Pope, Anson W.

Flourished: Janesville, Wisconsin

Anson W. Pope was a town government official, state legislator, and early pioneer of Rock County, Wisconsin. He arrived in the Wisconsin Territory in 1836, settling on the Rock River four miles above Janesville. Pope and fellow settlers built the first bridge across the Rock River at Janesville. He held numerous positions in the town government in the 1840s: assessor in 1842, supervisor in 1843, school commissioner in 1844 and 1845, justice of the peace in 1844 and 1846, and pathmaster for District Five in 1847. In 1849 and 1861, Pope represented Janesville and Rock County in the Wisconsin State Assembly. In 1850, he was among the inaugural vice-presidents of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute. He was a member of the Whig Party.

J. D. Beck, comp., The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Madison, WI: Democratic Printing, 1909), 932; The History of Rock County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical, 1879), 376, 444, 447, 510, 511; William Fiske Brown, Rock County Wisconsin (Chicago: C. F. Cooper, 1908), 2:529.