WILLIAM HOOPER
1635

by Mrs. William Sumner Crosby



I have retyped the following book soley for the non-commercial use and enjoyment of HOOPER
family researchers and for those other family names that are listed in this book.  You may not, therefore,
copy or reproduce this material in any form for profitable consumption.

I am making every effort to be true to the original type and content.  This is a painstaking undertaking and
very time consuming, so if you notice an incorrectly spelled word, it is most likely how it appears in the book,
as I have done extensive proofing and reproofing of my typing.  

No editorial comments will be made, except to signify a clarification and they
will be placed in brackets such as these:  [  ].  

Any words that appear in the book in italic script will be placed
between *'s in this transcription.

All noted linage numbers that appear in the book beside a persons name shall appear here
between parathetic marks such as these:  (  ).  

Also, I am double spacing between the paragraphs for ease of read, which is not how it appears in the book.  

I do not, currently, have any other research or data on New England HOOPERs,
but you never know, sometimes all roads lead back to Rome!  Enjoy the read!  

Sincerely,
Clay Hooper
clayhooper@sbcglobal.net
899 - 14th Street
San Francisco, CA  94114-1211
Copyright Notice ~ See Bottom of Page



[Cover of book:]         WILLIAM HOOPER
                                      1635

[1st inside page:]    A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
                      OF
                EIGHT GENERATIONS OF HOOPERS
                    IN AMERICA

                  WILLIAM HOOPER
                     1635
                     TO
                IDOLENE SNOW (HOOPER) CROSBY
                     1883
                    _____

                   COMPILED BY
              MRS. WILLIAM SUMNER CROSBY
                 BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS
               1906

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
No._______ [18 is handwritten in]


[Next page info:]   GEO. H. ELLIS CO., PRINTERS, 272 CONGRESS ST., BOSTON.


[Then begins the book:]
                       A HOOPER FAMILY IN AMERICA.
                      ______________________________

    This genealogical sketch of one line of Hoopers in America has been prepared for the benefit of the children of Mrs. Sumner Crosby (Idolene Snow Hooper), now living in Alameda, Cal.  No attempt has been made by the compiler of these records, (a grandmother of the children), to establish a distinguished name.  Like most families in New England, this family of Hoopers is of good yeoman stock.

    Mr. J. N. Larned, the learned historian, in "Books, Culture, and Character," suggests the thought that human life is lived on a narrow strand, between two great oceans, -- the Ocean of Time Past and the Ocean of Time to Come.  When you turn, looking futureward, you see nothing with certainty:  it is veiled by an impenetrable mist.  But, if you look to the other sea and look out upon that measureless expanse of Time Pst, you will see that it is covered with ships.  Those ships come sailing to us in numbers beyond out counting.  They bring us the story of a forgotten life, with its experience, its wisdom, its warnings, its counsels, its consolations, and its discoveries.  What if there were no ships to bring us all this?

    It is through our ancestors that we learn the way in which American independence was won and the Federal Republic of the United States was constructed.  It is through these ancestors that we learn of Bunker Hill and George Washington, we learn of the coming of the "Mayflower," and the planting of life in the New World from Old World stocks.  "And yet there are those men and women who live as though no ship had ever come to them from the far shores of old Time, where their ancestry dwelt; and the interest of existence to them is huddled in the petty space of their own few years, between walls of mist which thicken as impenetrably behind them as before."  It is the hope of this grandmother, that the children of Mrs. Sumner Crosby will not accept life on such narrow terms; that they will not be content to live in ignorance of their own ancestors; that through a study of the lives of these ancestors they may come to have a knowledge of the history of Time Past.  

    In England and in America, in the early records, the surname of Hooper is spelled in various ways.  In England we have the name as "Hope, Hoope, Hupper, Hopper, anhd Hooper."  In the "Province of Mayne" records, as late as 1761, in the same deed, you will find the name written as "hupper, hopper, and Hooper," referring to the same person; and this is equally true in the "mayne" wills.

    It is probable that the surname of Hooper was first used in England about the year 1275.  There is no record to show that it is older than this date.  Whether the name was originally derived from a "trade," as Bowditch claims in his "Origin of New England Family Names," is not now known.  

    "In 1275 William le Hopore possessed lands in Dorset, England.  In 1325 the name of Hooper is found in the county of Somerset.  The name of Hooper was in the Norman French term for cloth merchant, and it may be presumed that the family which bore it was foreign."--*The Norman People*, p. 289.

    The name of Hooper does not appear in the *Doomes-day Book*.  

    For the benefit of these granchildren it may be well to insert the following:--

    "Doomsday Book, (so called because its decision was regarded as final) a book containing a digest, in Norman French, of the results of a census or survey of England undertaken by order of William the Conqueror and completed in 1085.  It consists of two volumes in vellum, a large folio containing 382 pages and a quarto containing 450.  They form a valuable record of the ownership, extent, and value of the lands of England (1) at the time of the survey, (2) at the date of bestowal when they had been granted by the king, and (3) at the time of Edward the Confessor, when a somewhat similar survey had been made; the numbers of tenants and dependents, amount of live stock, et., were also returned."--*The Century Dictionary*, vol, ii.

    There are many genealogist, as shown in printed family histories, who seem to care more for glory than for truth; and hence you find these same families claiming descent from "William the Conqueror" (when it is not from Charlemagne), whose family surname had its birth long years after this "survey" was made in England, in 1085.  Not always is it dishonesty, but is the result of either carelessness or ignorance on the part of the family.

    John Hooper (written also hup'er and hop'er [with 2 dots above the "o"]) was an English Protestant bishop.  All authorities agree that he was born in Somersetshire, in England, about the year 1495.  This Bishop Hooper is the most distinguished member of the English family of Hoopers.  "While a student at Oxford, he was converted to the Protestant faith.  In 1539, to escape the Bloody Statutes of Henry VIII, he retired from England, and passed several years in Zurich.  At the death of Henry he settled in London, where he became an eminent and eloquent preacher.  In 1550 he was made Bishop of Gloucester, and in 1552 received the bishopric of Worcester in *commendam*.  Soon after the accession of Mary he was condemned as a heretic, and, refusing to recant, was burned at the stake in 1553.  He wrote numberous theological works."  (See Burnet, History of the Reformation.)

    John Fox, in his "Book of Martyrs," writes, "John Hooper was married in Zurich to a Burgonian" (p. 323).

    In 1635, on the thirteenth day of July, the ship "James," sailing from the port of London, England, for the New England, brought among its passengers two young men, one William Hooper, age eighteen, the other Thomas Marshall, age twenty-two.  This William Hooper was destined to become the father of the family of Hoopers in America.  No one has ever searched the English records to see from whence came this William Hooper to New England, and in the absence of such proof, it is all a matter of conjecture with the compiler of these records as to where William Hooper's home was in England.

    "The under written names, *Persons of Quality*, are to be transported to New England imbarqued in the James, Jno. May, Mr, for N. E. p. Cert:  from the ministers of the conformitie in Religeon:  and that they are no subsedy men:  William Hooper age 18:  Thomas Marshall age 22:  porte of London, July 13, 1635."--*Original Lists:  J. C. Hotten*, p. 107.

    After this date (1635) there is no record of any one bearing the surname of Hooper in New England until 1642, when the name of William Hooper appears in the First Church records in the town of "Redding," Mass., as one of the "original members" in this church.  This record has also the name of "Elizabeth Hooper."  Whether this Elizabeth Hooper was the wife of William it will be difficult to prove; but it is probable that she was, from the fact that her name did not appear before 1642 in any other record, neither does it appear after this date.  If so, she was a first wife, for in 1669 and in 1679 the wife of William Hooper was "Ruth Hooper."  In this same church record are the names of Thomas Marshall and Elizabeth Marshall, his wife.  Pope, in his "Pioneers of America," claims that William Hooper was a "weaver," and Thomas Marshall a "shoemaker."  It is interesting to note that the surname of the "Father of English Poetry," Geoffrey *Chaucer*, signifies "Shoemaker."  (Century Dictionary of Proper Names, p. 239.)
    "My angel, -- his name is Freedom, --
    Choose him to be your king;
    He shall cut pathways east and west,
    And fend you with his wing.

    "I will have never a noble,
    No lineage counted great;
    Fishers and choppers and plooughmen
    Shall constitute a state.

    "Go cut down trees in the forest,
    And trim the straightest boughs;
    Cut down trees in the forest,
    And build me a wooden house.

    "Call the people together,
    The young men and the sires,
    The digger in the harvest field,
    Hireling and him that hires;

    "And here in a pine state-house
    They shall choose men to rule
    In every needful faculty,
    In church, and state, and school.

    "Lo, now!  if these poor men
    Can govern the land and sea
    And make just laws below the sun,
    As planets faithful be.

    "I cause from every creature
    His proper good to flow:
    As much as he is and doeth,
    So much he shall bestow."

