Hoopers in Tennessee in 1850

Obion County lies in the northwestern part of Tennessee just below Fulton County, Kentucky. There has been no record loss, so county deeds, estates, marriages, and court records date from 1824. There are even a few birth and death records dating from 1881. Lake County, Tennessee was created from Obion County in 1870; it also has many extant records, including early birth and death records predating 1900.

William Gibbs was the census enumerator for the part of Obion county listed below. His ink has remained dark, with handwriting that is regular and easily readable. He did complete the columns for marriages within the year, school attendance, and literacy. None of these categories, however, apply to the family below. The Obion enumeration began on 27 August 1850.

Stamped page numbers appear on every other page of the microfilm. Handwritten numbers were added to each page, but are extremely difficult to decipher on the microfilm. There are no Hooper families in the 1850 enumeration.

The Hopper family below appears on the page stamped 342, on the first line of that page, which is for District 11. They were interviewed on 22 August 1850.

This family does not appear to be in Obion county in 1840 or 1860.

1. So far, Hamilton Hopper has not been positively identified after 1850. There is a household in 1880 Davidson County, Tennessee (District 25, page 370B) which may involve the same head of household. However, note the age difference, presence of a different wife, and renaming of a daughter as Mary:
   --Hamilton Hopper 74 TN (parents' birthplaces blank)
   --Susan Hopper 35 TN VA VA, wife
   --Mary Hopper 10 TN TN TN, daughter
   This man's occupation was listed as "Chopping Wood."
2. Goodspeed's History of Tennessee for Lake County (1887) may identify this Susannah Hopper. A biography in Goodspeed identifies the first wife of Mr. F. H. Griffin as Susan C. Hopper and says they had married each other on 25 January 1855.
   Obion County has a marriage license for Franklin H. Griffin to Catharine Hopper, issued 24 January 1855. Thus, the first Mrs. Griffin probably had been born Susannah Catharine Hopper.
   Goodspeed says that Susan C. Hopper Griffin "was born in Williamson County, Tenn., December 16, 1837," and was the mother of seven. She was a Methodist who had died 17 February 1866 (but Goodspeed fails to specify where she died).

Other Hoppers, not in Obion in 1850, moved there later. In 1880, five Hopper households were enumerated in the county. Two of these later households probably belong to a lineage that in the 1790s resided in Pendleton District, South Carolina. The two households were on adjacent pages (126A and 126B) and may involve a father (Moses, 48) and son (William, 25). Moses Hopper's household included a son named Gillam Hopper giving a possible clue to a Pendleton connection with the much earlier brothers Moses and Gillum Hopper. See the web page for Moses Hopper, alias Edwards.

Another Hopper household of 1880 is that of widower Alex Hopper, age 36 (page 134B). The oldest child in the household was "Canon Hopper", age 11. This unusual given name, Canon is reminiscent of the name Melcanon or Mal Canon or Mal Cannon which was used by one of the Hooper families of 1850 Claiborne County. (See especially note 26 there).