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To clarify references used in the Hooper Compass newsletter, I offer these definitions of several lineages. A quite similar list appeared in Volume 3, pages 162-164.
Please understand that these lineages are described as I (the editor of the newsletter and of these web pages) currently understand them. Those who have more thoroughly studied a specific family or group of families may disagree. I welcome comments and corrections.
This family includes descendants and connections of Obadiah Hooper, Sr. and his wife Messalva Brook(e)s. Most researchers have assumed Obadiah was born about 1720 in Virginia. Among the males, Richard, Matthew, and Obadiah are common given names for this lineage. Offspring were among the early settlers of Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and Texas. The standard genealogical work regarding this family long has been Flora Hooper Collier's Hooper Genealogy, A Southern Branch, Volumes 1 and 2. The first book was widely distributed to genealogical libraries and has been microfilmed by the Family History Library [FHL US/CAN Film 1321197 Item 5]. A little-known resource on this family is a manuscript prepared by F. W. George (1940s?). The copy given to me was said to be from the manuscript files at the Denver Public Library, Denver, CO. However, current researchers have been unable to locate it there.
This Absalom Hooper was a head of household with at least two children when he claimed land in the Natchez area of then British West Florida [now Mississippi] by 1772. His brother Enos Hooper also resided in that area and had two or three children, but died by mid-1774. This Absalom can be definitively proven to have remained in Natchez in October 1779. Despite several DAR claims for descendants of this Absalom, this writer is unaware of any credible contemporary evidence that this man ever served on the patriot side in the American Revolution. In contrast, there are documents from the Revolutionary period indicating the man supported the King. Absalom, his older children, and perhaps children of Enos, migrated from Natchez to Davidson County, Tennessee in 1783. Most of his offspring remained in Tennessee until at least 1820. This group also appears under the descriptor Middle Tennessee Hoopers, and is associated with the Northern Neck Virginia Hoopers
A resident of North and South Carolina and of Georgia, Absalom Hooper was born in the 1760s, and served in the 6th SC Regiment until February 1780 when his unit was consolidated into the 1st SC Regiment at Charleston. After the Fall of Charleston, he fled (about November 1780) to an unnamed uncle on Pistol Creek in Georgia [see Pistol Creek Hoopers, below] and then joined a Georgia militia unit. Later he moved to upper South Carolina and thence to North Carolina. His military service is well documented in
The standard reference work on this family is Mary Hooper Crocker's 1993 A Glimpse into the Past of Hooper and Related Families (1763-1993) (Genealogy Publishing Service, Franklin [NC], 680 pp.)
Also connected to this lineage are descendants of Absalom's brothers Clemmons and Andrew Hooper. Both men lived in Cocke County, Tennessee in 1830. DNA testing of descendants proves that several groups of Hoopers who lived in southeastern Tennessee after 1800 have ancestors in common with Revolutionary Soldier Absalom. The given names Enos, Clemmons, and Absalom are common - all in varied spellings - for the sons of this line. Almost certainly of the same line is the Clemmons C. Hooper who was born about 1800, lived in Haywood/Macon Counties, North Carolina in 1820 and 1830, and moved to Cherokee/DeKalb Counties, Alabama about 1837 or 1838.
Probably also a part of this lineage is the family of Thomas Hooper (died between 1808 and 1810), who was the husband of Hannah (Alexander) Hooper (died 1871 Buncombe County, North Carolina). The 1810 household of the widow Hannah Hooper included ten underage individuals, with six males under ten. These males born 1800-1810 may account for many of the early Tennessee and North Carolina Hoopers of as yet undetermined ancestry.
This group is associated with the Northern Neck Virginia Hoopers.
This patriarch was born before 1750, probably in Virginia. He resided in upper South Carolina before the beginning of the American Revolution. His identification as Indian fighter comes from his description (in SC Audited Accounts 3739A) of his scouting and military efforts in Indian skirmishes before 1776. In 1790, he was enumerated in Spartanburg District and was captain of his South Carolina militia district. Sometime in 1802 or shortly thereafter, James Hooper left SC for Kentucky, where his will was written in 1813. Male offspring resided in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and Arkansas. Bailey, Clarendon, Enoch, and Dempsey are among the more unusual given names in this line.
DNA testing of descendants has proven that James Hooper, the Indian fighter, had a common ancestor with Revolutionary soldier Absalom Hooper. This James Hooper and his kinsmen also belong to the Northern Neck Virginia Hoopers
Also in upper South Carolina, there was an Enoch Hooper who was over 21 by 1783. South Carolina Audited Accounts (3739) indicate he served as a spy. This Enoch Hooper married Letitia "Letty" Bearden/Birding and moved to Kentucky. This Enoch Hooper died between 1813 and 1817 in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. He had no known sons, but did have a nephew named Ennis Hooper who remained in Kentucky. The opinion (and so far it is only an opinion) of this editor is that the spy Enoch Hooper may be a brother to James Hooper, the Indian fighter.