                *R. W. Emerson.*

    There is no reasonable explanation why William Hooper together with Thomas Marshall, should leave England in 1635 unless the "trades" were disturbed to such extent that there was little manufacture.  Added to this is the fact that between 1630 and 1640 religious persecution was at its height.  During this period was the largest emigration of Englishmen to New England.  Charles I. was ruling England without a Parliament, and was levying a direct tax on the people to support the government.  As shown after, by the Long Parliament, this period, 1630-40, marked the decline in England's prosperity,--a decline she was long years in recovering from.  The king's two advisers were Thomas Wentworth (Earl of Stafford) and William Laud.  Bishop Laud was born in Reading, England, "the son of a weaver."

    If William Hooper was a "weaver,"--and he probably was, for he mentions "my Loombs and all my Tackling" in his will in 1678,--he came from some place of manufature in England.

    In 1635 the only town of considerable importance in manufacture that was *close* to the "port of London" was Reading, about thirty-five miles distant from London.  The town at that time had a population of 35,000.  Its situation was on the Thames at its confluence with the river Kennet.  A beautiful town, as well as one of considerable note.  It's is possible that here was the *birthplace* of William Hooper.

    A little closer inspection of the recods of "Redding," Mass., discloses the fact that among those "twelve first settlers in Redding" was one Dea. Thomas Parker.  Mr. Parker was born in Reading, England, in 1605.  He sailed from the port of London in the "Susan and Ellen," April 13, 1635.  He sailed three months in advance of Hooper and Marshall; came from Reading in England, where "Loombs and Tackling" were in use, sailed from the same port as Hooper and Marshall did a little later, and is recorded in Lynn (Mass.) records (together with Thomas Marshall) as having settled in Lynn in 1635.

    He was one of the "original settlers" in "Redding," Mass., together with Hooper and Marshall, in 1642.  The historian of the town of Reading (Mass.) claims that these three men were related.  Thomas Marshall is named as "my brother" in William Hooper's will, in 1678.  This circumstantial evidence does not *prove* the birthplace of William Hooper; but, until some one disproves it, Reading in England is the possible early home of our William Hooper.  It is further possible, that these three men have the honor of naming Reading, Mass., and in memory of their English home.

    In 1639 settlers at "Lynn Commons" petition the Colony Court for the right to change the name of Lynn Commons to "Redding," and ask to be allowed to be incorporated as a separate town.  The answer to this petition was that, when "Lynn Commons" had a settlement of twelve families and could support a minister, the petition would be granted.  The names of the signers to this petition were lost, but it is claimed in the History of Reading that William Hooper's name was among them.

    Reading in 1642 was a wide-spreading country, including all of what is now known as Wakefield and South Reading.  

    The land was originally bought from the Indians of Plymouthy Colony for L10 16s., and the deed may still be seen, signed by Sagamore George, his sister Abigail, and Quannapoint.  "In a few weeks the first settlers had a comfortable cabin, and in two years extensive fields of corn and wheat, with a young orchard started" ("Recollections of Rev. Timothy Flint," p. 11).  But it was not until after long years that they had any manufacture or much trade, for they were isolated and away from those settlements that had better opportunities.  There was exposure to the Indians, and the internal conditions were such taht there was little education in schools.  Indeed, the twon was complained of as late as 1680 for having "too poor a school."  Although such men as "Thomas Bancrofte" and "Captayne Marshall" write a clear and legible hand, it was quite uncommon among the townspeople, as the Registry of Deeds and the records in the Probate Office for Middlesex County will show.

    William Hooper is the person named as bing absent from home in 1675, "in a battle against the Indians in Middlesex County."  His name does not appear often in the county and town records.  It is shown, by the town books, that he was taxed in 1642; was a member of the church in 1642-44.  He recieves several "allottments" of land,--one of fifty acres in 1658, and another of ten acres in that same year, on the "Woburn road."

    In 1669 he sells his "now dwelling house in Redding" to Mrs. Mary Hodgman, and the record to be found in Middlesex Deeds, vol. 4, p. 331, is interesting as showing the form of an original old deed, and in this case that the wife of William Hooper in 1669 was "Ruth Hooper," who relinquishes her right and title in the state:--

    "Know all men by these p'sents  . yt [sic] I William Hooper of Redding, in the County of Middlesex in New England for divers causes and consideration moueing me Therearon to and especially for and in consideration of the sume of twenty six pounds to me in hand paid by Mary hogman at or before the sealing hereof whereof & wherewith I do Acknowledge myselfe fully satisfied and contented and thereof and every part thereof do exhonorate aquit and discharge the afore said Mary hodgman her heirs and executors and assigns forever and do by these presents give grante bargaine enfoffe and confirme unto the said Mary Hodgman my now dwelling house being sittewated in Redding with fower acres of land thereunto adjoining, with the orchard garden fencing therunto belonging & is bounded on ye north with ye High Waye and on the East wth [w and a small th] The Lande of Isaac Harte and on ye South with ye Lande of Robert Burnap Junr & on ye weste wth [w and small th] the Lande of Thomas Kendall To have and to hold the said house & the fower acres of Lande be it more or less with the orchard garden and fencing and every part and parcell thereof as it is butted and bounded as above said.  To the propper use and behoofe of the aforesaid Mary hodgman her heirs executors and assigns forever and furthermore the said William Hooper do give grante assigne enfoffe the right title claime or demand that euer that the said William Hooper have or euer had in any of the said premises unto the said Mary hodgman her heirs, executors or assigns or from any other person or persons whatsoever Laying any title claim or interest thereto by from or under me.

    "7th d. 4th mo. 1669."

    The names of the children of William Hooper, taken from the Reading records and Savage's Genealogical Dictionary, vol. 2, p. 450, "all born in Redding."

    Whether "Ruth Hooper" was the mother of these children (she was the mother of Thomas and John) does not appear:--
    "Mary, b. 1647.

    James, b. and d. 1649.

    Susan, b. 1650.

    Ruth, b. 1653.

     Rebecca, b. 1656.

    William, b. 1658.

    Hannah, b. 1662.

    Elizabeth, b. 1665.

    Thomas, b. 1668.

    *John*, b. 1670.

    William (2) Hooper, b. 1658; m. Susanna ______.  He was a selectman in Reading, and died in 1692.  Of his children whose births were recorded in Reading were William, Elizabeth, and Ruth.  Elizabeth m. Enoch Leonard, of Bridgewater, Mass., in 1707.  Ruth m. John Bolton, of Bridgewater, 1710.  Of the children whose births were *unrecorded* were Susanna, who died in Billerica, Mass., 1738.  In her will she mentions "sisters Elizabeth Leonard and Ruth Bolton, of Bridgewater."  The will of Susanna Hooper is probated at East Cambridge, Mass.  (Middlesex Wills, vol. 22, p. 783).  Another child was John (3) Hooper, whose birth is not recorded in Reading records.  He m. and settled in Bridgewater, Mass., before 1703.  He became the father of a numberous posterity, which is scattered throughout New England and the West.  (See Mitchell's History of Bridgewater.)

    William Hooper died in Reading in 1679.  The town records show the following entry in their books:--

    "1679: died this day in 62nd year of his life--William Hooper--one of the first sttlers in the town."

    The burial was in the old cemetery which is described as "so far from the church."  It was ordered by the town in 1668 "to fence the grave yard with pine *rayles*."  Rev. Jonathan Pierpont, "a Godly and learned man," officiated at the funeral services.

    Mr. Hooper was survived by his widow Ruth and nine children, with possibly others whose births wer unrecorded.

    Abstract from the last Will and Testament of William Hooper, made on this "ffifth day of August, 1678":--

    "I give half my lands Upland and meddow to my wife during her life.  And the other half of my lands and meddow I give to my son William and his heirs forever.  And my will is that he shall imporve them all:  And his mother to have halfe the profit During her life.  And at her discease He my son William to have all myt lands and meddow and Cattle:  And to pay to my six children that are unmarried ffive pounds apiece as they shall come to age.  But he shall not pay any for two years after my discease.  My will is that my two younger sons shall be with their mother and my son William till they be fifteen years of age, to be helpful to them.  And then my will is that they may be set to some Trade.  And if any of them have a mind to be a Weaver.  Then I doo will him to have all my Loombs and all my Tackling to them.  And my household stuffs.  I give it all to my wife to be at her own Disposal.  But if my wife should marry.  All my Lands and Cattle shall be my son Williams.  Only the household goods:  to bee my wifes as willed.  And my will is that my brother Captayne Marshall and my cousin Ensigne Bancrofte be my overseers to this my last will as above said."--*Middlesex Probate Records*, 1679, 17, 4, vol. 5, p. 323.

    To the Inventory of the estate "Captayne Marshall" signs his name as Thomas Marshall, and "Ensigne Bancrofte as Thomas Bancrofte."

    On Nov. 10, 1684, "Ruth, widow of William Hooper," becomes the second wife of Thomas Dutton, of Billerica, Mass. (History of Billerica, p. 45).

    Some of the Maine Hoopers, (those of Biddeford), claim that William (1) Hooper was made a "freeman" in Biddeford in 1648.  There is no truth in this claim.  He was a "freeman" in "Redding" in 1648, and the records of the town show that he was living there on this date.  There is no official record in New England to show that William Hooper ever lived elsewhere than in "Redding."

