Modoc County Biographies

JAMES W. POP

Submitted by Billie C. & Anita 'Jean' Reynolds(Our Family Genealogy)http://www.rh2o.com 

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JAMES W. POPE 
Modoc County Record Centennial Edition 1874 ~ 1974 
The Pioneer Pope Family Memoirs By Frances Thompson 

The Wedding of Bertie Pope and “Doc” E. F. Auble 

James W. Pope and Eliza Jane StephensonPope were born in Highland County, Ohio.  They met and married 
in Henry County, Iowa in 1860.  They started for California by the overland route in the spring of 1864.  
Fred L. was almost three, and Lizzie Delia about six months old.  They took the Applegate Trail 
through Nevada and then the Yreka trail to Hawkinsville in Siskiyou County. Edgar B. was 
born here as well as the twins, Maggie May and Fanny Belle. Maggie May weighed two and a 
half pounds; she was wrapped in cotton, given some whiskey, put in a shoe box and put on 
the oven door of the wood burning stove.  She became a very healthy child. In the summer 
of 1870 Mr. Miller, Mr. Renner and Mr. Pope returned to the Stone Coal-Hot Spring Valley 
area to select sites for homes.  Mr. Miller and Mr. Pope selected sites in Stone Coal 
Valley and Mr. Renner on Pit River. The first winter was a very hard winter.  Mr. Pope 
and Mr. Renner exchanged sites. All supplies and lumber had to be brought from Yreka.  
This trip took about three weeks.  The lumber brought on one trip was used for coffins.
Mr. Pope often recalled his trips to Yreka during the Modoc Indian War.  The Ticher road 
went around the south end of the Lava Beds to join the road that ran from Linkville 
(Klamath Falls) to the Pit River settlements.  From this road the campfires of both he 
soldiers and Indians could be seen.  The ranch home was started in 1872 and parts of the 
original house are still in use. It is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter.  
Mrs. Carpenter is a granddaughter of Mr. Pope.  Two more children were born to the Popes,
Bertie A. and Walter James who died when three months old. The ranch was a stopping 
place for travelers.  Mrs. Pope had a teaching certificate issued on March 7, 1873 by 
Siskiyou County.  Two of the daughters, Maggie May Thompson and Bertie A. Tudle were 
also teachers.  Mrs. Pope was also the midwife for the community.  Mrs. Pope died in 
the spring of 1887 from what was probably Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  The pioneer 
cemetery where the early residents were buried has been bulldozed to make a small 
reservoir.  Mr. Pope died in 1926.  He was ninety one years old.  The children, Fred L., 
Edgar B. and Lizzie D. Mrs. Fanny Kane, Mrs. Maggie Thompson, and Mrs. Bertie Auble are 
deceased.  The grand children, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren are 
scattered here and there in California and Oregon, but all with an appreciation and 
interest in our Modoc heritage.