The Pope Family. Chapter VI.
FROM Westmoreland county, Virginia, and down the Ohio to the settlement
at the mouth of Beargrass, three members of the Pope family journeyed in
late 1779, or in the first month of 1780. William Pope and Benjamin Pope
and their sister, Jane Pope, the wife of Thomas Helm, the founder of the
Kentucky family of that name. They were three of the four children of Worden
Pope and Hester Netherton, John Pope, the fourth, remaining in Virginia.
Worden Pope represented the fourth generation of Popes in America, before
him being three Nathaniel Popes. Nathaniel Pope, I., of England, settled
in Maryland prior to 1637, and was a member of the Maryland General Assembly
in 1648. He moved to Virginia in 1650, and part of his estate was "The
Cliffs," which passed from the Popes to one Thomas Ley, ancestor of Robert
E. Lee, the name of the estate changing to "Stratford." The bricks of which
"Stratford" was built are said to have been a gift from Queen Anne. Ann
Pope, daughter of the first Nathaniel Pope, married John Washington, who
emigrated from England and was the great-grandmother of George Washington.
69
Of the three Popes who came to Louisville only one, William
Pope, remained. Benjamin Pope removed to Bullitt county; Jane Pope Helm
and her husband stayed only a year and then settled in Elizabethtown, establishing
"Helm Place," which remained in the possession of the family until a few
years ago.
It is recounted that in the year which the Helms
spent in Louisville, then a most unhealthy place, they lost three small
children by disease. William Pope had married in Virginia,
Penelope Edwards, a daughter of Hayden Edwards, of Farquier county, who
removed to Bourbon county, Ky., to found a large and wealthy family. William
and Penelope Pope had eight children, four sons and four daughters, and
there are a number of descendants in Louisville. One daughter, Penelope,
was the heroine of an interesting pioneer romance, and she was also one
of three generations of Penelopes who were married very young, two at the
age of 14, who were mothers at 15, and one married at 13, the mother of
two children at 15. Coming down the Ohio river on their way to the falls
of the Ohio, Col. William Pope and his family encountered a young soldier
of the Revolution, Lieut. Col. William Oldham, and a warm friendship sprang
up between Col. Pope and Oldham, who made part of the trip with the Pope
family.
70
Lieut. Col. Oldham was much attracted to Penelope, the young daughter
of his friend, and announced his intention of coming back to claim her
for his bride, which he did three years later. Oldham was killed by Indians
at St. Clair's defeat in 1791. The marriage of Penelope Pope Oldham, a
widow, to Henry Churchill, and of her daughter, Abigail Oldham, to Samuel
Churchill, brother of Henry, was recounted in the sketch of the Churchill
family. The incident of mother and daughter marrying brothers had occurred
before in the Pope family, for Hesterton Netherton Pope, after the death
of Worden Pope, married Lynaugh Helm, a brother of Thomas Helm, who married
her daughter, Jane Pope.
William Pope was one of the original trustees appointed
by the Virginia Legislature to establish the town of Louisville in May,
1780; he made the survey of the town to carry out the plan of dividing
the forfeited Connolly land into lots to be sold at $30 an acre; he was
a justice of the peace in 1785. William Pope was a veteran of the Revolution,
as was his brother, Benjamin, and in 1780 was made Lieutenant Colonel of
the Louisville militia, to become Colonel of the same organization in April,
1784. William Pope and his family settled an the Bardstown road not far
from the city limits, the house standing on what is now the country place
of Mrs. Harry Bishop.
71
The old Pope cemetery was on this farm, and a handsome monument stands
there to mark the graves of William Pope, Jr., and his wife, Cynthia Sturgess.
In the East End there are three parallel streets, William,
H and Pope streets, which make a lasting tribute to the memory of Col.
Pope as an early surveyor of the town.
William Pope, Jr., and his wife, Cynthia Sturgess, had
a large family, their sons and daughters marrying into families of prominence
and social position, but there are few of their descendants left in Louisville.
Henrietta Pope married Thomas Prather Jacob, and their home was for many
years on the northeast corner of Fourth and Breckinridge. They have two
sons living, Donald Jacob, who married Hallie Louise Burge, and John I.
Jacob, of Louisville and Paris. Another son, the late Rev. Thomas Prather
Jacob, has two children, Etta Pope Jacob and James Baird Jacob, who live
with their mother, who was Martha Baird. Henry Pope, who married Alice
Miller, has a daughter, Anna, Mrs. E. C. Newbold, who makes Louisville
her home. Alexander Pope married Martha Fontaine and had five
children, two sons, Henry and Fontaine, who were never married, and both
were killed in duels; three daughters, Penelope Pope, who married her cousin,
William
Prather;
72
Martha Pope, who married her cousin, Charles Pope, son of William and
Cynthia Pope, and after his death married the Rev. Edward P. Humphrey (her
only child was Judge Alexander Pope Humphrey), and Maria Pope, who married
Allen P. Elston. The Elstons had a daughter, Fanny, who married Edward
Payson Quigley, the mother of Eliza Quigley, Mrs. Bethel B. Veech, and
of three other children who do not live in Louisville.
The numerous descendants of Penelope Pope, and William
Prather were mentioned in the sketch of the Prather family.