[New Chapter:]

SECOND GENERATION.

    John (2) Hooper, b, in "Redding," Mass., 1670; m. Charity Kay (sometimes recorded as Key or Keay) before 1701.  Her family name appears in the "Province of Mayne" records before 1650.  Her father was John Kay.  (See Province of Mayne Probate Records.)  John Kay was a Scotchman.  The family came early into Maine, but how early cannot be stated positively.  The family surname appears frequently in the court records of "ye old Province of Mayne," between the years "1636 to 1686."  They may have come into Maine at the time of the settlement of the Piscataqua, when "the Laconia grant" was made to Sir Fernando Gorges.  It is more likely, however, shown by the court records, that they were one of those Scotch families who were "disaffected with King Charles I.," and were complained of as "discontented spirits, hostile to the government of the established church who are now settling on the grants made by the Plymouth Company."  It is many years since the name of Kay or Keay has appeared in York County records.

    The children of John (2) and Charity Hooper, all born in Kittery, afterward known as Berwick, and now known as South Berwick, were:--
    John, b. Jan. 14, 1701; d. 1802.

    Samuel, b. Feb. 17, 1704; d. 1705.

    Charity, b. Jan. 17, 1707.

    Samuel, b. April 9, 1709.

    Mary, b. April 15, 1711.

    Joseph, b. Jan. 27, 1713.

    Noah, b. and d. in Berwick, April 11, 1715.

    Love, b. April 28, 1717.

    *William*, b. April 26, 1719; *bap.* July 13, 1719.

    Benjamin, b. Feb. 13, 1721; "dismissed to the church in Biddeford, Me., July 28, 1743."  He is the ancestor of the Biddeford Hoopers; and some of his descendants are the Hooopers of Charlestown, Mass., whose names are found in the early records of that time.  Benjamin Hooper was on the "committee of safety" in Biddeford, during the Revolution.  He was also a captain, during the Revolutionary War, of one of the Biddeford companies; d. "1802, age 81."

    Solomon, b. Jan. 22, 1722; m. Bridget______; d. 1789.

    The name of John (2) Hooper appears on the bond of Mrs. Susanna Hooper, of "Redding," in the settlement of the estate of "my late disceased husband William Hooper October 25, 1692" (Middlesex County Probate Records, vol. 8, p. 16).

    The name of John Hooper appears again on the petition of Mrs. Mary Taylor, of "Redding," Nov. 14, 1695, requesting that her son, James Taylor, may be appointed administrator of the estate of "my late disceased husband Thomas Taylor" (Middlesex County Probate Records, vol. 7, p. 333).

    After 1695 we find no one bearing the surname of Hooper remaining in "Redding."  John Hooper probably left "Redding" soon after this date.  It may possibly be he whose name, "John Hooper," appears in the records of the French and Indian Wars.  Also his elder brother Thomas (b. 1668), who is mentioned in the father's will as one of "my two younger sons," may be the same Thomas Hooper whose name is also connected with this war.

    The name of this brother Thomas (2) Hooper appears in Kittery records for the first time April 7, 1696.

    Quarterly sessions held at York, April 7, 1696.

    "We present Thomas Hooper for not ffrequenting the public worship of God on ye Lords day" (Part II. Book 5, Fol. 8, York Deeds).

    March 5, 1697-98, Thomas Hooper sells to Henry Barter, of Kittery, "27 acres or more which was bequeathed unto sd Hoopers wife, Elizabeth by Cap'tn ffrancis Champernown Esq'r De'cd and Since Delieuvd unto s'd Hooper by Mrs. Mary Champernoune Relict and Executrix of ye Deed," etc. (York Deeds, Book VII. Folio 42).

    "At a legal town meeting held at Kittery May 16, 1699: Granted unto Thomas Hooper twenty acres of land provided he improve it within one year."

    "For ye year 1714: Paid Thomas Hooper L.5. by John Hooper treasurer of Berwick, by the account presented by constable Joseph Abbott" (Book I. p. 38, Berwick Town Records).

    Kittery, Me., was incorporated as a town Oct. 20, 1647.  At this time her territory included all of the Berwicks and Eliot.  Berwick was set off from Kittery, and incorporated as a town, June 9, 1713.

    John (2) Hooper, in 1704, bought land from James Emery.  His name had not appeared previous to this, in York Deedss, although in the Kittery town records it is shown that John and Charity Hooper had a son, John, Jr., born in 1701.  This land of Hooper's purchased from Emery, in 1704, is described in part as "a certain piece of land bounded on ye west by ye country road in Kittery, on ye north and south and east by Philip Hubbards land, and is a part of Lot of Land on which my father did live, and is excepted out of it when he sold to Philip Hubbard, and lies opposite against ye south east corner of Philip Hubbards orchard" (York Deeds, Book 7, Folio 1).

    On Jan. 26, 1716, John Hooper bought the farm owned in 1704 by Philip Hubbard and Elizabeth Hubbard, his mother,-- "50 acres of land be it more or less with ye barn, ye dwelling house orchard land and buildings" (York Deeds, Book 8, Folio 200).  On this last date, 1716, he had a large farm.

    At this point the writer wishes to consider the evidence which seems to connect the John Hooper, of Kittery, Maine, with the John Hooper born in "Redding," Mass., in 1670.  It is necessary to do this, because this claim has been questioned.  The party who has thus questioned and doubted was justified in doing so.  A genealogical chain is only as strong as its *weakest* link.  And when two separate families claim John (2) Hooper of "Redding" as their lineal ancestor, the one family living in Massachusetts and the other in Maine, it makes a conservative mind cautious about accepting as a *fact*, what had become only a "tradition" with the Maine Hoopers, --that their lineal ancestor, John Hooper, of Kittery in 1701, was the son of William Hooper, who came to New England in the "James" in 1635, and settled "Redding," Mass.  It is necessary to state that no "vital statistics" has been discovered by the writer, or by any descendant of William (1) Hooper, which connects him with a John Hooper, either in Massachusetts, or in Maine, after the birth of the son John, in Redding, Mass., in 1670.  Among the Massachusetts Hoopers there was not even this "tradition" which the writer found among the Maine Hoopers when she commenced these records.  It would be confusing to introduce the questions raised by the Massachusetts Hooper in his objections to this claim made in Maine.  The writer has been carefully through all the records of Plymouth County and Middlesex County in Massachusetts, and of York County in Maine, and with the following results, which has confirmed her in a belief that the "tradition" found in Maine is to be accepted as a truth.  Whether she is correct in her judgment is for the Hoopers to decide.  First, it is a self-evident fact that, if John (2) Hooper left "Redding" about 1695 (and his name disappeared from Middlesex records in 1695), and there is no record of his death in Massachusetts, it was necessary for him to settle elsewhere.  A John Hooper *is* in the Kittery records in 1701.  A search in the York County records in Maine, disclosed the fact that *before* this date, 1701, with the one exception of Thomas Hooper, *no one baring this family surname had ever lived in York County.*  A further search disclosed another fact: that the recorded ages of the children born to Thomas Hooper and his wife, Elizabeth (Small) Hooper (these births are recorded in the years between 1693-1705), make it possible that the father of these children was the Thomas Hooper born in "Redding" in 1668.  These records show that those children were *daughters*.  After all these long years it will be impossible to decide what motives there were which led Thomas and John Hooper to settle in Kittery.  But the town records of Berwick, Me., as already stated, show that Thomas Hooper, together with John Hooper, were in the *same town* in 1714, --Berwick, Me.  If it is true, that these two men -- Thomas and John Hooper -- were brothers, and were in the same war together, it is clearly understood that in going into Maine and Canada they probably travelled over "that lonely road that runs close to the oceanside (to prevent a surprise from the Indians), and was from Boston to Portsmouth, New Hampshire."  They saw the mountain Agamenticus in the distance, and doubtlessly crossed the Piscataqua into Kittery.  One fact is evident in the records of York County, --that, if one cannot determine from *whence* these two men came into Kittery, it is certain they both found a wife there; for Elizabeth Small was in the family of Sir Francis Champernowne, and, as already has been shown, John Hooper's wife, Charity, was the daughter of John Kay, which family had been long in the "Province of Mayne."

