Clemmons Hooper

This long article shows how I do research--by a long, tedious, but often rewarding method of inductive and deductive reasoning from available data. The article originally appeared in 1998 and was revised in 1999. The current revision adds information discovered in 2000 and 2001. So, here is an explanation of those details I think I know about Clemmons Hooper.

Various sources (in books, on the internet, and by word of mouth) have stated that Clemmons Hooper was born 1770 in Cocke County, TN (or in NC, or in SC); died about 1853 in Jackson County (or Haywood County) NC, and married Barbara London in Tennessee. Four children -- Larkin, Clemmons, Jr., Mary, and Susan -- are attributed to him. A common story says that Clemmons was called "Boonie" because, like Daniel Boone, he preferred to hunt and be outdoors rather than farm. Many of these "facts" are based on hearsay that got written down many years after the lifetimes of the individuals involved. Oral traditions can give invaluable insight into history, but such tales can also be full of errors. The question, therefore, is:

What do contemporary public documents suggest about Clemmons Hooper?

The answer is that surprisingly few records of Clemmons Hooper written during his lifetime have survived to the present

In what follows, the reader should remember that I am quite conservative in my evaluations. I give greater weight to sworn testimony and to what contemporary writers say about a person than I give to statements by those who have only second- or third-hand knowledge gathered after the time period when the events occurred. In some areas, I may be overly hesitant in my evaluations.

I am unaware of any testimony during the lifetime of Clemmons regarding his marriage to Barbara London. I first heard of Clemmons Hooper and saw the name for Barbara London in a booklet given to me in 1974 by Lawrence Wood (1937-1997). Wood wrote:

Absolom Hooper had a brother, Clemmons Hooper, born 1790, who married Barbara London and reared four children: Clemmons, Jr., Larkin, Mary Ruth and Susie. All these reared families in Western North Carolina.
Wood, Lawrence E., 1974, Mountain Memories: published by the author, Franklin [NC], pp. 38-39.

A few years later, in another collection of family records, Wood wrote

Larkin C. Hooper b- July 19, 1812 d- June 29 1872 son of Clemmons Hooper and Barbara London.
Wood, Lawrence E.,1981, Bryson Family of Western North Carolina 1664 to 1980: published by the author, Franklin [NC], page 36.

Wood, Bryson Family "the children of Clemmons were Clemmons Hooper Jr. b- July 10, 1810; Larkin Hooper b- July 19, 1812; Andrew Hooper b-April 14, 1814; Mary Ruth Hooper and Susie Hooper."

In most cases, Mr. Wood was reliable with such identifications, but he did not identify the original source for his information. So far, I know of no extant Bible record or license for the marriage. Thus, to my mind, the identity of the wife or wives of Clemmons remains unproven.

This situation is not unexpected, because Clemmons probably married in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, or eastern Tennessee. In each of these places during the probable time frame of Clemmons Hooper's residence, there are simple explanations for lacks in marriage records. Georgia and South Carolina had not yet begun consistent recording of marriages. All the likely counties in Tennessee have lost by fire any marriages that did get recorded. And in North Carolina, the state allowed local announcement of "the banns" as a substitute for the more costly marriage bond.

There is also a possibility that there has been confusion, in later generations of descendants, between the woman who was Mrs. Clemmons Hooper and Barbara (Reid) Stephens [see "Gossip, 2+2, and the Stephens Family," page 16 in the Hooper Compass]. In 1860, Mrs. Barbara Stephens lived within the household of a daughter and grandchildren of Clemmons Hooper. So when family researchers first became aware of the census entry, we wondered whether this old woman might be the widow of Clemmons Hooper. Further research, however, invalidates such a hypothesis.

