Hooper Family Page
Welcome to The Hooper Family Page, which furnishes historical detail beyond the site index, exploring five generations of Hoopers in the line of Thomas Hooper of Caswell, NC.
5. Laura Hooper (Cathey) --Laura Hooper, mother of Stella C. Boone, and wife of Levi Cathey, was born in 1864 in Stewart Co, TN. and died in Erin in 1926 or 27. (Her tombstone in Erin says 1864-1927.) She had dark hair and blue eyes. Her six siblings were: Richmond. (b. before 1846), Betsy (b.1846), Nancy (b.1848), William (b.1852), George (b.1854), amd Eldora (b.1859). Laura’s parents were Larkin R. Hooper and Emmaline Bateman of Stewart Co., TN. They married and moved to Erin, in Stewart Co. TN. (where they are also buried), sometime before 1850. Laura is listed as Levi Cathey's wife on the 1900 Houston Co. census with the name, "Lunde F. Cathey, born in TN in April, 1864.
6. Larkin R. Hooper --Larkin Hooper was born in January, 1824 and married Julia Emmaline Bateman (b. August, 1829) of Houston Co. TN. According to the 1880 Houston Co. TN census, both Larkin’s and Emmaline’s parents were from North Carolina, while Larkin was born in TN. However, the 1900 Census lists Larkin's parents as being born in Kentucky while agreeing that Larkin was born in TN. (Larkin may have thought this because he knew that his grandfather, James, had lived his final years in KY. However it is documented that James was residing in SC in the years prior to the Revolutionary War [1775-1783] till about 1802, the period during which Larkin's father, John, was born). Larkin was a farmer and a Confederate soldier in the Civil War (Private Co "I"., 50th Infantry). According to one published source, Larkin was from Humphreys Co., TN. His wife Julia Emmeline Bateman was born in Humphreys Co. so they probably met there. According to Adrian Bateman, brother of the late George Bateman, who was the Houston County historian, Larkin Hooper was killed in a buggy accident at age 76 when a horse pulling his buggy tried to cut into a building, hit the building, knocking Larkin out of the buggy and causing his death. The tombstones for L. R. Hooper and J. E. (Bateman) Hooper are in Erin, TN. at the old home place of James Morton Bateman, previously owned by the Hoopers, sold to them by Julia's father, John Bateman. The tombstones read: L. R. HOOPER/ Born Jan. 5, 1824/ Died Oct.25, 1900...and...J. E. HOOPER/ Born Aug. 20, 1829/Died...
7. John Hooper - The likely father of Larkin Hooper was born in 1779 in South Carolina and died in Humpheys Co. TN about 1869. John Hooper appears on the 1850 census in Humphreys, TN, aged 71 years old and born in South Carolina, husband of 55 year old Mary. Children listed on the 1850 census are: Zadoc, George and Clark. (John’s brother, 81 year old Bailey Hooper is next door.) By 1850, 26 year old Larkin had married and moved to Houston Co. TN. However at age 16, he appears to match the male age 15-19 in the 1840 census and the male age 5-9 in the 1830 Humphreys Co. TN census for John Hooper. (No other son of John and Mary Hooper is known to be born between 1817 and 1828.) In the 1860 census John Hooper appears as an 81 year old widower living alone. (Some researchers add a middle initial B to John's name, however the designation "John B. Hooper" appears to have come from the listing of a private in the Confederate Tennessee militia during the Civil War who is unlikely to be our John Hooper who was over 80 years old at the outbreak of the Civil War.)