    To the bond of Mrs. Susanna Hooper in "Redding," John Hooper's signature appears in a writing that is clear and distinct.  He spells his name HOOPER, and not "huper," "hopper," or "hupper."  In the early deeds, in York County, this name is frequently written with a small *h* and is "huper," "hoper," or "Hupper."  This fact was a very troublesome one to the writer, for it was impossible to understand how the same person could change the spelling of his own name inside of six years.  A long search failed to disclose the written signature of John Hooper in York County.  To be sure, John Hooper was for several years town treasurer of Berwick, and it was hardly supposable that a man holding such an office could not write his own name.  Still, the *written signature* could not be found, or any proof that he did not change the writing of his name to "huper" after he went into Maine.  At last the writer discovered her own blunder.  She had been reading the deeds wherein John Hooper was the *grantee*, and not the grantor.  And thus *the name had been written by other parties*.  After a long time a deed was discovered which bears the date 1721, in whcih John Hooper's name appears for the first time as a grantor in York County.  In this deed he writes his name JOHN HOOPER, and names, "my wife Charity."  With the aide of tracing paper, a copy of the two signatures of John Hooper in Middlesex records was made, and, when compared with the signature of John Hooper to the deed of 1721 in York County, Maine, were found to be so very like as to leave no doubt in the mind of the compiler of these records that *the three signatures were written by the same hand*.  Before introducing this deed as evidence, the writer will again refer to the "traditon" in Maine.  It is to be remembered that of John (2) Hooper's children three sons, John, b. 1701, lived until 1802; William, b. 1719, d. in Berwick, 1809; Benjamin, b. 1721, d. in Biddeford, 1802.  Their father died in Berwick in 1761.  You will note that the birth of one son, John, Jr., covers a century.  If you think carefully, you will find it hard to believe that these three sons did not know the *birthplace* of their own father; further, that it will be equally hard to believe that they never heard the *Christian name* of their grandfather Hooper, and never learned where he lived and died.  Admit this much, and it is easily understood what foundation the Maine Hoopers have for the statement that they are descended from William (1) Hooper, of "Redding."

    It is well for the Maine Hoopers to have a record of this deed: "To all People to whom these presents shall Come John Hooper of ye town of Barwick in ye County of York in his Majestyes Province of ye Maisachusetts Bay in New England Cordwainer & Charity ye wife of s'd John Hooper sendeth Greeting.  Know ye for divers good causes us hereunto moving & more Especially for & in Consideration of ye full and whole sum of One hundred and Thirty pounds Current money of New England to us in hand well and truly paid before ye signing and sealing of these presents by Daniel Stone of ye town of Barwick afores'd Cordwainer ye Rect thereof we do acknowledge ouselves fully Sattisfyed Contented & paid for every part, have given granted Bargained & Sold & do by these presents for ourselves onr heirs Executors Administrators & Assigns forever fully & freely & absolutely give grant Bargain Sell aleine enfieffe assign Convey pass over & confirm unto him ye fores'd Daniel Stone & his heirs Executors administrators and assigns forever a Certain peece of tract of land Containing Three Quarters of One acre & Eleven Rods thereabouts lying between and Situated in ye town of Barwich afors'd with ye Dwelling-house Barn outhouses & orchards & fences & fencing Stuff & all whatsoever Standing Lying or growing in or upon s'd land being butted & bounded as Follweth," etc.

    "In witness whereof we ye fores'd John Hooper and Charity his wife have hereunto set our hands & seals this fourth day of December Anno Domini one Thousand Seven Hundred and twenty one & in ye eighth year of King George reign," etc.

                                                                             JOHN HOOPER   O
                        CHARITY HOOPER   her mark [a squiggle]

Signed Sealed &
Delivered in the pres-
ence of us

    JAMES WARREN
    MOSES GOODWIN  his mark  X
    THOMAS ABBOTT  his mark  X

York fs Dec. 27, 1721.

    The above named John Hooper & Charity his wife Came before me & acknowledged ye above written Instrument to be their free act and deed
                        CHARLES FFROST  *Jus Peace*

Recorded according to ye originall Dec'r 27th 1721
        
                        ABRAM PREBLE *Reg'r*."
                (York Deeds, Book X. Folio 234.)

    John Hooper was on the building committee of the little church in Kittery in 1704.  He succeeded Mr. Philip Hubbard as town clerk and treasurer in 1712, and continued in office until 1730.  He was made a deacon of the First Congregational Church in 1721.  He was active in county and town affairs, --a selectman, moderator at town meetings, and often one of the grand jurors.  The county records show that he was appointed to settle disputes "out of court"; and his name appears more frequently than that of any other man in York County, in the settlement of estates.  He died in 1761.  The date of the death of his wife Charity is not known; but, as she is not mentioned in her husband's will, it is probable that she had already died.  They are buried on their farm at "Old Fields," Berwick, now owned by Mr. Isaac Libbey, a lineal descendant.

    THE WILL OF JOHN HOOPER.

    "In the name of God Amen:  I, John Hooper of Berwick, in the County of York, within ye Province of ye Massachusetts Bay, in New England, cordwainer, being aged and infirm of body, but of sound mind and memory, expecting the time to be near that I must die, and to prevent difference in my family aobut my estate do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament.  Resigning my soul into the hands of God my Creator in Christ my redeemer, and my body to a decent Christian burial as my executor shall think most convenient, hoping for a resurection among the Just.

    "What estate it has pleased God to bless me with in this life, I give, devise and bequeath and dispose of the same in the following manner.  *Viz*:--- First my will is that all my just and honest debts be well and truly paid by my son Solomon Hooper, who I appoint sole executor of this my last Will and testament.

    "Item:  I give and bequeath unto my son John Hooper 13. pounds five shillings and eight pence lawful money, or an equivalent thereto of Good vendable lumber of that value at money price, to be paid by my son Solomon Hooper, my executor, in one year after my discease, at some convenient landing place in Berwick aforesaid without interest.  I also give my son John one half of all my common rights undevided in Berwick.

    "Item:  I give and bequeath unto my son Samuel Hooper 9 pounds six shillings and eight pence lawful money or an equivalent thereto in cattle or good vendable lumber of that value at money price to be paid by my son Solomon Hooper, my executor, in one years time. after my discease, at some convenient landing place, in said Berwick without interest.

    "Item:  I give and bequeath unto my sons William and Benjamin, to each of them, nine pounds, six shillings and eight pence lawful money or an equivalent in good vendable lumber, to that value at money price at some convenient landing place in Berwick within one year after my discease, said sum to be paid to each of them said William and Benjamin by my son Solomon my executor.

    "Item:  If any of my said sons John, Samuel, Benjamin, William, or either of them shall die befoe their respective legacies above mentioned shall become due, the same shall be paid to their respective heirs, or lawful representatives and all without interest if within one year after my disease.

    "Item:  My three daughters namely Charity Key, Mary Shorey, and Love Sprague having already had what I intended to give each of them for their portion, my will is that my son Solomon pay to each of them the said Charity, Mary and Love his sisters five shillings lawful money out of my estate which shall be in full of their portion of the same.

    "Item:  I give and bequeath unto my son Solomon Hooper and his heirs and assigns forever all of my house and land where I now live in Berwick: tillage lands, mowing lands, pasture lands, woodlands, marshes, meadows, and one half part of all my common rights devided and undevided, and all the residue of my estate real and personal in Berwick.  And in any and every place and places whatsoever, money, goods and chatels of every sort and kind; debts, dues and demands be the same more or less, my said son Solomon paying all debts and legacies in this my will mentioned and ordained to be paid.

    "Lastly:  I hereby revoke and disallow every other former will and wills, testament, legacies and bequests, by me in any manner before this made by word or writing.  Ratifying and allowing this and no other to be my last will and testament.

    "In witness whereof, I the said John Hooper herunto set my hand and seal the 22d day of May 1756."
                    JOHN HOOPER   his mark  X."

Signed sealed and wit-
nessed, pronounced and
declared by the said
John Hooper to be his
last will and testament
in the presence of us.

    THOMAS GOODWIN.
    WALTER HUBBARD
    DAVID GOODWIN
    NOAH EMERY

                    Recorded from the original
                        SAMUEL FROST *register*.

                    Probated 7th day of January 1762.
                    Will recorded in Probate Office York Co.
                        vol. 10, p. 274.
                    Letter administration and Inventory p.
                        274, 275.  Vol. 10.

[New Chapter:]

THIRD GENERATION.

    William Hooper, b. at "Old Fields," Berwick, April 29, 1719; m. Oct. 29, 1743, Elizabeth Emery, b. at "Old Fields," Sept. 24, 1725.  She was the daughter of Elder Daniel (4) Emery and Mrs. Mary (Lord) Hodgdon.  The line of Elizabeth Emery's ancestors is as follows:--

    Anthony Emery, second son of John and Agnes Emery, was b. in Romsey, Hants, England; m. Frances_______.  He came to America in 1635.  He was in Dover, N.H., about 1640, and October 22 of that same year he signed the "Dover Combination."  He kept an oridinary at Dover Neck.  He removed to Kittery, Me., in 1649.  He was juryman several times, selectman 1652, 1659, and constable.  At four different times he received grants of land from the town.  He was one of the forty-one inhabitants of Kittery who acknowledged themselves subject to the government of "Massachusetts Bay, Nove. 16, 1652."  In 1656 he was fined L5 for mutinous courage in questioning the authority of the court of Kittery, and in 1660 again fined for entertaining Quakers.  In 1660 he sold his house and all his lands to his son James, and moved with his wife to Portsmouth, R.I.  (The writer has seen the record of the above deed.)  Anthony Emery was made a "freeman" in Portsmouth, Sept. 29, 1660.  He served as juryman on several occasions, was chosen constable June 4, 1666, and deputy to the General Court, April 25, 1672.  There is no record of his death or place of burial.

