John Pope | |
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| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office February 23, 1811 – November 3, 1811 | |
| Preceded by | John Gaillard |
| Succeeded by | William H. Crawford |
| United States Senator fromKentucky | |
| In office March 4, 1807 – March 3, 1813 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Clay |
| Succeeded by | Jesse Bledsoe |
| 12th Secretary of State of Kentucky | |
| In office October 21, 1816 – August 2, 1819 | |
| Governor | Gabriel Slaughter |
| Preceded by | Charles Stewart Todd |
| Succeeded by | Oliver G. Waggener |
| 3rdGovernor of Arkansas Territory | |
| In office March 9, 1829 – March 9, 1835 | |
| President | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | George Izard |
| Succeeded by | William S. Fulton |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromKentucky's7th district | |
| In office March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843 | |
| Preceded by | Benjamin Hardin |
| Succeeded by | William Thomasson |
| Member of theKentucky Senate | |
| In office 1825–1829 | |
| Member of theKentucky House of Representatives | |
| In office 1802 1806–1807 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 1770 |
| Died | July 12, 1845 (aged 75) Springfield, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican (as Senator) Democratic (as Governor) Whig/Independent (as Representative) |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Henry Christian (m. 1795, d. March 1, 1806); Elizabeth "Eliza" Janet Dorcas Johnson (m. 1810, d. April 24, 1818); widow Mrs. Frances Watkins Walton (m. 1820, d. Nov. 28, 1843) |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence(s) | Pope Villa, Lexington KY; Springfield, KY |
| Alma mater | Salem Academy College of William & Mary |
| Occupation | Lawyer,politician |
John Pope (February 1770 – July 12, 1845)[1] was aUnited States Senator fromKentucky. He was a member of theUnited States House of Representatives from Kentucky,Secretary of State of Kentucky, and the thirdGovernor ofArkansas Territory.
Pope was born nearBristow inPrince William County, Virginia in 1770, the first son of the former Penelope Sanford Edwards (1757–) and her husband Col. William H. Pope (1740–1825). He had younger brothers William H. Pope Jr (1775–1844) who was born as the family continued moving westward intoFauquier County, Virginia, as well as Alexander Pope (1781–1826) andNathaniel Pope (1784–1850), both of whom were born as the family moved toLouisville in what was thenKentucky County, Virginia. His youngest brother Nathaniel would also become a lawyer, but continued the family's westward migration by first establishing a legal practice in theMissouri Territory before moving slightly east and holding various positions in theIllinois Territory and ultimately becoming U.S. District Judge for District of Illinois. His birth family included several sisters who survived to adulthood and married, including Penelope Edwards Oldham (1769–1821), Jane Pope Field (1772–1852; also born in Fauquier County) and Hester Pope Edwards (1788–1868; born in Louisville). Both his parents had been born inWestmoreland County, Virginia, as had his grandfather Worden Pope (1705–1748) and great-grandfather Nathaniel "Bridges Pope III (1660–1719), although his grandmother Hester Netherton Pope was born in what was thenStafford County, Virginia.
John lost his arm during his youth and became known as "One-Arm Pope". He received a private education appropriate to his class, including at Salem Academy inBardstown, Kentucky.[2] He returned to Virginia and graduated from theCollege of William & Mary before returning to Kentucky and studying law inLexington underGeorge Nicholas, who had graduated from the same college before crossing the Appalachian mountains to Kentucky, where he not only practiced law but became the primary drafter of the 1792 Kentucky constitution.[3] Pope moved toSpringfield, Kentucky where he wasadmitted to the bar. He practiced law inWashington,Shelby, andFayette County, Kentucky.
Pope served as the presidential elector from Kentucky in 1801, and was elected to theKentucky House of Representatives in 1802. He served in the House again from 1806 to 1807.[4]
Pope was elected as aJeffersonian Republican to theUnited States Senate, serving from 1807 to 1813, and served asPresidentpro tempore of the Senate during theEleventh Congress in 1810 and 1811. His vote against theWar of 1812 made since he leaned toward the Federalist Party at that time, but political gossip attributed this unpopular political stance to his wife's influence (Eliza Johnson Pope was daughter of an Englishwoman, Catherine Nuth, wife of Joshua Johnson, and she had spent much of her youth in England).[5] The political fall-out led to his not running for re-election at the end of his term in 1813. He and his wife returned to live inLexington, Kentucky where he practiced law and taught atTransylvania University.
Pope was appointed Secretary of State of Kentucky from 1816 to 1819, under GovernorGabriel Slaughter.[6]
He served as a member of theKentucky Senate from 1825 to 1829, and was also elected three times to theUnited States House of Representatives, initially as anIndependent[7] and then as aWhig, servingKentucky's District 7 between 1837 and 1843.
From 1829 to 1835, he served as the governor of Arkansas Territory. During his term as governor he arranged for the construction of theOld State House by the Kentucky architectGideon Shryock. It remains the oldest surviving state capitol west of theMississippi River.
Pope was married to three socially well-connected women over his lifetime - outliving them all. In 1795 he married Anne Henry Christian (d. 1806), daughter of one of the first settlers of Louisville, Kentucky and niece ofPatrick Henry. After Anne died, and while a U.S. Senator, serving as presidentpro tem, he remarried in 1810. He married well again this time to Elizabeth Janet Dorcas Johnson (1786–1818), daughter of Joshua Johnson, the first American Consul-General to England. Her sister, Louisa, was the wife ofJohn Quincy Adams, who was at that time the U.S. Minister to Prussia and later, with John Pope's support, president of the United States. During this time, and primarily under the advisement of his wife Eliza, Pope built the avant-garde mansion in what was then on the edges of the "Athens of the West"Lexington, Kentucky. It was designed by the noted American architect,Benjamin Henry Latrobe.[8]
After the death of Eliza, Pope resigned from his position as secretary of state of Kentucky (under GovernorGabriel Slaughter) and law professor atTransylvania University, and in 1820 he moved toSpringfield, Kentucky. Mrs. Frances Watkins Walton of Washington County (1772–1843), widow of GeneralMatthew Walton, founder of Springfield and state politician. At the time of her marriage to John Pope, Mrs. Walton was one of the wealthiest people in the state.[9] After his marriage, Pope lived in his wife's home,Walton Manor, and practiced law from the older brick cottage in front of the mansion. When his daughter married in 1829, he sold thePope Villa which he had been leasing out, and he sold the Walton Manor to her husband John Watkins Cocke. Pope and his wife then moved to Arkansas where he served as Territorial Governor until 1835. He returned to Springfield with his wife, and they built a new house for themselves.[10] This smaller house is also on the National Register of Historic Places.[11] He served as a Kentucky representative to Congress from 1837 to 1843; but, soon before his third wife died, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1842 to the Twenty-eighth Congress.
He was also the brother ofNathaniel Pope, a prominent figure in earlyIllinois Territory, and the uncle to bothJohn Pope, Union General in the Civil War andDaniel Pope Cook, another prominent politician in the early history of the state of Illinois.
John Pope died inSpringfield, Kentucky on July 12, 1845, and is buried in Springfield Cemetery in Springfield, Kentucky.
Pope Villa ofLexington, Kentucky was built byBenjamin Latrobe for him and his wife Eliza. It is only one of three extant Latrobe buildings in the U.S.
Pope County, Arkansas is named for him.[12]
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