Biographies H
Jeremiah M. Hope
Jeremiah M. Hope was born April 7, 1819, in Muhlenberg County, Ky., near the sight of the present village of Penrod. His father, James J. Hope, was a native of Virginia, from which State he removed to Georgia when a young man, and there married Susannah Jago, whose father was native of Maryland and of Irish descent. James J. Hope, after his marriage, came to Kentucky and located in Muhlenberg County, where he resided, and where he followed the vocation of farming until the time of his death, which occurred August 30, 1870, at upwards of the age of one hundred and two years. Susannah (Jago) Hope died in 1854, aged seventy-two years; she left six children, four of whom are living.
Jeremiah M. remained with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age. His father, being a farmer, required his assistance, so that he had few advantages for an early education. He received an elementary education in the subscription schools of his neighborhood; this he improved in after life, and acquired a fair business education.
March 20, 1842, he married Nancy Jane Newman, of Muhlenberg County. Eight children were born to this marriage; three are now living: Alfred T., William C. and Susan E. Mrs. Nancy J. Hope died December 8, 1863, and on the 13th of September, 1866, Mr. Hope married Sallie, daughter of John and Elizabeth Wood, of Muhlenberg County. To this marriage are born three children: John F., Porley J. and Jeremiah.
Mr. Hope has lived where he now resides for forty-five years; the farm contains 200 acres, seventy of which are in cultivation, and well improved. The farm is adapted to grass, and Mr. Hope carries some stock, but gives more attention to the growing of grain and tobacco. The farm is underlaid with a bed of iron ore fifteen feet in thickness, with an area of one-half a square mile; the lower four or five feet of the vein yields over forty-five per cent of metallic ore, with twenty-two per cent of alumina, silica and phosphorus; the ore can be obtained by the simplest kind of mining.
Mr. Hope is a liberal Republican, but takes more interest in his farming than in politics. He is known among his friends and neighbors as one of the most charitable men in the county, to those requiring assistance. He is a member of the Christian Church, in which for twelve years he held the office of clerk, and is now an elder and trustee. He is a member of the Anti-Railroad Organization of Muhlenberg County. He was one of the pioneers of Muhlenberg County, and is an expert hunter and a “crack shot.” He is the possessor of a rifle that is over forty-five years old, and that never was beaten on a close shot when handled by Mr. Hope.
Source: Battle, J.H., W.H. Perrin, and G.C. Kniffen. Kentucky: A History of the State. Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, 1885. Page 907-908.
Updated July 9, 2018