Another Enoch Hooper appears on muster rolls for the 5th SC Regiment in 1776. He died during the Revolution, and may have been a cousin to the spy of the same name, and almost certainly a kinsman to those of the Pistol Creek Hoopers (below) who enlisted in the same regiment.This group of Hoopers includes early settler William Hooper, Revolutionary Soldier Jesse Hooper, and the brothers Thomas and Churchwell Hooper, all of whom were in the area of original Wilkes County, Georgia before 1785. Thomas and Churchwell owned land along Pistol Creek until 1796. William, Thomas, and Churchwell all had enlisted in the 5th SC Regiment on 11 June 1776. After 1800, Jesse, Thomas, and Churchwell also appear under the descriptor Middle Tennessee Hoopers.
DNA testing of two descendants of Jesse Hooper show that Jesse Hooper shared a common ancestor with James Hooper, the Indian fighter, and with Absalom Hooper, the Revolutionary War soldier. Thus, this group also belongs with the Northern Neck Virginia Hoopers.
These families arrived in the Cumberland region of Tennessee before 1812, and include Natchez Absalom, his sons Joseph, Enos, Nimrod, and Absalom, Jr. and his probable son or nephew William, all of whom were in Davidson County by 1790. Some of these relatives of Natchez Absalom are found later throughout middle and west Tennessee.
The grouping also includes Churchwell, Thomas, and Jesse Hooper after they left their Georgia lands in the 1790s. There was also another Joseph Hooper (not the son of Natchez Absalom) who lived in the area by 1812.
Although Bailey Hooper, later of Humphreys County, Tennessee, was in some of the earliest records of Dickson County, Tennessee, he more appropriately is designated with descendants of James Hooper, Indian fighter. All of these MIddle Tennessee Hoopers belong to the larger group of Northern Neck Virginia Hoopers.
Several Hoopers associated with southern Virginia moved to and through Caswell County, North Carolina. Many of these Hoopers trace to Zachariah (dead by September 1775) and Susannah (Walker) Hooper. Most of these Hoopers retained strong contacts with Virginia and moved back and forth between southern Virginia and Caswell County. Quite a large number of Caswell Hoopers moved through Tennessee to Missouri before 1860. Another son of this line moved to Alabama and had several children who before 1850 moved to Ohio. Samuel Hooper, who was born in 1769 in Virginia and died in Missouri in 1862, belongs to the Caswell Hoopers even though he does not descend from Zachariah Hooper.
Several Hopper families living in Caswell during the American Revolution and before 1800 eventually moved to Claiborne County, Tennessee where at least some of them were occasionally listed as Hoopers in county records. Refer to the notes about Harmon Hopper for further identification of some of these Caswell Hoppers.
Hoopers had arrived in Claiborne County, Tennessee before 1830. At least some of them derive from William and Patience (Young) Hooper from Wilkes County, North Carolina. A William Hooper gave testimony for Harmon Hopper. Although there were Hopper families in Claiborne County, Tennessee with demonstrable links back to Caswell County, North Carolina, there seems no clearcut link between the Caswell and Claiborne Hoopers. Click on the link for more data about the Claiborne County Hoopers.
DNA evidence shows that the Claiborne County, Tennessee Hoopers share a common ancestor with other groups of Hoopers who migrated from Wilkes County, North Carolina before 1850 1) to Knox County, Indiana, 2) to eastern Tennessee and thence to Arkansas, or 3) to Van Buren/Cass County, Missouri.
Many Hooper families have at least some connections to the original Hanover County, Virginia before 1800. A James Hooper witnessed a will in 1732. In 1767, Thomas and James Hooper paid tithes. Sadly, though, most of the early county records were lost in fires. This lineage includes offspring of Thomas and Unity Hooper, whose descendants lived in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. Also in this lineage are descendants of Edmond Hooper, who died in Hanover County about 1813/1814.
Before 1749, Obadiah Hooper resided in Hanover County, so his family can also be identfied as Hanover Hoopers.
Colonel George Hooper was an important early figure in Buckingham County, Virginia. A part of this line is the George Hooper who migrated with his family and many slaves to Rockingham County, North Carolina between 1820 and 1830. This younger George died in Rockingham County, but his widow and at least some of his sons and daughters moved further west, to the area of Calloway County, Kentucky (by 1840) and to adjacent Henry County, Tennessee (by 1850).
Perhaps the most famous Hooper lineage in early America, this grouping descends from Reverend William Hooper of Boston. His son William signed the Declaration of Independence for North Carolina. Members of the family were leaders in law and education. The entire first issue of Hooper Compass Volume 2 (see table of contents) concentrated on this family.
A summary of the Signer is available within this web site.
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This page is © 2009 by Anne Goodwin.
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updated 29 September 2009