Instead, documents within her rejected pension applications show that Mrs. Barbara Stephens was the unremarried widow of Charles Stephens, a soldier who had fought in the Battle of Stono. During the 1840s, Mrs. Stephens began efforts to obtain a widow's pension based on her long-dead husband's Revolutionary War service. Since she was having difficulty establishing the fact of her husband's service, Mrs. Stephens asked Absalom Hooper (the older brother of Clemmons Hooper) to submit an affidavit. Absalom testified that he had served with Sergeant Stephens at Stono and had seen him wounded there. The testimony included no mention at all of any kinship between the Charles Stephens and the Hooper families. Still, Mrs. Stephens was clearly well known to the Hoopers - in the 1840s and 1850s, several members of the Absalom and Clemmons Hooper families participated in efforts by Mrs. Barbara Stephens for her pension and later bounty land applications.

Evidence about Clemmons Hooper from testimony:

Absalom Hooper pension file

There is some biographical data in Clemmons Hooper's 8 December 1852 testimony regarding his sister-in-law's Revolutionary War Widow's pension application. (See a description of my transcription of that testimony). The purpose of the testimony by Clemmons Hooper was to prove 1) that Mrs. Sarah Hooper was the unremarried widow of soldier Absalom Hooper, 2) that she had married Absalom before 1 January 1794, and thus 3) that she was eligible for a federal pension.

To show his qualifications and his knowledge of the existence of his brother and sister-in-law's marriage, Clemmons made affidavit saying that he

1. "...is a younger Brother of Absalom Hooper, Dec."
2. "was well-acquainted with the facts connected with the Marriage of his Brother ... and his widow Sarah," and
3. "that they were married on Pistol Creek in the State of Georgia.

While further explaining his reliability in identifying Sarah as Absalom's widow, Clemmons gives hints about his own prior residences:

4. "Declarant has often heard his uncle speak of there marriage at whose house his aforsaid Brother ... married,"
5. that Clemmons "lived in the same house with his Brother and family for a considerable length of time after there marriage," and
6. that he "has continued to live near them pretty mutch ever since."

The suggestion is that, for at least some of his life, Clemmons lived fairly close to the uncle who hosted the Absalom / Sarah Hooper nuptials. This suggestion is a strong clue that Clemmons spent several years in Georgia. Although Clemmons failed to give any clues about his own birth place, there is a clue to his birth year. The certification for the 8 December 1852 affidavit says "personally appeard before me ... Clemmons Hooper aged about 82 years...," so Clemmons must have thought he had been born between 1769 and 1771.

The terminology used by Clemmons, that he was a younger brother, might mean there had been other brothers who, like Clemmons, were younger than Absalom. Had Clemmons's statement instead been recorded as the younger, or as the youngest brother of Absalom, then Clemmon's position in the family might be clearer today. There must, however, be the question of how precisely the clerk recorded Clemmon's wording.

Absalom Hooper's own testimony for his federal pension, taken 1 January 1833, gives a minor clue about the parents of these brothers. Absalom said he had been

born and lived at the time of his enlistment on the main Broad River South Carolina near the mouth of Green River

When Absalom was born, the line between the two Carolinas had not yet been drawn quite so far west as the Hoopers then lived. In the middle 1760s, the area fell under jurisdiction of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. In 1768, Tryon County began to administer the area, and in 1779, the region became Rutherford County. During all of the 1760s, though, citizens in the area also looked to South Carolina for land registration and court jurisdiction.
On current maps, the mouth of the Green River is located in North Carolina near the border between Polk and Rutherford Counties, near where the county boundaries touch the state line with South Carolina.

So if Clemmons remained with his birth family before his teenage years, then he must have been living near the mouth of the Green River during at least some of the 1770s. Absalom further testified in his own pension application that he "ran away from his mother who was a widow and an adherent of the tories..." Thus, we know that the mother of Clemmons and Absalom was still alive at the start of the Revolution, but that their father already had died by the time Absalom enlisted. Absalom's testimony never states the names of his parents.

The timing of Absalom's enlistment is debatable. Absalom said he had joined the army at the start of the war - an uncertain date that could range from 1773 -- date of the Boston Tea Party -- up to late 1778 when British warfare in the south began in earnest. The only extant muster list that gives an enlistment date for Absalom shows he joined the SC troops in February 1778. So, by February 1778 at the latest, "Father" Hooper was dead.