    James (2) Emery came to America with his father in 1635; m. first Elizabeth_______ (she d. after 1687); m. second, Elizabeth Pidge, of Dedham, Mass (Dedham Records, p. 27).  James Emery had grants of land in Kittery, 1674, 1676, 1677, 1684, 1685, 1692, 1693, 1695; elected represtntative to the General Court, 1693, 1695; grand juror and constable 1670; d. 1705.  It is related that when he went to Boston his carriage was a chair placed on an ox-cart drawn by a yoke of steers, as there was not a carriage in Kittery strong enough to carry him.  He was a large man, weighing three hundred and fifty pounds.

    Daniel (3) Emery was b. in Kittery, Nov. 15, 1678; m. March 17, 1695, Margerett Gown (her mother was Elizabeth Frost, daughter of Nicholas ffrost, and her uncle Charles ffrost was one of the first "Chief Justices" appointed in "ye old Province of Mayne."  He was a very distinguished man, as shown by public records).

    Daniel (3) Emery was a noted land surveyor in York County.  He was appointed by the General Court to mark the line between the common rights of Berwick and Kittery, and to mark the division between Kittery and Berwick.  He was one of the "foundation members" of the Congregational Church, and was chosen elder Nov. 11, 1720.  He died in Berwick, Oct. 15, 1722.  Will was probated Nov. 8, 1722.  His wife Margerett (Gowen) Emery d. in Berwick Nov. 21, 1751.

    Elder Daniel (4) Emery, b. June 25, 1697; m. June 16, 1720, Mrs. Mary (Lord) Hodgdon.  He d. September, 1779.  Will probated Oct. 4. 1779.  His sixth child, Elizabeth Emery, m. William (3) Hooper.

    The children of William (3) and Elizabeth (Emery) Hooper were:

    Daniel, b. 1744; m. Sept. 24, 1761, [but then the 6 is written over to an 8 indicating 1781 in the same exact handwriting and ink used in the very first page of this book that lists it as being number "18" in this limited private circulation printing] Hannah Heard, and settled in Lebanon, Me., where he d. March 24, 1820.  He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and served in a New Hampshire company (see Military Rolls of New Hampshire).

    *William*, b. 1746; *bap.* 1746; m. June 21, 1770, Mary Lord, daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth (Davis) Lord.

    Elizabeth, *bap.* July 28, 1751; d. young.

    Noah, *bap.* Nov. 15, 1755.  A soldier in the Revolutionary War.  

    Elizabeth, *bap.* Sept. 13, 1761; m. Sept. 13, 1779, Tristram Heard.  He was in the same New Hampshire company with Daniel Hooper, who afterwards became his brother-in-law.

    John (4) *bap.* July 25, 1761; m. May 11, 1784, Elizabeth Plaisted; m. second, Mrs. Jane Wood.  He was the father of fifteen children.  He lived after 1796 on the William (3) Hooper farm in Berwick.  He d. in the home of his unmarried daughter in Dover, N.H., March 8, 1844.  His eldest child was Frances Hooper, who married James Lord.  Of their children, William F. Lord, born May 17, 1819, was well known as the historian of Berwick; and to his daughter, Mrs. Frances Hooper Moore, the writer is indebted for assistance in her researches in Berwick.  Another descendant of John Hooper is Mrs. Anna M. McCoy, of New York City.

    John (4) Hooper's son, John (5) Hooper, m. Caroline Cushing, and lived on "Mast Road," Dover, N.H.  Among his grandchildren are Dr. Fred Hooper Hayes and Mr. Frank Hooper, of Dover, N.H.

    Mary, b. March 29, 1764; m. Love Keay.

    Sarah, *bap.* May 14, 1767; m. June 29, 1790, Rev. Joshua Roberts.

    Martha, *bap.* May 14, 1767; m. Richard Hovey.

    James, b. Dec. 17, 1769; *bap.* Feb. 5, 1772; m. Sally Merrill, of New Gloucester (she d. January 1802); m., second, Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard.  He had two children by his first marriage, both of whom died in 1803.

    Mr. Hooper became the first settled minister of the town of Paris, Me.  He was ordained in 1795, and the ordination services were held in a barn.  His brother, Rev. William Hooper, of Berwick, preached the ordination sermon.  He occupied the position as "first minister of the town of Paris" until his death in 1842.  Mr. Hooper represented the town of Paris in the legislature several times, and was on the committee in the convention in Brunswick to frame the State Constitution.  His nephew, George Plaisted Hooper, lived with him, and had charge of his farm.  He died, leaving no descendants.

    The History of Paris, Me., gives a full account of Rev. James Hooper.

    "William (3) Hooper died in Berwick, Me., July 26, 1809, in Ninety-first year of his age; his widow, Elizabeth (Emery) Hooper died January, 1812, age eighty-seven" (Berwick Town Records).

    On April 30, 1744, William (3) Hooper bought from Thomas Wooster a tract of land, "five acres more or less," which was in the north parish, five miles north of the homestead of his father.  It was "bounded southerly by the common way leading from Great Falls to Salmon Falls road, westerly by land of Joshua Roberts, and easterly by land of Moses Nock," etc. (York Deeds, vol. 25, pp. 66, 67).

    This deed describes the land on which William Hooper built his house in 1744-45.  It is still standing, and is in good condition.  In this house the children of William and Elizabeth (Emery) Hooper were born, with the possible exception of Daniel, the eldest.  Across the road he built a tannery and shoe-shop, and he is described in York Deeds as a "Cordwainer."

    In 1746-47 William Hooper was a private in George Berry's company, Sergeant James Tuttle in command.

    Mr. Hooper, with his family, worshipped until 1766, in the South Parish, in the church of his childhood, where his wife's father was ruling elder, and his own father was a deacon.  In this church all his children were christened.  It is a tradition in the family that in pleasant weather they walked to the church, a distance of five miles; and, when the snow was too deep, they were taken on an ox-sled.  When Mr. Hooper built his house, his farm was surrounded by Indians, with whom he always lived on friendly terms.

    On April 16, 1766, Mr. Hooper connected himself with the "Blackberry Hill meeting-house."  It was in the north part of the town, at a distance of about three miles from the William Hooper farm.  His neighbor and friend was the learned Mathew Merriam.  This church was Congregational, as was the one in the "South parish," Berwick.

    "April 1766: admitted to this church William Hooper, and wife Elizabeth Hooper: also Elizabeth wife of the minister.  MATHEW MERRIAM *pastor*."

    In 1775 the little meeting-house at Blackberry Hill became divided on "the validity of infant baptism."  Mr. William Hooper was one of those who insisted upon "immersion as the only form of baptism."  He was with the less powerful in the church, but was evidently a leader in the opposition.  This disaffection culminated finally, so far as Mr. Hooper was concerned, in 1782, as shown by the following votes:--

    "1782, January: *Voted*: that a committee be appointed to wait upon Mr. William Hooper to learn his reasons for absenting himself from church.

                        "MATHEW MERRIAM *pastor*."

    The committee waited upon Mr. Hooper, and reported:--

    "April 1782:  The committee above mentioned made a report that Mr. William Hooper gave as a reason for absenting himself from church that he had scruples against infant baptism: also that he thought the church was too arbitrary in admitting members; that the officers of the church managed it too much themselves; therefore voted to wait upon him in hopes that his scruples may be removed.

                        "MATHEW MERRIAM *pastor*."

    Mr. Hooper's name does not appear again in the church records.

    These Blackberry Hill Meeting-house records are interesting, as giving one an accurate knowledge of the lives of the different families in the church.  A woman was suspended as a communicant because she was "a common news-monger," another was a "scold," and still another one, a man, was prohibited from church attendance "until he keeps sober," etc.  The two ruling elders were very arbitrary in action and narrow of vision.  As you read the records, you feel quite certain they worshipped themselves a little more than they did their Maker.  They had the same jealousies, the same petty minds, in church mattes that one finds in later generations.

    Mr. Hooper's name appears frequently as one of the grand jurymen for York County.  He is selectman nearly all of those years from 1761-84.  In the year 1776 his name disappears from the Board of Selectmen.  He was serving during this year, as a private, in Captain William Pearson's company.  "Enlisted Jan. 24, 1776; service to Aug. 31, 1776, 7 mo. 7 days; also, 2d Corporal same co.; service form Sept. 1, 1776 to Nov. 18, 1776; company stationed for defence of sea coast."

    In the records of the twon of Berwick (p. 299), one may read this warrant for a town meeting, which is of interest to the William (3) Hooper descendants:--

    "Likewise to see what methods the town will take to get pay of the people for powder they received in the year 1775-1776.  Also: to see if the town will give the selectmen any instruction respecting taxes Mr. William Hooper for this year and the year 1776."  It is possible that Mr. Hooper's activity, as a member of the Board of Selectmen in getting men to enlist and devising means to carry on the war, then his own enlistment for 1776, together with his age, made him an object of special favor in the abatement of his taxes.  No other name appears on the town records "Mr. William Hooper," and his son William, as "Jr.; Elder; or Rev. William."

