Representative women of New England/Grace Atwood Pope
GRACE ATWOOD POPE was born in the historic town of Plymouth, Mass., being the daughter of Edward B. and Deborah Cilley (Pratt) Atwood. She married in 1893 John Parker Pope, the son of Colonel Pope of the Marine Corps. On the maternal side she traces her ancestry back to a number of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims, among them, to mention but a few, being Dr. Samuel Fuller, William Brewster, Francis Eaton, Stephen Hopkins, and Isaac Allerton. The following is a record of the Fuller line:— Dr. Samuel Fuller died in 1633. The Rev. Samuel Fuller, born in 1625, his son by his third wife, Britlget Lee, was minister at Middleboro. Samuel Fuller, third, born in 165S, son of the Rev. Samuel and his wife Elizabeth, married Mercy Eaton. Deacon John Fuller, born in 1698, married Deborah Ring in 1723. Their daughter, Deborah Fuller, born in 1729, married Kimball Prince. Deacon .John Prince, born in 1768, married Elizabeth Sherman. Mercy Prince, born hi 1793, married Hervey Cushman, a lineal descendant of Robert Cushman through his only son, Thomas, whose wife was Mary, daughter of Isaac Allerton. Eveline Cushman, born in 1818, married Lucius Pratt, and died in 1901. Deborah Cilley Pratt, born of this marriage, married Edward B. Atwood, as above indicated, and became the mother of Grace Atwood, now Mrs. Pope.
Descent from Elder Brewster is through his son Jonathan,2 whose daughter Mary3 married John2 Turner, Sr. (Humphrey1), of Scituate. Ruth3 Turner married in 168.5 Captain Thomas2 Prince, son of Elder John1 Prince, of Hull. Job3 Prince, son of Captain Thomas2 and Ruth, married Abigail, daughter of Captain Christopher Kimball, lived in Kingston, Mass., and was father of Kimball Prince above named.
Deborah Ring, wife of Deacon John Fuller and mother of Deborah Fuller, wife of Kimliall Prince, was a grand-daughter of Andrew Ring and his wife Deborah, who was a daughter of Stephen Hopkins.
Grace Atwood Pope was educated in private schools and at Bradford Academy. She early showed herself a lover of books and an original thinker, with a natural gift for composition. Her first article written for publication appeared in the Saturday Evening Gazette when she was a girl of sixteen. After her marriage she resided by turns in the New England, Middle, and Southern States. But she did not during these years lose her interest in educational matters, books, and book-makers.
Arriving in Boston from New Orleans a few years since, she saw an advertisement calling for literary work, and, answering it, .soon assumed regular duties upon The Writer. It was while she was filling this position that she was invited to become editor of a publication just then coming into existence, The Brown Book. Declining a post which she felt involved too much responsibility, she consented to write for its pages, which she did for two years, only to become, at the end of that time, its assistant editor. In May, 1903, she was appointed editor of Modern Women, a monthly magazine devoted to woman's best interests, and whose special aims arc best set forth in Mrs. Pope's own words in the initial number, here quoted but in part:—
"Beginning with this issue, Modern Women presents to you a new owner and a new editor, who beg for your gentle leniency toward their efforts to publish a magazine for the pleasure and profit of its subscribers. It opens its pages hospitably, and hopes to draw around it, both within and without, many women of many minds. It will be edited for women generally interested in affairs, topics of the home, handiwork, physical and beauty culture, literature, fiction, and humanity. . . .
"Modern views of life will be presented in a bright, attractive manner, giving what is pleasant, and, mayhap, some little which is not. The giiding principle will be to grant the freedom of its pages to the best thoughts of the wiiole country."
With her own ability as writer, her unfailing good judgment, and, best of all, her ideas, Mrs. Pope will no doubt make of thi.s publication a magazine of wide circulation and dignified standing.