Hope. Numerous are the members of this family of Hope from whom the colony and state of Virginia has derived service of signal value. There are few avenues of endeavor they have not penetrated, and in nearly all has some member of the family won honor and distinction, even literature receiving one of the name, James Barron Hope, into a prominent place. The history of Virginia is replete with the deeds of members of the Hope family, founded in the colony by John Hope, who came from England to Elizabeth City county, making his home in Hampton. From him are descended William Owens and Frank Stanley Hope, of Portsmouth, Virginia.
The founder of the family. John, and his son of the same name were ship-builders, the elder Hope having learned the art in his native land, and in Virginia instructing his son therein. John, junior, was the owner of a yard at Portsmouth and there constructed many ships for the coastwise and transatlantic trade, becoming the possessor of what was for that time a considerable fortune.
(III) William Meredith Hope, son of John (2) Hope, was born in 1812, and died in 1899, after a lifetime passed in the pursuit of the calling that had occupied his line since the arrival of the American ancestor. He was educated under private instruction, and made his life business naval construction, giving of his services to the Confederate government during the civil war. While this conflict was being fought he superintended the building of two ships on the Tombigbee river, one on the Mississippi, and one on the Chickahominy, all four of which became units of the Confederate navy. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and belonged to Stonewall Camp, Confederate Veterans, his church was the Methodist Episcopal. William Meredith Hope married Virginia Frances Owens, of Portsmouth, Virginia, and had issue: Herbert M., born in 1849, died in 1907, a minister of the Methodist church, married, in 1878, Emma Vinton and had one daughter, Faith, who married Wilbur C. Dula; William Owens, of whom further; Frank Stanley, of whom further; Leila, born in 1861, married Daniel Roper; James Shirley, born in 1868, died in 1896, married, in 1892, Florida Coston, and had children, James Shirley, Jr., born in 1893, and Florida, born in 1895. James Shirley Hope was a graduate of the University of Virginia and an assistant surgeon in the United States navy.
(IV) William Owens Hope, son of William Meredith and Virginia Frances (Owens) Hope, was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, April 7. 1853. As a youth he attended the schools maintained by Professor Slater and Professor Williams, and after leaving school became a student of pharmacy, successfully passing the examinations of the State Board. In 1879 Hope established as the proprietor of a drug store in Portsmouth, which he successfully conducted for several years, at the end of that time disposing of the business and becoming general manager for its new owner, as he continues to this time.
Mr. Hope has occupied prominent positions in the public life of the city, having for twenty years been a member of the school board, four years of which time he was chairman of the committee on school regulations. For six years he was chairman of the Democratic City Committee, and during the first term of Grover Cleveland as president, was appointed chief clerk to the master shipbuilder at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Order of Heptasophs, and is a communicant of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is well-known in the city, and is the center of a wide circle of friends. He stands constantly for the best in civil life, and allies himself readily with any movement tending toward the improvement of the material or moral welfare of the city of Portsmouth.
He married, February 2, 1882, Catherine Virginia, born February 26, 1857, daughter of William James and Mary (Ball) Wood, of Norfolk county, Virginia, and has issue: Katie Deans, born July 2, 1883, died July 19, 1900; Bessie Lee, born December 28, 1885, married, January 27, 1908, Charles Edward Ball, and has Elizabeth Hope, born August 17, 1909, and John, born September 27, 1911; Mary Virginia, born January 18, 1888, married, January 3, 1906, Edward Buell Nicholson, and has a daughter, Catherine Hope, born November 19, 1906; William Meredith, born April 6, 1891; Hugh Stanley, born August 14, 1897.
(IV) Dr. Frank Stanley Hope, son of William Meredith and Virginia Frances (Owens) Hope, was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1855, and was a student in the schools of Professor L. P. Slater and Professor Webster. His studies over, in a general way he became a student of pharmacy, at the same time reading medicine. In 1876 he entered the University of Virginia, graduating at the end of one year, afterward completing a year of special study under the direction of Dr. J. Ewing Mears, of Jefferson Hospital. Dr. Hope then became a practitioner of Portsmouth, and has since been connected with the professional life of that city, attending to the needs of a large private clientele, and serving, for the past twenty-four years, as health officer of the city and as physician to the almshouse. To the last named offices he has been constantly faithful, and has safe-guarded the citizens of Portsmouth from disease and plague in every manner known to sanitary science. Water supply, drainage, sewer system, and the whole long list of fruitful causes of contagion came under his close and knowing scrutiny, and upon his recommendation steps were taken by the civil authorities that reduced these dangers to a minimum.
Dr. Hope has for twelve years been a member of the Democratic State Committee, closely identified with political movements throughout the state, and has also been interested in local affairs. His eminent qualities of leadership and the confidence he has inspired in his fellow-citizens, after a lifetime of labor among them, in 1912 caused his election to the office of mayor of Portsmouth, and in that year he entered upon a four year term as chief executive of the city. His achievements and rule in the half of that time that has passed have entirely fulfilled the expectations of his adherents, for his administration has been capable, energetic, impartial, and business-like.
Dr. Hope is a member of lodge and chapter in the Masonic Order, his lodge the Seaboard, and he also fraternizes with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Improved Order of Red Men. He belongs to the Norfolk County Medical Society, and the Methodist Episcopal church.
He married, June 20, 1883, Annie, daughter of John and Eliza (Cason) West, and has one daughter, Mary, who married W. S. Broderick.
(Encyclopedia of Virginia Biographies, Vol. IV. Publ. 1915. Transcribed by Chris Davis) |