In all the many pages in Absalom Hooper's pension file, there is no reference to where Clemmons was born. There probably was no need for such detail, considering Clemmons was testifying as a disinterested bystander and was not the primary subject of interest.

The statement that Clemmons had often heard his uncle (where Absalom's marriage had occurred) refer to the wedding suggests that Clemmons spent several years living close enough for frequent visits with that uncle. Clemmons also indicated he had lived with his brother and sister-in-law after their marriage. Georgia tax records show that Absalom lived during the latter 1780s in "the Fork District" just west of the junction of the north and south forks of the Broad River of Georgia. The north fork marks the present Elbert/Madison County boundary, while the south fork of the Broad River is the boundary Oglethorpe and Madison Counties. Clemmons Hooper's name fails to appear in these surviving tax lists. If born in 1770, then Clemmons was not subject to the poll tax until after 1791; post-1790 tax records for the Fork District no longer exist.

The pension testimony given on 8 December 1852 by Clemmons is the last date for which there is direct evidence that Clemmons was alive. Interestingly enough, in the bitter Jackson County Equity Case brought by Absalom Hooper's children in 1853 [see Hooper vs. Hooper], there was no testimony given by their uncle Clemmons Hooper - I take this to mean either that he was too frail to testify, or else that he was already dead by the time their case was brought. Some descendants of the family state that Clemmons died about 1853, but there was no marking on the original fieldstone for his grave. A marker (placed long after the death) at the Hooper-Stephens cemetery of Moses Creek Road in Jackson County gives the dates 1770-1853. I am aware of no documents from the 1850s which indicate a more precise death date. A close search of Jackson County deeds from 1852 to 1870 perhaps would yield added information, if Clemmons either sold real estate or witnessed transactions of his neighbors at any time after December 1852.

Samuel Queen pension file

Clemmons also testified twice in reference to another pension applicant and former neighbor, Samuel Queen. The second deposition, taken in March 1840, bore the statement,

Clemen Hooper .. is a man of good Morral Character & is Entitled to that Character from Long Standing in Society he is now about Seventy 5 years of age March 6th 1840.
Samuel Queen (rejected) Revolutionary War pension file, National Archives microfilm series M804, roll 1990.

If the statement about his age was correct, then Clemmons had been born nearer 1765 than 1770. One point raises doubts:
If the original testimony had given the age as seventy, then it would match most of the other known records for the birth year for Clemmons. Because the numeral 5 was not written as the word "five," it well might have been a later insertion.

The Queen file reveals a few more details of Clemmons Hooper's life. On 2 April 1839, Clemmons testified in Haywood County, North Carolina and identified himself as "of said county." He also stated that

during the time of the Georgia Rangers he said Hooper served under Col. Larkin Cleaveland ...

Thus, Clemmons Hooper must have been living at some time in northeast Georgia. As shown in my article on page 104 of the , the time frame for the militia service likely was about 1791-1794. (To obtain a copy of Volume 2, see the order form.)

Col. Cleveland commanded the Franklin County, Georgia militia in 1791, but Clemmons did not necessarily serve from that county. Several times in 1793, Cleveland advertised in the Augusta Chronicle to recruit enlistees to his regiment. In the same period when Hooper served under Cleveland, Samuel Queen was serving in another battalion, one headed by Colonel John Clarke in 1792 and 1793. Clarke's men came from Wilkes County, Georgia in the areas around and south of Pistol and Newford Creeks. Clemmons Hooper's familiarity with Queen's service implies that Hooper was aware of military affairs in Wilkes County in the early 1790s.

Both times that Hooper testified, in April 1839 and March 1840, the affidavits include his own signature, without an x mark. Thus, he was at least marginally literate. In 1840, he included the initial "S" and identified himself as "Clemen S. Hooper." The middle name signified by the initial remains unknown.

Summary:
The Absalom Hooper federal pension testimony, negative evidence from the 1853 Equity Case, and family tradition agree to suggest Clemmons Hooper was born about 1770, lived in Georgia during the 1780s, and died about 1853. Testimony in the Queen pension suggests Clemmons S. Hooper was born closer to 1765, received enough schooling to be able to sign his name, lived in Georgia during the early 1790s, and was a legal resident of Haywood County, North Carolina by April of 1839.

