Pope, Nathaniel (05 January 1784–23 January 1850), secretary of the Illinois Territory, delegate to the U.S. Congress, and federal judge, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of William Pope and Penelope Edwards, a comfortable agrarian family. Details of Pope’s education are sketchy. He received private schooling as a youth and for a time attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, although he did not graduate. Subsequently, he read law in the office of his older brother, John Pope, a future U.S. senator from Kentucky....
