Orange, Orange
county, Vermont. Judge Pope was born October 7, 1836. His early life was
spent on a farm. Young Pope had the advantages of the country school, but
when he had reached the age of sixteen years had made a sorry record as a
student, his highest ambition being to escape school duties and evade
punishment for his frequent violations of the rules of school government.
Fortunately he had a brother of scholarly acquirements, who opened a
select school in the village of Orange the winter that our subject was
sixteen, and in this school he became a conscript pupil, by order of a
stern father. Finding himself obliged to attend school, his pride soon
awakened him to a sense of shame for the great ignorance which he
possessed when compared with his more studious schoolmates. There was no
escape from the student life, and he could discover but one way to
ameliorate his humiliating condition, and that was by hard study. Once
fully resolved on this point, his really brilliant mind began to display
its superior powers, and within two years he was in advance of those of
his age and leading his classes. He taught school some and worked on the
farm until he had reached his twenty-fifth year, and then came west and
learned the mason trade, and also blacksmithing; those vocations he
followed for many years in Beaver, Winona county. Having acquired some
skill as a debater by attending lyceum in Vermont, he was frequently
solicited to display his oratorical abilities as a pettifogger in Beaver
and vicinity. His first appearance before a court was not such as tended
to encourage his aspirations in that direction, he was pitted against a
browbeating pettifogger, who knew enough to discover that Mr. Pope knew
nothing of the business in hand, and the latter lost his case and felt
very much crestfallen. A second encounter of this kind aroused his ire and
grit, and though defeated he resolved to and did procure suitable
law-books, and was well prepared to meet his pugilistic opponent, when for
the third time he had occasion to appear before Justice H. B. Knowles and
plead a case againt Mr. Oliver Porter, the browbeating pettifogger above
mentioned. The latter undertook to employ his ususal tactics, and by
physical force silence young Pope, but found his mild-mannered opponent of
former suits was ablaze with wrath and bursting with rage. He had risen to
his feet, and stretching his tall form to its greatest height, he
threatened with fierce language both lawyer and court, and menaced that
tribunal of justice with utter annihilation unless he should be permitted
to conduct his case according to the rules of practice. The effect was
excellent, and from that time forth no one ever attempted to browbeat the
new aspirant for forensic honors. It was more than eight years after this
little episode occurred before Mr. Pope applied for admission to the bar.
October 17, 1873, he passed a creditable examination and was admitted to
practice by the circuit court of Winona county. The following year he came
to Plainview and opened a law office. The spring of 1875 he formed a
copartnership with Hon. H. P. Wilson, and the following fall was elected
probate judge for Wabasha county, and was re-elected to the same position
in 1877. His copartnership with Mr. Wilson was dissolved in 1876, since
which time Mr. Pope has continued to practice law without a partner. He is
a member of the Masonic chapter and has thrice been elected master of the
blue lodge of Plainview. He was married December 11, 1864, to Sarah L.
Welch, daughter of Samuel and Louiza Welch, of Winona county, by whom he
has one child now living, Frank, born March 6, 1880.
Revolutionary War