Land Records

Because of courthouse fires, few county-level records remain for the period when Clemmons Hooper lived in Tennessee. Deeds are lost. Because they were maintained outside the county, however, two state grants (#11065 and #11091) survived. These Tennessee patents show that Clemant Hooper received 100 acres in Cocke County in 1825. Warrants and surveys for such grants typically had been obtained several years prior to the full maturation of the patent transfer; thus, Clemmons Hooper likely was living in Cocke County well before 1825.

Evidence from Census Information:

Census data shows that Clemmons S. Hooper lived in northwest SC for at least some time, then lived in southwestern NC. Later, he lived in Cocke Co., TN, and finally in Haywood [now Jackson] Co., NC.

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1790

Because none of the surviving 1790 schedules show Clemons Hooper as a head of household, his location for that year is uncertain. He might have been in Georgia near his brother Absalom. Or perhaps he is among the several males over 16 listed in the Andrew or Elizabeth Hooper households of the 1790 Pendleton District, SC census.

1800
Finally, in 1800, it becomes clear that Clemmons was in South Carolina.

• 1800 SC Pendleton #369 Clemons Hooper 30100-20100 p 7(b)

That is, Clemmons was between 16 and 26 (born 1774-1784, slightly younger than is suggested by later records) with a wife of similar age and five children, three boys and two girls, born between 1790 and 1800. The number of young offspring suggests Clemmons had started his family not very long after 1790. Other nearby households are those of Andrew Hooper (#335) and Absalom (#368) and Thomas (#370). The households of Andrew and Absalom are duplicated in a listing of Greenville District, South Carolina (where William Hooper also was listed in 1800).

1804 Special
By 1804, Clemmons appears to have moved a bit--he was in an area disputed between North Carolina and Georgia which ultimately became part of Buncombe County, North Carolina by 1810 and later Henderson and Transylvania Counties. (For some background information, see Georgia vs. North Carolina: The Walton War). Georgia was giving title to land there and taxing the residents, but Buncombe County, NC was trying to take away the land or at least to tax the inhabitants. In trying to resolve the dispute, Georgia made a special enumeration to determine how many property owners were involved. As a result, we can find Clemmons Hooper on the 1804 Walton County GA special census, with a total of nine in the household (suggesting two more children were born between 1800 and 1804). His brother Absalom is nowhere to be found on that 1804 special census (see North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal, VII:2 [May 1981] pp.62-74). In February 1807, Walton County citizens petitioned Georgia Governor Irwin regarding the border between Georgia and NC. Singers included Absalom Hooper, but not Clemmons Hooper. This fact may suggest that Clemmons left Walton County for Tennessee between 1804 and 1807.

1810
Clemmons Hooper fails to appear as a head of household in Buncombe or Haywood Counties in North Carolina, or in Pendleton District in South Carolina in 1810. None of the published census indices list him either. However, the Georgia and Tennessee 1810 censuses are lost, so if Clemmons was living in either of those states, he would not be found on the surviving lists.

Several pieces of evidence suggest Clemmons had already moved to Tennessee by 1810.

Susan Hooper Stephens, a woman commonly identified as a daughter to Clemmons, is the oldest of the known offspring of Clemmons. Her birth year is uncertain. In 1850, her age indicates birth in 1807; in 1860, birth seems to be 1810; in 1870, her age suggests birth in 1807. And her birthplace is uncertain also-in 1850, North Carolina; in 1860; South Carolina; in 1870, Tennessee. Whichever is correct, there is the suspicion that she knew the family had once lived in South Carolina, and had been in North Carolina, and that her early years may have been in Tennessee.

