Monmouth County NJ Archives Biographies.....Hope, Washington L. 1824 - 1899 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nj/njfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 Author: Mary Depue Ogden, Editor (1917) HOPE, Washington L., Man of Enterprise. Reuben Hope emigrated with his two brothers, Cornelius and Thomas, from England to America, early in 1800. The family was formerly French, where the name was L'Esperance, and they were banished from France with other Huguenots. Reuben Hope was born in 1774, and after his arrival in New York he became one of the prominent old time merchants of that city, his business being shipper and importer. He died in 1854. When the Marquis de Lafayette came on his official visit to this country in August, 1824, at the invitation of the United States government, Mr. Hope was one of the officials appointed to welcome him to New York City, and his youngest child being born at this time, he commemorated the event by naming him Washington Lafayette. Reuben married Catherine, daughter of Abner Taylor, a member of the New York family of the name, and closely allied to many of the old and prominent colonial Dutch and other families. Her father himself was a Revolutionary soldier, and had been especially commanded for his efficient services to his country in the blockading of the Hudson river near West Point, and also in the counties of Rockland, Orange and Ulster, New York. Children of Reuben and Catherine (Taylor) Hope: 1. William, a farmer and large real estate operator. 2. George Taylor, for many years president of the Continental Fire Insurance Company of New York City. 3. Samuel Waller, of Trenton, New Jersey; a United States customs inspector, inventor and farmer. 4. Mary, married John Carpenter, merchant. 5. Catherine, married Charles Edward Steane, M. D. 6. Frances Matilda, married Benjamin Pike, Jr., the noted manufacturer of philosophical and scientific instruments, and publisher of books on those subjects. 7. Cornelius, a merchant in New York City. 8. Rev. James Malcolm, a Baptist minister of Brooklyn, Long Island. 9. Washington Lafayette, referred to below. 10-11. Two children died in infancy. Washington Lafayette, son of Reuben and Catherine (Taylor) Hope, was born in New York City, August 4, 1824, and died at his residence on Sycamore avenue, Shrewsbury, Monmouth county, New Jersey, February 13, 1899, in his seventy-fifth year. After receiving his education in the schools of New York City he entered on a business career, but being a studious and thoughtful man he became an exceedingly well read scholar. At first he engaged in mercantile business in New York City and in Orange county, and became a contractor for materials used in building and equipping railroads. In November, 1844, he was appointed and commissioned major and quartermaster in the Twenty-eighth Regiment of New York State, and served several years when the militia of the country was preparing to take part in the war with Mexico. Later he engaged in farming in Rockland county, New York, and was one of the organizers of the Rockland County Agricultural Society, of which until his removal to Shrewsbury, New Jersey, he was one of the officers. In 1865 he removed to Allendale, in Shrewsbury township, Monmouth county, New Jersey, to property which had descended to his wife through her parents. Mr. Hope was for a long time lecturer for the New Jersey State Grange, and as State lecturer for the Order of Good Templars, he delivered many addresses, not only throughout New Jersey, but also in other States, and in a number of other cases his services as an orator were in great demand, as he was a highly instructive and eloquent public speaker. He was also Grand Worthy Chief Templar of the State of New Jersey, and an officer of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of Good Templars of America. In politics he was a member of the Republican party from its first organization, and he was in a great measure independent both in principle and practice, adhering more to what he believed to be the spirit than the letter of his party platform, and when needful reforms could not otherwise be brought about, he had no hesitation in acting with a third party. He was zealous for the abolition of the liquor traffic, and made diligent and partially successful efforts for legislation favoring local option, and was always very active during the campaigns when local option was an issue. He was a candidate for Congress on the Prohibition ticket when the late General Clinton B. Fisk was a candidate for Governor of New Jersey, and at that time and also in 1878, when he was a candidate for Congress in the Third New Jersey district on the national independent ticket, he received a very large vote, which was regarded as a high personal compliment to him. In the different reform movements outside the Republican party in which Mr. Hope's high sense of public and civic duty led him to engage, he was intimately associated with General Fisk, the late John G. Drew, Benjamin Urner, the venerable Peter Cooper, General Benjamin F. Butler, and many other prominent men who believed certain reforms in State and national government were necessary for the welfare of this country. Mr. Hope was an Abolitionist, and rendered efficient services in the campaigns of i860 and 1864 for the election of Abraham Lincoln, and in 1868 and 1872 for the election of General Grant to the presidency. During the Civil War he was most patriotic in behalf of the Union and outspoken against disloyal persons in Rockland county, New York, and when the uprising which culminated in the draft riots in New York City occurred, he armed his family and employees to protect himself against attacks which had been threatened because of his active loyalty, and his refusal to surrender two old negroes who had been in his employ for many years as family servants. Although his offer to serve in the Union army was not accepted because of a slight physical disability, he labored zealously and successfully in aiding to stop the spirit of secession, and induced many who were at first against the cause and policies of the government, to become earnest supporters of the Union cause. As he expressed it in a pamphlet he published at the time, he persuaded many men so to act that "not a single star shall be taken from the flag of our Union." He was a devoted husband and father, highly respected for his sterling character and exemplary life, and he and his estimable wife were zealously engaged in many good works, being particularly active in religious and temperance work, and entertaining at their home many prominent persons who were intimately associated with them in their labors. From 1855 both Mr. and Mrs. Hope were members of the Baptist church, and for many years each served faithfully in various important offices in the churches and Sunday schools, Mr. Hope being trustee, deacon and Sunday school superintendent for more than thirty years. He married, September 6, 1848, Helen Cobb, daughter of George L. and Ann Cocks Allen, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Henry Finch, rector of Christ Church, Shrewsbury, at the bride's home, which Mrs. Hope and her ancestors owned for over two hundred and thirty years, and where Mr. and Mrs. Hope themselves lived since 1865. Here they celebrated their golden wedding in September, 1898, and here Mr. Hope died after a two weeks' illness from pneumonia, and Mrs. Hope died there December 6, 1902. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MEMORIAL CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF MARY DEPUE OGDEN VOLUME III MEMORIAL HISTORY COMPANY NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 1917 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/njfiles/ File size: 7.9 Kb