Hume, Robert, 1818-1878 : Robert Hume was born 5 March 1818, the son of John Hume and Ellen Patterson of North Shields, Northumberland County, England. He attended briefly a grammar school in Edinburgh, Scotland in the early 1830s but had taken an interest in agriculture and in 1833 he went to live with John Bolam in Belford, Northumberland to learn how to farm. After a few years of this apprenticeship, he sailed for Canada in May 1836 to explore the prospect of acquiring land and farming in North America. Hume went to the Cobourg and Port Hope area of Upper Canada and worked for a while for John Jopling as a farm labourer, but also traveled about the province and in New York state. He returned to England in March 1838 convinced that he could prosper in the New World though he was alarmed by the severity of the winters.
Seeing little prospect of establishing himself in England, he decided to return to North America. He sailed to Philadelphia in August 1845 but eventually returned to the Cobourg area in Ontario where he purchased a farm in Hamilton township in 1846. He had borrowed money from his father for the farm, a debt which weighed heavily upon their relationship while Hume established himself. In addition to farming, Hume wrote about agriculture and emigration for the popular market in Britain. "Hogg's Instructor", a monthly magazine based in Edinburgh, published a series of his articles in the fall and winter of 1855 and 1856. The articles contained practical advice for prospective emigrants to Canada who intended to farm the land. Hume also participated in the local agricultural society where he presented talks on subjects like sheep husbandry and attended agricultural fairs. By the early 1860s, Hume had branched out as a wholesale grain merchant advertising, "Choice Peas, Grains, General Produce" out of Port Hope. His business correspondence shows that he carried on a brisk trade in Upper Canada and upstate New York, taking advantage of the growing network of railways and canals.
Robert Hume had married in the spring of 1846 shortly after his arrival in Upper Canada. His wife was probably Charlotte Jopling, the daughter of John Jopling of Hamilton township with whom he had boarded on his first visit to Canada. They had two surviving children: John, born in 1847, and Alice, born in 1850. Charlotte Hume died in January or February 1855 after a long illness. Hume later married her sister Alice Jopling about 1858. They had a son, Henry, born about 1860. Robert Hume died in 1878.
