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Introduction My name is Thomas F. Coleman.
I have eight siblings: Larry, Dan, Gary, Maryann, Cathy, Carolyn.
Diane, and Michael. George Hope was born on February 3, 1829, in the town of Gretna which is in the county of Dumfriesshire in Scotland. Dumfriesshire shares a border with England. His parents were Thomas Hope (1766-1845) and Frances Reid (1796-1871). George married Agnes Kerr on October 21, 1851, in Gretna. Agnes was born in 1823 in the town of Annan. George and Agnes had seven children: Jane (1853-1946; Fanny (1855-1944); Janet (1857 - ); Thomas (1859 - ); Elizabeth (1861-1916); Isabella (1862-1922); and Ivie (1864-1928). Gretna was known for "runaway marriages." England had strict laws on marriages but in Scotland any male and female who were at least 16 years old could marry. The marriage ceremony could be simple. The couple could merely declare their marriage in front of a responsible adult and it was legal. So many marriages occurred in front of a blacksmith who witnessed the declaration of matrimony. In the 1861 census, George is listed as a "draper's assistant." George and Agnes lived there with five children. In the 1881 census, George was listed as a gardener. At the time, he and Agnes and four of their children lived in "Dean Cottage" in the parish of Annan. Fanny immigrated to Chatham, Ontario, Canada on May 11, 1882. She married John Creighton Paterson on May 23, 1882. Whether any of Fanny's siblings immigrated to Canada is not known at this time.
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