The next oldest of the known children of Clemmons Hooper is Clemmons S. Hooper. According to his tombstone in the Hooper-Brasstown Cemetery, C. S. Hooper was born 15 July 1810 and died 5 December 1878. Researchers should consider that there is some question about the reliability of the tombstone date. An obituary quoted on page 582-583 of Mary Crocker's excellent Hooper book* gives date of death as 9 January 1878. In 1850 and 1870, the census gives Tennessee as his birthplace; in 1860, the birthplace is North Carolina.

*Crocker, Mary Hooper, 1993, "A Glimpse into the Past of Hooper and Related Families-1763-1993: the author, Kingsville [TX]. This resource is highly recommended for all researchers considering study of the Absalom and Clemmons Hooper families.

After C. S. Hooper came Larkin C. Hooper, born 19 Jul 1812. The death date of 23 June 1872 (on a stone at the Lower Zachary cemetery) is reported in Cemeteries of Jackson County. In contrast, Hal Hooper <HKHooper@aol.com> has a photograph of the stone, and reports the date as June 29, 1871. Whatever the case, Larkin was dead by 1880, so that late census cannot be used for further confirmation. Larkin's birth state is listed as Tennessee for 1850, 1860, and 1870. (see The Cemeteries of Jackson County by Jackson County Genealogical Society [P.O. Box 2108], Cullowhee [NC], p. 182, 421 for reports on C.S. and L. C. Hooper).

Data for these three children all seem consistent with the idea that Clemmons Hooper would have been listed on the 1810 Tennessee census, had the census survived. Note also that descendants have stories that Clemmons was called Boonie Hooper since he, like Daniel Boone, liked the outdoors and hunting, and apparently was often gone for prolonged stretches. So Mrs. Hooper might have been living with relatives in North Carolina before Susan and/or Clemmons S. Hooper's births, rather than at whatever was her real residence at the time.

1820
In 1820, Clemmons Hooper again is missing from the published census indexes. However, the eastern Tennessee 1820 census is lost. There is a "Clomos Hooper" listed in Haywood Co., NC, but he is too young (aged 16-25) to be the brother of Absalom. Instead, this Clomos Hooper of Haywood 1820 has been identified otherwise as the Clement or Climmins C. Hooper who later appeared in Cherokee and Dekalb Counties, Alabama. [see "Whatever Happened to ... the District 14 Hoopers?" on page 13 in the Hooper Compass].

In 1817, Andrew Hooper (who does not appear on any 1810 or 1820 surviving census) had patented land in Cocke County, Tennessee. By 1825, Clemmons Hooper also had proved up land in Cocke County. The land patents were stored among Tennessee state documents, and thus survived the fires that destroyed the local deeds of Cocke County. Had the Cocke County deed records survived, they probably would show several Hooper land transactions during the 1820s.

Again, there is something to suggest Clemmons Hooper had left North Carolina for some of the period when he is "missing" on the census. In addition to the federal pension file for Absalom Hooper, there is a lengthy file (South Carolina Department of Archives and History: Comptroller General Accounts, Audited Accounts of Revolutionary War Service, AA5518A, Roll 111) regarding Absalom Hooper's determined efforts to obtain from the South Carolina Legislature some compensation for his military service. Many neighbors (in Haywood County, North Carolina and in South Carolina, and even a fellow patriot in Hall County, Georgia) signed documents regarding the character and identity of Absalom Hooper. The documents were collected by Absalom on 18 November 1818 and on 20 July 1828. Two of the Haywood County signers (John Fergus and his stepson Holloman Battle) also stated they had known Absalom when he lived in Georgia.
(Intriguingly, John Fergus moved from Oconolufty and Scott's Creeks of now Swain and Jackson Counties, NC to Monroe County, Tennessee between October 1829 and 1831. Between December 1833 and February 1836, Fergus moved into Blount County, Tennessee, where he died in 1837. John Fergus had been a justice of the peace in Georgia and had once owned an iron foundry near what is now Comer, Georgia, in the same district where Absalom Hooper was taxed 1785-1787)
Along with the other neighbors and friends of many years, the sons and sons-in-law of Absalom signed these testimonial documents. Significantly, however, the name of Clemmons Hooper fails to appear thereon. This negative evidence further suggests that Clemmons was living elsewhere than in Haywood County, North Carolina, or in upper South Carolina when Absalom was pursuing his pay and pension from the State of South Carolina.