The first name of John Hooper's wife was Mary (ca.1794-after 1850), but her surname is unknown. According to the 1830 and 1840 Tennessee census, Mary may have been born around 1790, but in the 1850 census she is stated to be age 45 (b.1795) and born in North Carolina. (Larkin's 1880 census states that both parents were born in North Carolina but in 1900 he states they were born in Kentucky. The 1880 census for John & Mary Hooper's son, William, states that his parents were both born in South Carolina but his 1900 census states his father was born in North Carolina and his mother in Kentucky. The 1880 census for their son, James Hooper, states that his parents were both born in Tennessee, but his 1900 census states they were both from South Carolina. In both the 1850 & 1860 census John Hooper states he was born in South Carolina, which seems to be correct. It is probably best to accept Mary's statement in the 1850 census that she was born in North Carolina. Given the ages of their children the couple likely married around 1812 either in Kentucky or North Carolina, although a Tennessee marriage cannot be ruled out if Mary's parents had moved with her to Tennessee by that time. (No marriage record has been found.) The known children of John and Mary Hooper are: William (b.1813), James F. (b.1817), Zadoc (b.1815), Bridget (b.ca 1821), Larkin R. (b.1824), Richard Clark (1828-1862), and George Whitefield (b.1833-1910).
I haven't found any records which detail John's early life prior to 1820, however several census records agree that he was born in South Carolina ca. 1779. (John and several of his siblings were probably born around Hooper's Creek in Spartanburg where their father, James, is documented as residing around the beginning of the American Revolution). Around 1802, James and most of his extended family moved to Union County, and bordering Henderson Co., Kentucky. John's older brother, Bailey, appears on tax records in Jefferson County, Kentucky in 1800-1802 (his father-in-law, Samuel Parker, is mentioned in a 1802 land deal there as well, before he moved to Humphreys Co. TN). By 1804, Bailey and his wife, Frances Parker, and their children had moved to Humphreys Co. TN (Deed Indexes 1810–1907 on FamilySearch) and in 1807 Bailey appears in tax records in nearby Dickson Co. TN. By 1820, Bailey and his family had settled in Humphreys Co. TN where he resided until his death in 1854. (The 1810 Kentucky census shows a John Hooper with wife and children in Henderson Co., KY, where John's parents and brothers also had residence. However, this John Hooper's household shows one male and female age 16-25 as well as one male and female 0-10 years old. As we have no record of any of John's children born before 1813, and John is at least 31 in 1810, we must rule this out as our John and Mary.)
On the 1820 census, John Hooper and his family appear next door to his older brother, Bailey, in Humphreys Co. TN. (John's brother, Enoch, moves from Kentucky to Perry Co., TN before 1830.) Census records consistently state that John's first child, William, was born ca. 1813/14 in Tennessee while his second son, Zadoc, was born in Kentucky in 1815/16. Their third child, James, states on 4 out of 5 censuses that he was born in Tennessee in 1817. This suggests that John had moved to Tennessee by 1813/14 and was likely staying briefly in Kentucky, perhaps near his parents, around 1815/16 when Zadoc was born, then returned to Tennessee by 1817. Since John's wife, Mary, was probably from North Carolina, the evidence would suggest that either she and John married ca. 1812/13 in North Carolina, just before leaving for Tennessee, or else Mary's family moved to Tennessee by 1812/13, where the couple met and married. The 1820 Humphreys Co., TN census shows John Hooper and his wife and children with a female age 45 or older living in their household. Since John's father, James, died in 1815 and his widow, Elizabeth, lived until 1822, there is a strong possibility that the older female in John's household in 1820 is his widowed mother. The census shows Samuel Parker, the father of Bailey's wife, Frances Parker, living next door to Bailey and John Hooper in the 1820 census and in 1840 we see the widow, Julia Parker (Bateman--the grandmother of Larkin's future wife, Julia Emmaline Bateman), and her children living next door to Bailey and Frances, after Samuel's passing. Given this arrangement, it is tempting to postulate that Julia Parker is Frances Parker's sister and Samuel's daughter. (DNA matches tend to support this supposition.) The parents of Julia Emmaline Bateman, John and Juliet Bateman, also appear on the Humphreys Co. TN census in 1830 and 1840, which may explain how and where Julia Bateman met Larkin Hooper before they married and moved to Stewart Co. by 1850.
