Hope, Thomas M.

Born: 1813-08-08 Virginia

Died: 1885-10-15 Alton, Illinois

Born in Hampton, Virginia, Thomas M. Hope was a merchant, physician, U.S. marshal, mayor, and Democrat. He moved to Kaskaskia, Illinois in 1832. In 1835, he married Elizabeth Pope, daughter of Nathaniel Pope, and eventually had at least three children with her. They moved to Alton, where for a time he co-owned a drug store with his brother-in-law, William Pope. A pro-slavery Southerner, Hope was present during the anti-abolitionist mob murder of abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy in 1837. In 1841, President John Tyler appointed him U.S. marshal for the federal district of Illinois. In 1842, he served as one of the negotiators who prevented a duel between James Shields and Abraham Lincoln. During the Mexican War, he received appointment as surgeon of the Second Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. He served in that position until after the Battle of Buena Vista, when President James K. Polk appointed Dr. E. B Price to replace him. Price subsequently challenged Hope to a duel, which Hope accepted. Price was injured in the duel, but Hope emerged unscathed. In 1852, the citizens of Alton elected him mayor. In the local elections of 1858, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Eighth Congressional District’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1860, he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Illinois. Despite these political failures, his financial fortunes improved over time. In 1850 he owned $15,000 in real estate; by 1860, he owned $60,000 in real estate and another $1,500 in personal property. During the Civil War, he publicly supported the Confederacy, which led to his imprisonment in the Illinois State Penitentiary for a time.

Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 7 October 1842, 2:5; W. T. Norton, ed., Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People 1812 to 1912 (Chicago: Lewis, 1912), 1:387; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A. Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 143; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ward 3, Alton, Madison County, IL, 352; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 3, Alton, Madison County, IL, 85; Alton Daily Telegraph (IL), 15 October 1885, 3:4.