1830
Finally, in 1830, we can positively locate Clemmons Hooper, brother of Absalom. Now, though, there is also a younger man by the same name living in the adjacent household. (Line 4 of the same page as the older Clemmons Hooper is Clemmons Hooper, with only two individuals, a male and a female both born 1800-1810). Four names after the younger Clemmons Hooper is Susan Stephens (see discussion for 1810 above) with a male and a female under 5, and another female aged 30-40. The younger Clemmons is Clemmons S. Hooper, the son of Clemmons "Boonie" Hooper. On the previous page, within five households of the first Clemmons Hooper, is Andy Hooper, with data compatible to be the Andrew Hooper of the 1800 Pendleton District census.

• 1830 Cocke Co., TN p 246, line 3 Clemmons Hooper 00100001-0020001 (that is, male and two females b. 1815-1820, male b. 1770-1780, female b. 1780-1790).

1840
In August 1835, both Clemmons Hooper and Clemmons Hooper, Sen. were voters at "Cany Fork" precinct in Haywood County, North Carolina. Son Larkin C. Hooper is missing from the Haywood and Macon voters. Larkin did soon appear in a North Carolina record, since the general index to marriage licenses for Macon County, North Carolina p. 173 shows Larkin C. Hooper to Sarah Watson 4 Nov 1837, as witnessed by H. C. Wilson. In 1840, the older Clemmons was again living near his brother Absalom (just two households away). Next door to Clemmons was the son, Clemons Hooper, listed as born 1810-1820 with a wife and children. The other son, Larkin C. Hooper, born 1810-1820, appears in 1840 Macon County, NC.

• 1840 Haywood Co., NC p 111, line 12 Clemons Hooper 000000001-000011001 (that is, male b. 1770-1780, female b.1810-1820, female b. 1800-1810, female b. 1770-1780

The female born between 1810 and 1820 probably was daughter Mary. Haywood County, North Carolina marriage records show Levi M. Wood to Mary M [sic] Hooper on 20 Feb 1843.  Bondsman was James M. Hooper; witness Wm. Hooper, J.P. In 1850, Mary Wood's reported birthplace was Tennessee and her age was 28 -- her husband was younger than she was, so perhaps she "adjusted" her age downward. In 1870, after the death of her husband in the Civil War, her age was given as 51 (i.e., born in 1819 instead of 1822) and birthplace again was Tennessee. The 1819 birth would fit into both the 1840 and 1830 Clemmons Hooper households.

1850
At least one published transcription** of the 1850 census shows NC as birthplace for Clemmons. Perhaps there were ditto marks all down the page, so that every individual named before Clemmons on that page was listed as born in North Carolina. However, when I examined microfilm of this page, I could not see such ditto marks. Or perhaps the enumerator meant that all blank lines would indicate birth in North Carolina. Clemmons is listed on 16 September 1850 adjacent to his nephew William, in whose home lived Sarah S. Hooper, widow of Absalom Hooper.

• 1850 Haywood Co., NC p 186 #763-784 Clemmons Hooper 80 M [no occupation or birthplace entry].

**Census Associates, trans., [198?], Haywood Co., North Carolina 1850 census: Census Associates [65245 Cape Road] Naperville [Ill.], 35 p. plus index.

1860
The older Clemmons Hooper has not been located, probably because he had died. Since he does not appear on the 1860 mortality schedule (which recorded deaths in the previous year), it is unlikely that Clemmons died between 1 July 1859 and 30 June 1860. Four known children remained in Jackson County, North Carolina then.

Summary of census findings:
The census record, then, is compatible with a birth year of 1769 or 1770 for Clemmons Hooper; it gives little help in pinpointing Clemmons Hooper's birthplace. Presence of five young children in the 1800 household suggests he married between 1790 and 1795 in South Carolina (where few marriage records were recorded). He probably moved to Tennessee after 1804 and before 1815. The lack of any census listing in 1860 suggests Clemmons Hooper died before 1859.