The home of Alexander Pope, member of the Kentucky Legislature,
prominent lawyer and man of affairs, stood on the south side of Jefferson
street, between Sixth and Seventh, with a frontage of about 200 feet and
extending back to Green street. Alexander Pope bought the property in 1806,
and Judge Alexander Pope Humphrey inherited it from his mother, who was
Martha Pope. Judge Humphrey was born in the old Pope home and still owns
a piece of property on the block, a part of which was the lawn on the Sixth-street
side of the house, retaining it for its association, and oddly enough the
windows of his law office in the Inter-Southern overlook the site of the
Pope house, on which is now built a row of shops.
73
The Pope men were antagonists of Henry Clay and strong
supporters of Andrew Jackson, and a tradition of the Popes tells of the
caucus held in Alexander Pope's law office, which stood in the side yard
of his home on Jefferson street, at which Andrew Jackson was brought forward
as a candidate for the Presidency in 1824. When President Jackson visited
Louisville he was delightfully entertained by the Pope families.
Penelope Pope, one of the four daughters of William and
Penelope Pope, is the only one who has descendants here. By her first marriage
to Col. William Oldham she had three children, Judge John Pope Oldham,
of the Louisville Circuit Court, long prominent here; Major Richard Oldham,
of the United States Army, and Abigail Oldham, who married Samuel Churchill.
Judge John Pope Oldham married Malinda Talbot; their daughter, Susan Oldham,
married Horace Hill, and was the mother of several children. Lily Hill
married William Paca Lee and was the mother of Linda Lee, now Mrs. Thomas,
and of Jouett Lee, Mrs. William Wallace, of Boston, who so frequently visits
here.
Major Richard Oldham married Eliza Martin, daughter of
Major Thomas Martin,
U. S. A., having a son, George Oldham, who married Harriet Josephine
Miller, daughter of John Adam Miller. Alfred Violett Oldham, for many years
74
Clerk of the City Court, is the only descendant of Major Oldham in the
city.
From the marriage of Penelope Pope Oldham to Henry Churchill
and from the marriage of her daughter, Abigail Oldham, to Samuel Churchill,
several of Louisville's most influential families trace their lineage,
the Ballards, the Humphreys, the Churchills, the Jungbluths, the Peters
and others, all mentioned in the Churchill sketch.
Two sons of William and Penelope Pope, prominent men of
their day, were John Pope and Nathaniel Pope. but they have no descendants
in Louisville.
While Benjamin Pope and his wife, Beheathland Foote, settled
in Bullitt county, near Shepherdsville, Benjamin Pope, a captain in the
Revolution, was active in the shaping of the city's history. He was an
ensign in Capt. James Patton's militia, and assisted in the building of
Fort Nelson. He was one of Louisville trustees in 1783. Among the trustees
of Louisville elected in 1809 were Benjamin Pope's son, Worden, and William
Pope's son, Alexander Pope.
Worden Pope was one of three sons of Benjamin and Beheathland
Pope. George and Benjamin Pope continued their residence in Bullitt county,
while Worden Pope became a prominent citizen in Louisville. He was County
Clerk for many years and was succeeded by his
75
son, Edmund Pendleton Pope, and later by his son, Curran Pope, the clerkship
remaining in the Pope family for over sixty years.
Elizabeth Taylor Thruston, daughter of Col. John Thruston,
was the wife of Worden Pope, and there were thirteen children of this marriage.
However, only three sons of the family are forefathers of Louisville people:
Patrick Henry Pope, who married Sarah Lawrence Brown; Edmund Pendleton
Pope, who married Nancy Johnson, daughter of Col. James Johnson; Col. Curran
Pope, of the Union army, a West Point graduate, killed at the Battle of
Perryville, who married Matilda Prather Jacob, daughter of John I. Jacob
and Ann Overton Fontaine.
Patrick Henry Pope was the father of Edmonia Pope, who
married Dr. William H. Galt, the mother of Misses Urith and Ellen Galt;
and of Ellen E. Pope, who married Dr. John Thruston, the mother of Mrs.
Sarah Thruston Hughes, and of Mary Anna Pope, who married George Nicholas,
whose offspring is set down in the sketch of the Prather family. There
were two other children who have no descendants here.
Edmund Pendleton Pope was the father of Judge Alfred Thruston
Pope, legislator and jurist, who married his cousin, Mary Tyler Pope, daughter
of Col. Curran Pope. Dr. Curran Pope
76
and Alfred Thruston Pope are the only children of Judge Alfred Thruston
and Mary Tyler Pope, and live in their parents' old residence on Walnut
street. Another son of Edmund Pendleton Pope is Brig. Gen. J. Worden Pope,
U, S. A., retired, whose home is in Denver. Gen. Pope was at one time quartermaster
general of the army, and was for a time commandant of the disciplinary
barracks at Ft. Leavenworth. His son, Warden Pope, spent the autumn in
Louisville at Camp Taylor in the F. A. R. D., and was a candidate officer
in the artillery school when the armistice was signed.
Mary Tyler Pope, the mother of Dr. Curran Pope and Alfred
Thruston Pope, was the only child of Cal. Curran Pope, with descendants
here.
77
