Sorry I’ve only just been pointed to this post. I thought I’d get a notification if anyone replied, so I must apologise for not checking back!
Thank you so much for replying, but I’m not absolutely certain that Laura is related to me. My great grandfather moved from Hexham to Byker between 1890 and 1891, as he appears in the Electoral Registers in 1888, 1889 and 1890, but not in 1891 and he appears in Kellys Directory in Byker in 1902 and onwards, so I didn’t follow the Hope family forward, as I was tracing my own genealogy.
There is a family plot in Hexham Cemetery which was purchased by his brother John (named for their father John Hope) on 24th July 1887, with a rather impressive spire type gravestone, where he and his wife Priscilla are buried. My great grandmother, Mary Hope, nee McHarg, and 3 of her children are also buried there, but there is no mention of them on the gravestone. My great great grandparents, John and Jane Hope are also buried in Hexham, with a gravestone, as are my other great great grandparents, Hugh & Mary McHarg, although they don’t have a gravestone. In 1881 John’s wife Jane lived in 15 Market Street (above what is now the double fronted antique shop) after John died in 1879, which is the address where her daughters ran their ladies seminary.
It’s a remote possibility that Emma’s husband Joseph could be my great grandfather’s brother, who had the grocery shop in Priestpopple , but it seems unlikely as he appears in the 1881 census as being 35, which would mean he was born in 1846 so 9 years older than Emma’s Joseph. Joseph certainly could be a family name as my 3 X gt grandparents, Robert & Elizabeth Hope, also had a son Joseph, who had a son called Joseph, but the grandson was born in 1859, so the dates still don’t tally.
Robert was the furthest I got back in the Hope family – I wasn’t able to find Robert’s baptism entry, so couldn’t find out his parents name to go further back, although I did get his wife Elizabeth Latham back another 5 generations to 1685.
By the way I did all this research way back in the last 1980s, so no internet help then and it may be that there are more records out there now than there were when I was going it.
Thank you for your help and if there are any further clues you can offer me, it goes without saying that I would be most grateful
