[Hooper] Re: The Ancestry of Christopher Hooper (James 1776)

[TERRIA BAYNOR]

Just one other note to make here.  There were tons of the surname Claiborne in Lunenburg Co. VA as well.  We have the Claiborne name in our line.  So that was another find.
Terria
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: TERRIA BAYNOR 
  To: Deanna Baumgardner ; Hooper Dori ; glenda velon 
  Cc: HOOPER-TENNESSEE-L at rootsweb.com ; hooper at contesting.com ; Hooper Mail List 
  Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 11:46 PM
  Subject: Re: The Ancestry of Christopher Hooper (James 1776)


  WOW!!!!!  Deanna, I do have this info.  Chris has been to our family reunions and we have exchanged data and information.  However......it has been a long time since I looked at it.....I just did and what did I find.......another connection to Lunenburg Co., VA.  Look at the Bankston info and go down to John Bankston, who was born in Orange Co....(by the way it is the same Co. in NC that William the signer lived in)  Anyway, it shows he married a Mary Lanier who was the daughter of James Lanier and Mary COCKE.....there were tons of Cocke surnames in Lunenburg.  I was looking for Arthur Crocker and ran across that name thinking someone could have just left the 2 r's out and it would have been Cocker......anyway, I saw a ton of them.  Finding the Arthur Crocker is another connection of our James to Lunenburg.  I know this doesn't get us any closer to finding out who James father was, but it does confirm that there were family surname connections in many of the places that our James and Obediah were in.  I found many surnames from Shelby Co. Illinois that were in Lunenburg too.  Black, Crocker, Wood, Nance and a couple of others that I think are in Shelby too.  I think Blackwell & Locke were others....off the top of my head.  I dug so much yesterday at archives that my head was just swimming!  The big find for me was Arthur Crocker had 200 acres there......he was one of the first settlers in Shelby County.  Now I haven't verified the dates yet to show that this is the same Arthur Crocker, but it could very well have been his father.  James(1776) Hooper's son William married Jeroushia Crocker daughter of Arthur Crocker.  This was a huge connection to our family!  Now if we can just find out who was James Hooper's father.  

  There was a James Hooper in Wilkes County, NC.  I have his will.  He had a son named James and one named John.  This could have been Obediah (1) son James.  And it could have been our James that was the son.  This is something I have looked at for a while and haven't made a connection yet.  Wish I had 3 weeks to search at the Archives or have time to go to Wilkes Co. for a few days and search there.  At least I do feel better about the connection to Obediah being his grandfather.  I was worried that it could have been a brother to Obediah, or an uncle or even a great uncle since their DNA would be the same.  Now I feel that Obediah was James Grandfather because of the other family connections and there weren't any other Hoopers in Lunenburg in the early years.  By the way, he didn't show up in all the books of land deeds in the early years, so I am inclined.....not documented.....but inclined to believe that he wasn't born there in 1720.  He didn't show up in those records until I think it was the 40's or 50's.  I will have to double check that, but that makes it interesting, where did he come from?  If he was born there, why didn't I see his parents on any land stuff in the earlier years?  It is a lot to think about, but lets brainstorm some of these ideas..... Where was William the signer born?  Could Obediah have been an uncle or brother to William?  I think the time period would make him uncle, but not sure about that.  Could James, Obediah's son, who may have lived in Wilkes County, have been close to William?  Could William have introduced our James to his friend James Bankstons daughter? (since they lived in Orange Co.)

  Okay, if we think this is a possibility, then can we trace William back to England and find another male decendant off his Hooper male line to do DNA and find out if we all match them?  This is a real possibility folks.  I have followed William to the counties he lived in and there are surnames in those counties that are in Shelby Co. Illinois.  In Anson Co., NC there were Bankstons and Hoopers.  In New Hanover Co. there was a Crocker and Hooper.  William was in those counties.  He then went back to Orange Co. where he died.  By the way, during that time period, Orange county extended to Wilkes Co.  Then getting back to other counties that had both names....Mecklenburg Co., NC there were Bankstons and Hoopers.  Then in SC, I think Franklin Co. there were Bankstons and Hoopers, then in GA there were Bankstons and Hoopers......It is not just a coincidence in my opinion.

  I know this is long, but I wanted to share these thoughts and get your opinions.  Do you think we could find someone in William the signers line back to do the DNA testing?  I am going to post this to the hooper lists to see if anyone knows this information.

  Terria
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Deanna Baumgardner 
    To: Hooper Dori 
    Cc: TERRIA BAYNOR 
    Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 9:19 PM
    Subject: The Ancestry of Christopher Hooper


    Do you have all the information contained in this file?  Deanna