    Berwick, during the Revolutionary period, was a scattered settlement, composed entirely of farms.  They were isolated, and were exposed to peculiar dangers during this period.  The town meetings, held alternately at the south and north end of the town, at the hour of one o'clock in the afternoon, were most fully represented by the inhabitants.  A few lines from the town records are worth presenting in connection with the name of William Hooper, who was frequently the moderator at these meetings, and, as has been shown, he was at this time a member of the Board of Selectmen.

    "Berwick, May 31, 1774.

        "To the Honorable, the Delegates of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in Provincial Congress at Watertown convened:  The petition of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the town of Berwick, in the County of York in town meeting convened humbly showeth:  That the harbors of York and Kittery, within the said county, lie open to our now known enemies, and the lives and properties of the inhabitants thereof and the neighboring Towns along the sea coast exposed to the ravages and depredations of the Enemy and the remaining part of the inhabitants of this and the neighboring Towns labor under the disagreeable for a scant of arms and amunition, of being unable to defend themselves, their wives and children and properties should a descent be made by the Kings troups on this coast, which they have the greatest reason to fear, will inevitably be the cost.  Your petitioners humbly pray this Honorable House in their great wisdom to take the premises into consideration and that they will despatch one or more of the companies in the services of the Colony in order to guard and defend the coast, and enable them by raising more troops in the service of the Colony in some measure to defend themselves."

    "We acknowledge and profess faithful allegiance to our faithful sovereign, King George the Third, and are willing at all times to risk our lives and our fortunes in defence of his person and his family, but at the same time must earnestly insist for those rights and liberties we are entitled to by the laws of God, Nature and the Constitution of the Province.  Therefore, *Resolved*: That no power on earth has any just right to impose taxes upon us but the Great and General Court of this Province, and all others are unconstitutional and not to be submitted to," etc.  Berwick, May 31, 1774.

    "York ss.  In full meeting warned for the purpose and holden to instruct the Representative of this town of Berwick, resolved: that should the Honorable Congress for the safety of the Colonies declare themselves independent of Great Britian, we the inhabitants of said town will solomly engage with our lives and our fortunes to support them in the measures and will use every honorable means to further the cause of independence."

    It is claimed by some of the descendants of William (3) Hooper that he left his farm to his son John (4), by Will.  But the Probate Records of York County show that William Hooper left no will.  His farm was disposed of in the following deed:--

    "I William Hooper, cordwainer," etc., "town of Berwick, county of York," etc., "to John Hooper Junr, his heirs and assigns forever:  all the homestead, barn, wherein I now do dwell, in Berwick aforesaid, containing seventy acres more or less bounded easterly by Salmon Falls road, leading from Quamphegan to Pine Hill, and partly by land of Samuel Colley, southerly by Salmon Falls river and northerly by land of Joshua Roberts, and part or partly by land of Moses Nock:  Also one other tract of land containing five acres more or less, bounded southerly by common way leading from Great Falls to Salmon Falls road, westerly by land of Joshua Roberts, and easterly by land of Moses Nock, to have and to hold," etc.

                        Acknowledged before,
                            THOMAS WENTWORTH.

    JUNE 29, 1796.

    Recorded in York Deeds, Book 60, p. 5.

    The wife, Elizabeth, does not sign this deed.  It is probable that "John Hooper Junr" was the son of William (3) Hooper.  His descendants, who have always lived in Berwick, claim him as such.  The York deeds have many records wherein one party will name himself Jr. to a father who has a Christian name entirely different from his own.

    This deed, by its boundaries, clearly describes the farm of William (3) Hooper.  here he and his wife Elizabeth passed their married life, and they both are buried on Hooper's Hill, on the farm.  Recently the graves have been enclosed, and a simple monument has been erected to perpetuate their names.  A tablet has also been erected in memory of John (2) and Charity Hooper, who are buried at "Old Fields," South Berwick.

[New Chapter:]

FOURTH GENERATION.

    William (4) Hooper, b. in Berwick, Me., 1746; m. June 21, 1770, Mary Lord.

    Mary Lord was the only daughter of Deacon Abraham and Elizabeth (Davis) Lord.  She was born, as were her six brothers (five of whom became Baptist ministers), in the old Garrison House which stood until lately on the Richard Tozer farm in Berwick, Me.  Richard Tozer was killed by the Indians, Oct. 16, 1675.  His daughter, Martha Tozer, married Nathan Lord, Jr.  Their son, Captain Samuel Lord (the father of Deacon Abraham Lord) married in Kittery, Me., Oct. 19, 1710, Martha Wentworth, daughter of Paul (2) Wentworth, of Dover, N.H.  Mary (Lord) Hooper d. in Madbury, N.H., Jan. 7, 1826, "aged 84."

    Rev. William Hooper m. (second) Mrs. Sarah Demeritt.  He d., January, 1827, "aged 80 yrs"; and both he and his first wife (Mary) are buried on the Rev. William Hooper farm in Madbury, N.H.  Headstones mark their graves, and the records of the deaths may be found in the *Strafford County Gazette* printed at that time.

    Children of Rev. William and Mary (Lord) Hooper were:--

    Mary, b. March 27, 1771, in Berwick, Me.; m. by her father in Madbury, N.H., Nov. 9, 1800, to David Hill, of Durham.  She was living in 1827, as the settlement of her father's estate will prove.

    Elizabeth, b. 1773, in Berwick; d. in Madbury, Nov. 7, 1818.

    Noah, b. Oct. 9, 1776, in Berwick; m. by his father, June 23, 1796, to Elizabeth Kelley, of Durham.  He was a Baptist minister, settled in Dover, N.H., in Belfast, Me., and in other places.  He d. in Berwick, Me., 1854, and is buried with his wife in the Lord Cemetery in Berwick.  He had a large family.  Of these children Noah Hooper, Jr., b. Nov. 11, 1806, was a Baptist minister; settled for many years in Exeter, N.H., where he d. in 1896.  Joseph, b. Nov. 5, 1818; m. Helen Maria Wallingford; d. in Portland, Ore., April 4, 1854.

    *John*, b. July 4, 1778, in Berwick, Me.; m. by his father, Rev. William Hooper, Jan. 22, 1799, to Susan Meserve, of Durham, N.H. (Old Madbury Town Records, Book 2, p. 44).

    James, b. 1780; d. in Paris, Me., June 6, 1849.  He is buried in the tomb with his uncle, Rev. James Hooper, whose name he bore.

    Sarah, b. 1782; m. by her father, July 17, 1802, to Chesley, of Durham, N.H.; d. in Madbury, 1818; is buried beside her father and mother.  There is a very large family of Chesley descendants.

    Samuel Lord, b. 1785, in Madbury, N.H.; m. March 12, 1807, Polly Clark, of Berwick, Me.; d. in Madbury, Sept. 19, 1807.  Son, Samuel, b. in Madbury, 1807; d. in Berwick, Me., April 3, 1831.  The record of deaths of Samuel L., and Samuel, his son, are taken from the headstones.

    In this burial lot, on the Rev. william Hooper farm, are the graves of Rev. William and wife, *Mary*, daughter Elizabeth, and Mrs. Chesley, the *son John Hooper*, and Samuel L. and grandson, Samuel.

    The widow of Samuel L. Hooper became the wife of Ebenezer Meserve, of Dover, N.H., before 1831.
    
    Rev. William Hooper was ordained as "the first Baptist minister in the State of Maine, April, 1776."  At this time he was thirty years of age.  He had been married for six years.  He was christened, 1746, in the Congregational church, in which church his gradfather, John (2) Hooper, was deacon.  What reasons there were for his change in faith does not now appear.  It is probable that he settled soon after his marriage at "Old Fields."  There is the tradition in the family, that his father William (3) Hooper built a house for him, next to his own, on Hooper Hill; but there is no record which verifies the statement.  The name of William Hooper, Jr., does not appear in connection with any deed before 1778, and then, *in the State of New Hampshire*.  When William (3) Hooper sells his "homestead" to John Hooper, Jr., in 1796, no mention of any other house is made in connection with the property.  The two houses that were built on the William Hooper farm, were probably built *after* 1796.

    The little church in which William Hooper was ordained "stood on land adjoining John (2) Hooper's house."  There was also a parsonage next to the little church which was occupied by the minister.  A record of the "Early churches of Berwick" gives a description of this church and parsonage.  The ordination sermon of William Hooper was given by Rev. Hezekiah Smith, of Haverhill, assisted by Dr. Samuel Shepard.  It is evident that Mr. Hooper had a respectable following into the Baptist faith, as shown by town records (Book 2, p. 313):--

    "This is to certify to the assessors of the South Parish that Jeremiah Wise, Jonathan Abbott, Joshua Abbott, Elisha Grant, Stephen Nason, Thomas Goodwin, 3d, Theophulus Abbott, Jacob Nason, James Grant attend worship (public) with the Baptist Society in this town on the Lords days.
                        "WILLIAM HOOPER ELDER."
                                         MAY 21, 1778.

                            Recorded by
                                Nahum Marshall,
                                    *Town Clerk*.

    There are other town records showing admittance to this Baptist Church.

    In the "South Parish" of Berwick were born all of the children of Re. William Hooper, with the possible exception of James, Sarah, and Samuel L.

