Oscar Monroe Pope

Oscar Monroe Pope was born Aug 19, 1846 in Nauvoo, Illinois to William Monroe and Catherine McBride Pope. Oscar is a Pioneer of Richmond.

History

Before Oscar was born, his parents were baptized to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After Oscar was born, the Saints were forced out of Nauvoo. 

"I was born in a wagon. My dear Mother lay in agony and distracted. The next morning the company moved on. They suffered all the hardships and the trials with the rest of the Pioneers coming across the long dreary desert."

The Pope family joined the John B. Walker Company on Oct 26, 1852 in Kanesville, Iowa and entered the Salt Lake Valley on Oct 2. They made their home in Grantsville, Utah.

"When I was 18 years old I had a desire to go to Cache Valley. After promising my parents I would return in the fall they consented for me to go. Daniel Brown, my brotherin-law and myself took our bed and clothes on our back and walked from Grantsville to Hyde Park where we met Brother John Woolf who gave my brother-in-law work for three weeks. Bishop William Hyde gave me work. Then from there we went to Richmond Utah where we worked for [William] Harris the rest of the summer. Then we walked back to Grantsville. I had a very pleasant winter as I had a sweetheart. I had worked and had a little money to make things more pleasant."

Oscar married Margaret Elizabeth Brower on April 1, 1865 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"How proud I was. Her father, Ariah Brower and mother Margaret Hussey Brower went with us. We were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. ...She also was born on August 19, 1849 which makes just three years difference in our age. She was the mother of eleven children and a loving companion. She also went through poverty and trials raising our family. She remained faithful to the end. She departed from this life the 22nd of February 1920 in Lewiston, Utah. 

"In our early married life we moved to Richmond, Utah where we bought two city lots. We built a log house and planted trees and made a beautiful home or so we thought it was in those days. Eight children were born to us there. Then I decided to sell our little home and go to Lewiston and buy more land. Some of my neighbors thought I would take my family over there to starve to death because the grasshoppers and drought had taken the crops for two or three years. It was about that time that we had conference in Richmond, and [President]John Taylor told the people that day that some day the valley that laid between the two rivers (meaning Lewiston) would be a garden spot of Cache Valley which I had lived to see."

Epilogue