Ancestry.com identifies 86 autosomal DNA matches between my ancestor, Larkin Hooper, and various siblings of John Hooper's father, James Hooper: 14 DNA matches to Bailey Hooper and 34 to Enoch Hooper (5 of them over 20 cMs). I also have a 43 cM DNA match to another of James' daughters, Elizabeth Hooper Mathis (1775-1849), as well as 23 matches with Larkin's siblings: George Hooper (1 at 40 cM on 1 segment), James F. Hooper (5 over 20 cMs ), and William M. Hooper (4 over 20 cMs). (Most DNA experts agree that matches of 20 cM or higher on one segment are usually reliable indications of a genuine ancestral match.)
John's brother, Enoch Hooper (ca.1774-1848), who moved from Kentucky to Perry Co. TN (just below Humphreys Co.) by 1830, can be ruled out as Larkin's father because the 1830 Perry Co. TN census shows Enoch with no sons under 10 years old when Larkin would be age 6. John's brother, Bailey, can also be ruled out since he also shows no boys under 10 in the 1830 Humphreys Co. TN census. Among James' sons in Tennessee (where Larkin was born per census records), only John Hooper shows an unidentified son the right age to be Larkin on the 1830 and 1840 census of Humphreys Co. TN (and numerous strong DNA matches also leave little doubt that these are Larkin's closest relatives).
The parents of John Hooper are James “the Indian fighter” Hooper and Elizabeth Dempsey. John is confirmed as a son of James Hooper in James' will of 1813. The Hooper DNA project has also found direct Y-DNA connections that point to James as the father of John and Bailey Hooper.
8. James Hooper – James, the father of John Hooper, was born ca. 1745 in Farquier, VA and died in Feb. 1815 in Union Co. KY. (Some sources list 1813, the date of his will, as his date of death in Henderson KY.) His wife is listed on many online trees as Elizabeth “Betsy” Dempsey, born ca. 1749 in Virginia, married ca. 1768 and died May 24, 1822 either in Henderson, KY or Humphreys Co. TN (an older female of her age is residing with her son, John Hooper, in Humphreys Co. TN in the 1820 census, following her husband's 1815 death). Elizabeth's parents are thought to be William Dempsey (b.1725) and Susannah "Jane" Dubartis (b.1730). William Dempsey was born either in Dublin, Ireland or Virginia. He died June 11, 1806 in Fincastle, Botetourt Co. VA. Land records show that William Dempsy bought 70 acres of land on Hutchison's Creek on the fork of the James River in Botetourt Co. VA and acquired 100 more acres the following year. The Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly, Cert.#1184, lists a William Dempsey in Botetourt Co. VA in 1780 as having served in Capt. Smith's Regular Company but William does not appear in Virginia in either the 1790 or 1800 census. A Revolutionary War Pension application in Georgia for James Hooper’s widow, Elizabeth Hooper, establishes the first name of James’ wife and confirms James as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. (James called his wife Betsy in his will, but she was also called Polly by one son, when the estate was settled, after her death in 1822.) That one of James and Elizabeth's sons is named Dempsey (b.1785) may suggest that it is her family name. Note: There is a marriage record between a James Hooper and Elizabeth Franklin in Henrico Co. VA in 1790 but it is unlikely that this Elizabeth is the wife of our James Hooper, as he is living in South Carolina in 1790 (per the census) and has already fathered most of his children by 1790.
Mark Dempsey, possibly a sibling of Elizabeth Dempsey Hooper, left a statement shortly before his death, which occurred on the Dempsey Farm just below Warfield, on July 31, 1889."My paternal grandfather came from Ireland with one of his uncles when he was only four years old. I believe he was raised in Patrick County, Virginia. He married a woman by the name of Gulliver, and they had three children: William, Polly, and John. His first wife then died, and he married a woman named Meadows by whom he had two more children, Elizabeth and Mark. William Dempsey, the eldest child was a carpenter and millwright by trade. He raised a family of whom I know very little. One of his sons, Absolom, lived in Fincastle, in Botetourt County, Virginia. My brother John Dempsey, and Andrew Dempsey visited his home, and said that he was doing well. He was a preacher. I know comparatively nothing about the balance of William's family."