    After his ordination Mr. Hooper devoted the remainder of his life to establishing Baptist churches in Maine and New Hampshire.  While he appears in the records as "of Berwick and Madbury," he not only had the control of these churches for a long number of years, but, as the records of the Baptist denomination will show, he was a constant preacher in conferences and churches elsewhere.  He was not a learned man in the sense with which we speak of learning, at the present time; but he lived with the companionship of the strongest men intellectually in the two States of Maine and New Hampshire.  He has been described by those who knew him as "like a steam-engine, with tremendous force and energy.  He would walk long distances through unbroken paths to help struggling churches.  He rode in the saddle as he grew older," and "never failed to keep an appointment of any kind."  His most marked feature was his mouth, which showed great firmness and decision of character.  He had great gentleness and tenderness with children.  he was something above the average in height, but in his old age leaned heavily on a cane."

    Rev. William Hooper was assessor for the "South Parish" in Berwick for the years 1775-77 (Town Records, pp. 225-228).  

    David Benedict, in his "Baptist Denomination in America" (1820), p. 152, says:--

        "Dr. Shepard and Rev. William Hooper, of Berwick, now of Madbury, were the principal promoters of the new Hampshire Baptist Association."

    The town records of Berwick show that Rev. William Hooper united many persons in marriage, while the town records of Madbury show that from 1778 until 1820 he performed the marriage ceremony in some families for two generations; and many came to him from the adjoining towns of Dover and Durham.  

    Of course, he came close to all these families in there affliction.

    One can never approach the Revolutionary period without a feeling of great sadness in recalling the great loss of life in those small communities, the poverty and suffering of the people, and the courage and patience and heroism with which they met everything during those long years of privation and hardships.  Rev. William Hooper is described as addressing town meetings in the two counties of York and Strafford, speaking to the people in barns, and travelling long distances from farm to farm, all in the cause of independence, and urging men to enlist.  The women and old men and the children left at home are described in *The Town Book* of Berwick as melting all their pewter into bullets.  These women ploughed the land and planted the corn.  In this OLD TOWN BOOK may be found the military service of Rev. William Hooper.  He enlisted in the year 1780, and "served 3 mos. at West Point; 3 mos. at Falmouth; in Capt. Jonathan Hamilton's company."  He was probably a chaplain, although it is not so stated; but parties at the State House in Boston, who have charge of the military archives in which are kept the records of the Revolutionary soldiers, believe this to be so, because "it would be hard to think of such a man serving in the ranks."  The tradition that he was a chaplain is probably true.

    On April 27, 1778, William Hooper, of Berwick, receives from John Roberts, of Madbury, N.H., a deed showing purchase of thrity-nine and one-half acres of land from Roberts.  For this land he pays L630 (Strafford County Deeds, Book 3, p. 124).

    This deed describes the land on which in 1780-81 William Hooper made his home.  The house has been burned, but the cellar remains.  In the opposite field are the Hooper graves.  It was once a part of "ancient Dover."  This first purchase of land was added to from time to time, until in 1827 (as shown by the inventory to the estate) it included one hundred acres.  The farm is now owned by Mr. James H. Dailey, and is the finest within the boundaries of the town.  

    The Madbury town records of Dec. 22, 1777, has the following:--

    "*Voted:* that we are willing that Rev. William Hooper shall preach the Gospel to us" (Book 1, p. 104).

    The above is the date on which his name appears, for the first time, on the Madbury records, and the following is the date of the first marriage in Madbury at which he officiated, "Dec. 15, 1778."

    It is probable that Re. William Hooper commenced his Baptist missionary work in Madbury by preaching in private houses, or possibly in barns, about the time of the record, 1777.

    "1780:  Dec.  Voted that we build a gallery and put seats in the town house for the preaching of Rev. William Hooper."

    Mr. Hooper did something besides preaching to the people of Madbury and Durham.  He was moderator at many of the town meetings after 1781; was a selectman, and served on the most important committees appointed by the town.

    "At a legal town meeting held in the Parish house Jan. 4, 1781:--

        "Voted:  to choose a committee and the committee to consist of 7 to examine the proposed form of Government for New Hampshire:  Reverend William Hooper is of this committee."

    "At a town meeting held Nov. 5, 1782, Rev. William Hooper is chosen chairman of the committee to examine and report on the proposed form of Government for New Hampshire."

    "At a legal town meeting at Madbury Aug. 8, 1791, voted;--

        The Reverend William Hooper a delegate to join the Committee at Concord to revise the Constitution of sd State, and to correct any violation thereof, and to make such alterations therein as by experience may be found necessary.  John Demeritt Town clerk."--*Madbury Town Records*.

    Rev. William Hooper was sent as the delegate from Madbury, N.H., to the convention of delegates that met in Exeter, N.H., Feb. 13, 1789, to investigate, discuss, and decide whether the Federal Constitution of the United States should be accepted by the State of New Hampshire.  It had already received the approval of six States, -- Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

    "The Convention was a notable body of men.  It was composed of men who had been the leading spirits in the state during the Revolutionary epoch, men for the most part of marked ability and commanding talents.  Among these delegates was Gov. John Sullivan of Durham, John Langdon and John Pickering of Portsmouth, Josiah Bartlett of Kingston, Rev. William Hooper of Madbury, John Taylor Gilman of Exeter and Dr. Ezra Green of Dover; the Convention was held in the Court House; Gov. John Sullivan was chosen President and John Calfe secretary."

    As in Massachusetts, the delegates from the smaller towns in New Hampshire were strongly anti-Federalists.  Many of them came to Exeter instructed by their constituents to vote against the Constitution.  The discussion of the instrument throughout the country was at its height.  The leading defender of the Constitution was Governor John Sullivan, and with him were the two Langdons, John and Samuel Livermore, Josiah Bartlett, John Pickering, John Taylor Gilman, and Benjamin Bellows.

    The leaders of the oppostion, --Joseph Badger, Rev. William Hooper, Joshua Atherton, Abial Parker, and Jonathan Dow, --although men with less intellectual training, as the debate progressed, had the advantage of the larger following.  Very little is known concerning the detailed proceedings of the convention, since its journal gives but a most meagre account of its work, and the deliberations and debates were unfortunately never reported.  The opponents of the Constitution reproduced the objections which had just been urged in Massachusetts.  The complained of the absence of a religious test.  They denounced the twenty years' sufferance of the foreign slave trade.  Sullivan, Langdon, Livermore, explained and defended, but they wished to avoid a vote, fearing rejection of the Constitution.  So, after a seven days' session, an adjournment was secured for the purpose of giving the delegates an opportunity to confer with their constituents.  The place of meeting was changed from Exeter to Concord, and the time for meeting was fixed for the thrid Wednesday in June.

    "The failure of New Hampshire to ratify was the first serious check the Constitution had met with, and its friends, as the news travelled westward and southward, were much depressed."

    Washington had voiced the general feeling of the friends of the Constitution, when he wrote to General Knox from Mount Vernon, under date of March 30: "The conduct of the state of New Hampshire has baffled all calculation, and has come extremely *malapropos* for a favorable decision on the proposed constituion in this state; for, be the real cause of the late adjournment what it may, the Anti-Federal party with us do not scruple to pronounce that it was done to await the issue of this convention before it would decide, and add, that, if this state should reject it, all those who are to follow will do the same, and consequently it cannot obtain, as there will be only eight states in favor of the measure.  Had it not been for this unavailing in this state, notwithstanding the unfair (I might without much impropriety made use of a harsher expression) conduct, which has been practised to rouse the fears and to inflame the minds of the people."  To John Langdon he wrote in a similar vein three days later, as follows:  "Circumstanced as your convention was, an adjournment was certainly prudent, but it has happened very *malapropos* for this state, because the concurrent information from that quarter (New Hampshire) would have justified the expectation of a unanimity in the convention."

    "It is easy to see that the action of New Hampshire was awaited with intense interest by the whole country.  No one felt a greater anxiety as to the result than Alexander Hamilton, as the following letter of his, published for the first time in Lodge's recent edition of Hamilton's Works, indicates:--

                            NEW YORK, JUNE 6, 1788.

    To John Sullivan, Esquire,
        *President of the State of New Hampshire*.

    *Dear Sir*:  You will no doubt have understood that the anit-federal party has prevailed in this state by a large majority.  It is therefore of the utmost importance that all external circumstances should be made use of to influence their conduct.  This will suggest to you the *great advantage* of a speedy decision in your state, if you can be sure of the question, and a prompt communication of the event to us.  With this view, permit me to request that the instant you have taken a decisive vote in favor of the constitution, you send an express to me at Poughkeepsie.  Let him take the *shortest route* to that place, change horses on the road, and use all possible diligence.  I shall with pleasure defray all expenses, and give a liberal reward to the person.  As I suspect an effort will be made to precipitate us, all possible *safe* dispatch on your part, as well to obtain a decision as to communicate the intelligence of it, will be desireable.

    "This letter of Hamilton's very likely had its inflence in hastening the decision of the New Hampshire convention.

    "It met at Concord on Wednesday, the 18th of June, in the Old North Meeting-house.  Four days served for the discussion of the constitution, for the preparation and recommendation of twelve articles of amendment."

