The Baptism of Michael Hope

Michael Hope, my 3rd great grandfather and the son of Thomas Hope, was baptized on this day, November 11, in 1787. According to his tombstone, Michael was born in 1782 but according to the ship’s manifest when he immigrated to the USA, his birth was more likely circa 1787.  Given that infants were typically baptized soon after birth, I am inclined to trust the 1787 date. His mother and father are both listed on the baptismal record, but her name is listed only as “Hope.” The sacrament was performed at St. Helen Church in the town of Auckland which is in Durham County.*

Michael married Margaret “Mary” Errington (1783 – 1860) in the Tynemouth Christ Church in the town of  Tynemouth, Northumberland County, England, on July 10, 1815.* A year later, on July 18, 1816, she gave birth to their only known child, Michael Hope, Jr.  Michael Jr. married Elizabeth “Bessie” Foster in 1838. In 1846, when he was 58 years old, Michael Sr. and his wife Margaret, their son Michael Jr. and his family boarded the ship “Hope of Dunbury” in Liverpool, England and sailed to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.** They traveled north, presumably via the Mississippi River, to Grant County, Wisconsin.

Michael, Sr. died seven years later, on April 27, 1853 and is buried in Providence Cemetery, Bloomington, Grant County, Wisconsin.

* Source: findmypast.co.uk

**Source Citation: National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1820-1902; National Archives Microfilm Publication: M259; Roll #: 25.