Court records from Botetourt County, Virginia show William Dempsey during the decades of the 1770's through 1806, after which he died intestate. It is thought that William and Susannah married in Botetourt County around 1750. Three of William's orphans are mentioned in separate probate documents, Dubartis, Judith and Lucy, as well as three other Dempseys, Mark, William Jr. and John, who are mentioned along with William Dempsey Sr. without specifying their relationship to him (probably his sons). Because of the young age of the three orphans of William it is likely they were born of an unknown second wife of William, since his first wife Susannah (b. ca. 1734) would have been older than 50 at their birth.
There is a 1741 immigration list that shows a William Dempsey entering the US from Ireland who might be either Elizabeth's father or grandfather. (U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s) There are several William Dempseys in Virginia during the Colonial period so we cannot be sure which one the record refers to. A number of Ancestry.com trees give the name of the elder William Dempsey's wife as Mary Martha Gulliver (1720-1800) and her husband's full name as William Balum Dempsey, but I have not found any documentation supporting the name Mary Martha or the middle name Balum. The evidence is equivocal on whether Elizabeth's father, William Jr., immigrated from Ireland or whether it was his father of the same name who did. I have 9 DNA matches to the children of William and Susannah Dempsey.
The parents of James Hooper are thought to be: Thomas Hooper (1698-1777) and Ann Bailey (1702-1786) of Fauquier County, Virginia. Their first son, Bailey, was likely named after his mother. The diary of James' son, Bailey Hooper, stated that his father was born in Fauquier County, Virginia. Later, James Hooper lived on the Pacolate "Pacolet" River, on Hooper's Creek in Spartanburg County, South Carolina before the beginning of the American Revolution. His identification as Indian fighter comes from his description of his scouting and military efforts in Indian skirmishes before 1776. According to the Revolutionary War Pension statement of James Hooper, he had to move his family away from the Pacolate River to avoid savage Indian attacks, and he moved them to the other side of the Broad River. He then joined the Revolutionary War and sold his property on the Pacolate River to Hugh, Robert, and Andrew Jackson, the father of President Andrew Jackson. During the war, he served in Col. Williamson's cavalry brigade. In 1790, he was enumerated in Spartanburg District and was captain of his South Carolina militia district. According to his pension request, he was pierced through the heart in the war, and took three years to recuperate before he rejoined the Revolutionary War. He said that after the war, he was compelled back to North Carolina to settle the debt of the public.
During his second enlistment he served in Col. Thomas Regiment, under Capt. James Hamilton, as a horseman, in defense of the frontier settlements. Some histories call this regiment The Spartan Regiment and others call it The Fair Forest Regiment. James was then forced to move into North Carolina where he stayed until after the war and the state of South Carolina had paid the volunteers for their service. As he was in North Carolina, he was never paid for his service. After the War, James returned to Spartanburg County and was empowered to be one of the first census takers in 1790. This is noted from the fact that the enumerators were given the honorary title of Captain--thus Capt. James Hooper, as listed on the 1790 South Carolina census. James Hooper became the Justice of the Peace of Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Possibly as the result of a petition for wages which they filed, James Hooper and William Davis were granted 104 acres in the Pinckney District, Spartanburg Co, South Carolina, surveyed for them May 24, 1799 (State Grants, Vol. 47, p. 366. The land was granted on June 16, 1801. The 1800 census shows "James Harper" (aged over 45 years) in Spartanburg Co. SC, which is probably our James Hooper. On April 21, 1802 James sold about 350 acres of his land to Hugh Ewing for $1000. Apparently this was in preparation for his move to Kentucky.