    "The Constitution was adopted by the New Hampshire delegates on Saturday, June 21, 1788.  She was the ninth state to ratify, thus giving the instrument binding force." -- *New Hampshire and the Federal Constitution*.

    The will of Rev. William Hooper was signed on "this fourth day of January 1827"  (Probate Records of Strafford County, New Hampshire, Book 35, p. 237).

    In this will he mentions son John, Noah, and James, also grandson Samuel Hooper and daughter Mary Hill.  He leaves to one of his grand-children the "red broad cloth cloak belonging to my wife Mary."

[New Chapter:]

FIFTH GENERATION.

    John (5) Hooper, b. in Berwick, July 4, 1778; m. by his father, Jan. 22, 1799, to Susan Meserve of Durham, N.H.  (Old Madbury Records, Book 2, p. 44).

    Susan Meserve was the daughter of Colonel Ebenezer and Eunice (Torr or Tarr) Meserve.  The Meserves were a distinguished family in New Hampshire during the Revolution.

    Children of John Hooper and Susan Meserve were:--
    
    Eunice, b. 1799; m. Timothy Glover; d. June 8, 1859; c., William, Ivory, Rockwood, and others.

    Mary, b. March 5, 1801.

    Irene P., b. Jan. 4, 1804; m. James Stanyon.

    *John*, b. Dec. 12, 1805.

    William, b. ___; m. Abbie Bean, of Bangor, Me.

    Ivory, b. 1809; d. 1831.

    Sarah, b. 1811; m. Channey Jordan, 1832; d. in Roxbury, April 27, 1863; c., Augustus C. Jordan, m. Clara Walker; Jennie, m. Daniel S. Meserve; Susan, m. _____Bigelow, in San Francisco.

    Hannah, b. ___; m. Dwight Parson, of Bangor, Me.

    Sylvester M., b. 1816; m. ____; c., Sylvester; Elizabeth.

    James, b. ___.

    The children of John (5) and Susan (Meserve) Hooper were born in Madbury, with the exception of Sylvester M. and James Hooper, [sic]

    John Hooper (5) was a farmer, and lived on land described in deed, "Footman to Hooper" (see Strafford County records).  This farm was near to the one owned by his father, Rev. William.  He held some town offices; and it is claimed that he also was a Baptist minister, which is very likely true, as his name appears on several records as "preaching to the people in a barn."  He d. while living in Roxbury, Mass., Oct. 18, 1828.  His widow, who lived after her husband's death in the family of her daughter, Mrs. Sarah (Hooper) Jordan, died in Roxbury, April, 1863, and is buried in West Roxbury, in the Jordan burial lot.

[New Chapter:]

SIXTH GENERATION.

    John (6) Hooper was b. in Madbury, N.H., Dec. 12, 1805.  He spent his young boyhood on the Hooper farm in Madbury, in the family of his grandfather, Rev. William Hooper.  He m. Feb. 26, 1833, Martha Stanwood Perry, of Orono, Me.

    Martha S. Perry was b. in Brunswick, Me., Feb. 27, 1811; d. in San Francisco, Cal., Feb. 28, 1900.  She was the daughter of Deacon John and Jane (Stanwood) Perry.  Her father, Deacon John Perry, was a merchant, and a deacon in the First Congregational Church in Brunswick, and later was the first deacon in the Congregational church in Orono, Me.  While in Brunswick, Deacon Perry "organized the first Sunday-school in the town and in the state."  A memorial window was dedicated to his memory in this church in Brunswick, Me., Dec. 4, 1894.  On this occasion Edward Beecher Mason, D.D., quoted the following from Mr. Perry's Journal:--

    "I have before me the original journal kept by Mr. Perry, in which he gives an account of what led him to undertake the formation of a Sunday-school.  It is dated 'in the year 1811 & 12.'  He says:  'Sometime in the winter I saw a newspaper containing an account of a Sunday-school in England.  I enquired of Rev. Mr. Winthrop Bailey, then our minister, and also of President Appleton what they thought of them and how they were conducted.  They both thought favorably of them, but could give no account of how they were managed.  They thought however that nothing but reading, and that of religious nature ought to be allowed in the school.  This led me to make another enquiry, which was this, --Can a. b. c. scholars be admitted?  And after deliberation, say a month or two, they decided that they m ght [sic] be admitted, and assigned for deviation of this rule, that unless children were taught a. b. c. they never could read the Bible."

    The father of Deacon John Perry was Captain John Perry, of Rehoboth.  He was born in Rehoboth, Mass., Aug. 7, 1736 (the son of John, b. March 11, 1700-01, the grandson of Nathaniel, b. Oct. 8, 1660, and the great-grandson of Anthony Perry.  See Vital Statistics of Rehoboth, Mass.).

    Captain John Perry married Leaffe Walker, April 16, 1761.  She was born in Rehoboth, Mass., Aug. 4, 1742, the daughter of Timothy, Jr., and Elizabeth Walker.  Her father was a captain of a militia company when he was the representative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1757, 1758, 1759.  The Journals of the Provincial Congress show that Colonel Timothy Walker was the delegate from Rehoboth, 1774-75.  The Records in the Military Archives of Massachusetts rank him as *Colonel*, who "marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, for Lexington."  His son-in-law, John Perry, was a captain in the same regiment.

    The father of Jane Stanwood, who married Deacon John Perry, of Brunswick, and Orono, Me., was Colonel William Stanwood.  Mr. Stanwood receives this title of "Colonel" as a colonel of a regiment of the Maine militia, after the Revolutionary War.  "He was a *lieutenant*, and had a long and honorable record in the Revolution."  Colonel Stanwood was born in Brunswick, Me., April 5, 1752.  "He was, perhaps, the most prominent Stanwood who has ever lived in Brunswick" (Mrs. Ethel Stanwood Bolton, in "A History of the Stanwood Family in America," p. 113).  He transferred to the President and Trustees of Bowdoin College, in 1796, "fifty acres of land."  The land thus transferred comprises what is now the *campus*.  In 1798 he was made an overseer of the college, and held the postion until May 16, 1815, when he resigned it by letter.  Colonel William Stanwood was a representative in 1794-95.  He died in Brunswick, June 24, 1829.  The eldest child of William and Hannah (Thompson) Stanwood, *Jennet*, b. July 3, 1784; m. Deacon John Perry.

    John (6) Hooper sailed on the "Star Pacific" from Boston, and landed in San Francisco, Cal., July, 1851.

    We take the following from *The Bay of San Francisco*:--

    "John Hooper, whos perosnal history is inseparably connected with the State of California, began his residence here in 1851.  He engaged in business, and at once became an important factor in the building of the great Commonwealth.  His ancestors were from England, and were early settlers in New Hampshire.  The first year he engaged in the lumber business at the corner of Jackson and Stockton Streets, his stock being brought from New York and Boston.  In 1854 he became connected with mines in Amador County.  He built the mills and founded and named the town of Plymouth.  Later he engaged in the grain business in San Francisco, having dropped mining at the end of seventeen years.

    "His first vote was cast for the Whig party, and upon the organization of the Republican party he gave it his allegiance, and he has not missed a Presidential vote since his majority.  During the trying times of excitement in the early history of the state, Mr. Hooper was one of the first to join the vigilance committee, and, when the great civil war broke out, he stood like a rock in favor of the Union, and in every honorable way used his influence and money to perpetuate the government of the United States.  Before going to California Mr. Hooper was a merchant in Bangor, Me.  John (6) Hooper d. in San Francisco, Oct. 3, 1892.

    Children of John and Martha (Perry) Hooper, b. in Bangor, Me., were:--

    Mary Jane, b. Nov. 6, 1833; d. June 9, 1851.

    William Horace, b. Nov. 20, 1834; m. Helen Van Netter.  He d. Feb. 1, 1879.

    Franklin Perry, b. Oct. 6, 1836; d. July 3, 1904.

    John Albert, b. Sept. 25, 1838; m. Mary Campbell Brown, of Orono, Me., June 21, 1866; c., Albert, b. Aug. 14, 1867; Mary, Alice, Jessie, Jeanette, Frank, Arthur.

    Martha Eleanor, b. Feb. 27, 1841; d. 1842.

    *Charles Appleton*, b. March 14, 1843; m. Ida Geneva Snow.

    Isabel Williams, b. May 2, 1845; m. William E. Norwood, of Camden, Me.; c., Evelyn Perry, b. in San Francisco, 1871.

    George William, b. June 29, 1847; m. Saphronia Taylor Clapp.

    Arthur Appleton, b. Nov. 27, 1850; d. Aug. 25, 1898.

[New Chapter:]

SEVENTH GENERATION.

    Charles Appleton Hooper, b. March 14, 1843; m. June 7, 1880, Ida Geneva Snow; c., Isabel Martha, *Idolene Snow*.

[New Chapter:]

EIGHTH GENERATION.    

    Idolene Snow Hooper, b. in San Francisco, Cal., Feb. 2, 1883; m. to Sumner Crosby of Brookline, Mass., Aug. 6, 1901.

[END OF BOOK]

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