JOSEPH ADDISON POPE. He whose name heads this sketch has been familiar with farm life from his earliest boyhood, and as a follower of this the most useful of callings, he has at all times shown good judgment, and has been successful. He was born in Wake County, N. C., in 1820, in which State his parents, Simon and Martha (Cole) Pope, were also born, the birth of the father occurring in 1793. They made their home in the Old North State until about 1824, then removed to west Tennessee, and both parents died in Benton County in 1840. They were highly respected citizens, were honest and industrious, and became well to do as tillers of the soil. For a number of years the father taught school, and for some time he ably filled the office of justice of the peace. The paternal grandfather was for a short time a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was of English origin and died in Wake County, N. C., as did also his wife. The maternal grandfather, Thomas Cole, was a farmer and was killed in a neighborhood difficulty when Mrs. Pope was a small child. His wife died in Tennessee. Simon Pope became the father of nineteen children, only four of whom lived to be grown: Harriet J., who died in Benton County, Tennessee, in 1891, the wife of Charles Cowell; Leonard H. died at Nashville, Tennessee, while a prisoner of war; Joseph Addi-son; and Delaney, who died in Mississippi County, Missouri, the wife of Samuel Fittle.
The early educational advantages of Joseph Addison Pope were of quite a meager description, and he was reared to a knowledge of hard work on his father’s farm. In 1844 he was united in marriage in Benton County, Tennessee, with Eliza A., daughter of Reuben and Sarah Bridges, who were born in North Carolina and east Tennessee, respectively, and eventually breathed their last in Benton County, Tennessee. In 1868, in Ripley County, Missouri, Mrs. Pope was called from life, after she had borne her husband seven children: Delaney A., the deceased wife of D. P. Thomas; Reuben, a farmer of Ripley County; Simon, Joseph, Leonard, Eliza Jane and Sarah, all of whom are dead except Reuben. In 1870 Mr. Pope’s second marriage occurred, Mrs. Harriet Pitman becoming his wife. She died five months later, and in 1872 he wedded Mrs. Emily Black, who died about two years later. In 1875 Mr. Pope married his present wife, Melissa Hart. He has been a resident of Ripley County, Missouri, since 1855, the journey by wagon to this section occupying about twenty-one days. Their home was in Buckskull until the opening of the Civil War, after which they resided at different places in the neighborhood until about sixteen years ago, when they settled in the woods on the farm on which they now reside. Mr. Pope owns 150 acres of well-improved land, is a thrifty and successful farmer, and being scrupulously honest in all his business transactions, he is universally respected. He has witnessed almost the entire development of the county and has assisted in bringing about this desirable state of affairs. Until the opening of the war he was engaged in merchandising as well as farming. He has always been a Democrat politically, cast his first presidential vote for Polk in 1844, and for six years was justice of the peace in Tennessee. He is a member of Pitman Lodge No. 149, of the A. F. & A. M., and he and his wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.