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James Christian Hope
John Christian Hope, minister, planter and politician, was born
August 20, 1806 in Newberry District. Educated locally, he taught school
in rural SC for several years. At the encouragement of Rev. John Bachman,
first President of the Lutheran Synod of SC, and minister at St. John’s
Church in Charleston, J.C. Hope would attend the Gettysburg Lutheran
Seminary in PA. He would ride by horseback in 1829 from Newberry
County to Gettysburg, and graduate in 1831. In Gettysburg, J.C. Hope would
study under Dr. E. L. Hazelius who would later join J.C. Hope in SC and
become the second Professor of Theology and President of the SC Synod.
Upon his return to Pomaria, J.C. Hope was ordained by the SC Synod in
1832 and would help with the establishment of the Lutheran Church
throughout SC. He would serve as Professor of Theology and Secretary of
the SC Lutheran Synod under S.A. Mealy, Dr. E. L. Hazelius and John
Bachman from 1834-1840. He succeeded Rev. Bachman as President, 1841-1843
and 1845-1849. Rev. Hope became associated with a number of Lutheran churches in
Newberry, Richland and Lexington districts, including Ebenezer in
Columbia, and Bethlehem, St. Paul’s, St. Matthew’s and St. John’s in
Pomaria. Rev. Hope was the first Pastor of the first church built in
Lexington Courthouse: St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, (1831). However,
early in his career Hope disagreed with others concerning church doctrine
and in 1851 was suspended from his ministerial duties and was stricken
from the list of Lutheran ministers. Following his marriage, he also engaged in planting and resided on
his wife’s property in Lexington District. According to the 1860 federal
census, his real and personal estates were valued at $36,000 and $66,000
respectively; the slave schedules for that year listed sixty slaves as
part of his household. In 1847 Sen. Hope and other families signed an
agreement with the Greenville and Columbia RR Co., granting right-of-way
for the train through his property in Pomaria. The depot, located close to
St. John’s Lutheran Church, was named Hope Station and the road between
what is now SC Highway 76 and Peak Road was named Hope Station Road. Sen.
Hope would also serve as Post Master. Following his retirement from the ministry, Hope entered public
service. Elected to the House, he represented Lexington District and
County as a Democrat in the Fortieth (1852-1863), Forty-first (1854-1855),
and Forty-third (1858-1859) General Assemblies. While in the House, he was
a member of the committees on pensions (1852-1855) and public buildings
(1852-1855, 1858-1859). Lexington elected him to the state Senate for the
Forty-fourth (1860-1861) and Forty-fifth (1862-1863) General Assemblies;
he served on the committees on claims and grievances (1860-1863) and roads
and buildings (1860-1863). Hope was also a delegate for Lexington at the
Southern Rights Convention where he favored cooperation over separate
secession (1852). As a legislator, he opposed the bill which proposed the
Secession Convention but once war was declared consented to serve as a
Confederate presidential elector (1861). After the Civil War, he petitioned Congress for reinstatement of
his political rights (1868) and subsequently was again chosen by Lexington
to serve in the Senate for the Fiftieth (1872-1874) and Fifty-first
(1874-1876) General Assemblies. Senate committees on which he served
included medical affairs (1872-1876), incorporations (1872-1876),
retrenchments (1872-1876), public lands (1874-1876), enrolled bills
(1872-1876), county offices and officers (1872-1876), and agriculture
(1872-1876). Sen. Hope died July 9, 1879. He and his wife Louisa are buried in
the Hobbs and Eichelberger Cemetery which was located on the former
Eichelberger Plantation near Parr Shoals. Lutheran Churches Served: St. Stephen’s, Lexington, 1831-1834 St. Michael’s, Columbia-Irmo, 1834 Ebenezer, Columbia, 1830-1843 Sandy Run, Swansea, 1832-1833 Colony, Newberry, 1850-1851 St. Luke’s, Prosperity, ? St. Matthew’s, Pomaria, 1838-1843 St. John’s, Pomaria, 1843-1850 Bethlehem, Pomaria, 1832-1837 Beth-Eden, Newberry, ? St. Paul’s, Pomaria, 1834-1838 St. Peter’s Piney Woods, 1838-? St. John’s, Lexington, 1838-? St. Matthew’s, Cameron, 1827-1833?
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