Overall summary of Clemmons Hooper's family:

This summary assumes that Clemmons had just one wife, and that all the younger individuals enumerated within his 1800-1840 households were his offspring and not other relatives or boarders. The family of Absalom and Sarah Hooper consisted of twelve children; the family of Mr. and Mrs. Clemmons Hooper easily could have included a like number, somewhere between ten and fifteen children.

Clemmons Hooper (born about 1770-1853) and Mrs. Hooper (born about 1780, died 1840-1849)
1. Son, born 1790-1800, probably in SC
2. Son, born 1790-1800, probably in SC
3. Son, born 1790-1800, probably in SC
4. Daughter, born 1790-1800, probably in SC
5. Daughter, born 1790-1800, probably in SC
6. Child, born 1800-1804, probably in SC or NC
7. Child, born 1800-1804, probably in SC or NC
8. Daughter Susan Hooper, perhaps born 1807 in North Carolina or Tennessee, died after 1880. If her 1830 age group was correct, then she may be identical to one of the daughters of the 1800 census, and born 1790-1800.
9. Son Clemmons S. Hooper, born 15 Jul 1810 probably in Tennessee, died 5 December 1878
10. Son Larkin C. Hooper born 19 Jul 1812 probably in Tennessee (reported as born 1815-1820 on the 1830 census), died 23 June 1872
11. Daughter born 1800-1810 not listed on the 1830 home but reported on 1840 census-this could be Susan Hooper Stephens, who might have briefly left her children in Tennessee with their father's family.
12. Daughter born 1815-1820 reported on 1830 census, who could have married before her father was enumerated on the 1840 census
13. Mary Hooper Wood, born 1819 or 1822, probably listed as female born 1815-1820 on 1830 census, and as female born 1810-1820, before her 1843 marriage to Levi Wood. Mary died after 1870 and probably is buried in an unmarked grave at the Queen Cemetery .

Opportunities for further research:

There is a chance for second-hand written evidence in the census regarding Clemmons Hooper's birthplace. The 1880 census asked each respondent for not only his own birthplace, but also for the birthplace of father and of mother. So those children of Clemmons who lived long enough to be enumerated in 1880 could provide some evidence of what they thought had been their father's birthplace. I have not searched the 1880 census for either Susan Hooper Stephens or for Mary Hooper Wood. Both women probably were enumerated somewhere in Jackson County in 1880.

The only children stated by Lawrence Wood (Mountain Memories, p. 38) to be offspring of Clemmons Hooper, Sr. were Clemmons Hooper, Jr; Larkin C. Hooper; Mary (Mary Ruth) Hooper; and Susie (Sookie) Hooper, all of whom reared families in western North Carolina. As indicated in the family summary above, Clemmons Hooper, Sr. very likely had six or more older children who remained in Tennessee or migrated west, and who therefore were unknown to the remaining Hooper descendants in western North Carolina. Of these known offspring, only daughters Mary and Susan Hooper might have lived until 1880. Lawrence Wood also indicated that Mary Wood and Sookie Stephens had been twins - the census records disagree, with Mary and Sookie never matching on reported age. Since there were two females b. 1815-1820 in Clemmons Hooper's 1830 home, perhaps there really were twin daughters, and perhaps Mary was one of them. If so, there may be an unknown Hooper female, born 1819 or 1822 in Tennessee, who was the twin.

No estate proceedings appear to have been filed for Clemmons Hooper. Land records, such as possible land transfers among his offspring, perhaps might reveal a few more facts. Therefore, Haywood, Macon, and Jackson County deeds between 1830 and 1860 should be examined for potential references to Clemmons Hooper. A caution, though, is that his son Clemmons S. Hooper appears frequently in those records, so care must be taken to assure that the senior Clemmons Hooper is the subject of the reference. Since Clemmons left North Carolina where his mother lived in the 1770s, and resided in Georgia after the Revolution, there is a possibility that he was orphaned before he became a teenager. However, there is also the chance that the mother moved with Clemmons to be nearer her older son.