Reviewing the Career Of Margaret E. Pope Of Lewiston

This article was published in a Lewiston, Utah newspaper
when Margaret died in February 1920.

On February twenty-first of this year there passed away in Lewiston a lady whose life story accords her a conspicuous place in the history of the West in general and of California and Utah in particular. That lady was Mrs. Margaret E. Pope of Lewiston, whose portrait appears above.

The lady was the daughter of A. C. and Margaret E. Brower, pioneers of Utah and the West. Attracted to California by the stories of the discovery of gold, her parents in 1848 made the long, toilsome overland journey to that state, settling in Sacramento, where for about two years they conducted a hotel. The little Margaret arrived on the scene August 19 in that era so famous in California's history--"the days of old, the days of gold, the days of '49," and was the first white child born in the now populous city of Sacramento.

In 1852 the family returned to Utah and within the same year settled in Grantsville, where she with her parents was subjected to all the hardships of pioneer life during her early girlhood. Here too, she met and married Mr. Oscar M. Pope.

Mr. Pope was also numbered amongst early Utah pioneers. He was born in Nauvoo, Ill. August 19, upon the same day of the month as his wife, but three years earlier, or in 1846. His parents shared all the perils surrounding the Saints prior to the Prophet Joseph, and also in their expulsion. Like the Brower family, they arrive in Utah in 1852, and also settled in Grantsville, where Mr. Pope lived until he was 19 years of age. When 18, he gained his first view of Cache Valley, walking here with a pack on his back hunting for work.

Mr. and Mrs. Pope were united in marriage at the Endowment House in Salt Lake by Apostle George Q. Cannon on April 1, 1865, and a month later settle in Richmond Cache Co. where they lived for sixteen years, then moved to Lewiston. For many years in the pioneering stage of this valley's history, their worldly lot was indeed a hard one, lightened thought by love and faith. Their introduction to Lewiston was one bitter experience, their crops failing for three successive years and they then had to move back to Richmond, where Mr. Pope had to toil hard in the mountains for three years to supply his family of six and enough to make a new start in Lewiston, where they lived continuously until Mrs. Pope's death, and where Mr. Pope still resides.

The portrait of Mrs. Pope shown above was taken upon the fiftieth or Golden anniversary of her marriage , or on April 1, 1915 the occasion being memorable by a big family gathering in the Lewiston opera house where a splendid program was rendered and one hundred and thirty persons partook of the banquet prepared.

Mrs. Pope was fully as active in serving her church as in meeting the requirements of her family. She was first counselor in the Relief Society in that subdivision of the Lewiston ward now know as Sugarton, and for a number of years served as Relief Society teacher and was ever on hand to aid the poor and comfort the distressed. She was not less mindful of her duty to her ancestors, and she and her sister, Mrs. Cassandra Whittle performed vicarious work in the Temple for approximately 2000 deceased relatives and intimate friends of the family.

She was the mother of eleven children, seven of whom survive to bless the memory of a devoted mother. They are: Mrs. Mary Ann Rawlins of Cornish; Mrs. Maggie Williams of Lewiston; O. M. Pope Jr., of Blackie Alberta, Canada; Mrs. Mabel Bergeson, of Boise Idaho; Mrs. Leona Smith of Rexburg, Idaho; George E Pope of Rigby, Idaho and Mrs. Luela P. Glover of Oxford, Idaho. Her grandchildren number fifty-five and her great grandchildren nineteen.

Full of years, and honors, loved and respected by all who knew her, at the end of her arduous and successful labors, this esteemed lady on February 21st of this year passed into that dreamless sleep that knows, no awakening, and three days later was laid in the tomb. On account of the prevalence of the influenza it was an open air funeral, yet the services were well attended and of a most inspiring nature as the speakers reviewed the events of her long and most worthy and useful life. May she rest in peace.

Return to Margaret's family page.