Later in 1802, James and his family left South Carolina for Union County, Kentucky, where his will was written in 1813. There is a lapse in the records from 1802 until James was granted 400 acres by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in Henderson Co, on July 5, 1811 (#9082). This land was originally surveyed for Aaron Jones April 25, 1805 and then granted to James in 1811 by Charles Scott, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is thought that this land was granted to James at the time it was
surveyed (1805), with James being the assignee of Aaron Jones. This land was then in Henderson Co, on the waters of Cypres, a branch of Trade Water River. The 400 acres where they lived was likely granted for James' participation in the Revolutionary War. After James' death, an appraisal of his property was made by Daniel McKinny, Samuel Slocumb, Harvey Fletcher and David (?), in March 1815. James stated in his 1813 will that he had been unwell for some time and he lived less than two years after his will was made. James' wife Betsy died prior to May, 1822. (She may have moved in with her son John's family, next door to Bailey, in Humphreys Co. TN, as the 1820 census shows an older female living in John's household.) The male offspring of James and Betsy resided in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and Arkansas. Y-DNA testing of descendants confirms that James Hooper, the Indian fighter, had a common ancestor with Revolutionary soldier Absalom Hooper (1742–1813; died in Davidson Co. TN)--they were probably brothers. James' 1813 Kentucky will lists the following children: Bailey (1769-1854), Samuel (1770-1862), Nancy Davis (ca.1772-1813), William ("deceased" Jan.1774-1809), Enoch (1774-1848), Mina Elizabeth "Betsy" Peery; (1775-1881), John (1779-1869), Dempsey (1782-1838), Clarendon (1791-1832), and Ellinor Slocumb (1794-1815). James Hooper and his kinsmen also belong to the Northern Neck Virginia Hoopers and share a common ancestor with "Natchez Absalom" who settled in middle Tennessee and with the "Pistol Creek Hoopers" who moved to Georgia during the 1770s to the 1790s.
9. Thomas Hooper – The parents of James Hooper are not known with certainty. The most oft-cited father for James is Thomas Hooper, who was born ca.1698 possibly in Farquier, VA, and died in 1777 in Caswell, NC, leaving a will which names his wife Ann. She is thought to be Ann Bailey, born ca. 1702 in Farquier, VA and died in 1786 in Caswell, NC. Thomas and Ann married ca. 1719 probably in Virginia. Ann was the daughter of Thomas T. Bailey (1700-1775) and Edith Pleasant (1704-1785). They had at least 6 children together: Churchill (1720-1808), John (b.1741), Absalom (1742-1813; d.in Davidson Co. TN), James (1745-1813), William (1747-1813) and Mary (1755-1847). I have 14 DNA matches to Absalom Hooper (4 are 18 cMs, 1 19 cMs, and 1 21 cMs), 1 match to Mary Hooper and 2 to Churchill, further evidence that these siblings of James Hooper are part of the correct line for Larkin Hooper. There is also a DAR record on Absalom Hooper (ca.1759-1845) that lists his father as Thomas Hooper, however this does not constitute real proof of paternity.
Thomas' will, dated Oct. 12, 1777 will (Caswell. Wills 1663–1978 on Familysearch), spells his name “Thomas Hopper.” In the will he leaves property to his wife, Ann, to be inherited by their sons and daughters after her death, and gives a checkered shirt, and other items to his son William and a cow to his grandson, Benjamin MacIntosh. The witnesses to the will are: Henry Hopper & Bob and Benedict Middleton. William is a brother of James and Absalom Hooper, but Henry is not. There were both Hooper and Hopper families moving through Caswell, NC during this period and sometimes Hopper was spelled as Hooper, and vice versa, which makes the spelling of "Hopper" in the 1777 will indeterminate as to whether Thomas and Ann were Hoopers who had moved there from Farquier, VA or of a different Hopper line. Contrary evidence: "The Heritage of Rockingham Co., NC, 1983" Rockingham Co. Hist. Society, Inc., states in a short family history, The Hoppers of Matrimony Creek, #539, that the ancestors of the Hoppers [in Rockingham Co.] came from Culpeper Co., VA, where Thomas Hopper, Sr. and wife Ann resided in 1745. By 1777 they had moved to Caswell Co., NC. Their possible children are listed as: John, Thomas, William, Winifred and Harmon Hopper
Some researchers identify the parents of Thomas Hooper as James Hooper (1670-1720) and Jemima Bankson (1675-1700) but this has not been proven.