[Hooper] Our Hooper/Bird/Bounds Ancestors

[Deanna Baumgardner]

This should be of much interest to descendants of Shelby County,  
Texas Hoopers. Francis Bird Bounds (Joseph Bounds, Jesse Bounds) is  
the father of Altasarah Bounds, wife of John Jefferson Hooper and  
Laura Ann Bounds, wife of Benjamin Franklin Hooper. I believe we have  
found Mary's family.

Dear Deanna:
As I recall without going through my thousands of notes, your Joseph  
Bounds
was the son of Jesse Bounds Sr. and Joseph's wife Mary Bird the  
daughter of
my Francis Bird Sr. of Washington Co. VA, c1770's. Jesse Bounds and  
Francis
Bird  were evidently close friends as they are mentioned together  
several times
in research that I and others have come across. They probably hunted  
together.
  It is thought by many Bounds researchers that Jesse's wife was a  
sister of
this  Francis Bird. Of course that would mean that Joseph and Mary  
were cousins
which  was not unusual in those days.  Francis was a Long Hunter and  
Indian
Scout  at times and was affiliated with other Long Hunters such as  
William and
Issac  Crabtree who hunted with Daniel Boone. The Crabtree family  
migrated
from Old  Baltimore Co. MD to Virginia as it appears this Bird/Byrd  
line did
also. Jesse  Bounds line migrated from the Eastern Shore of Maryland  
to the
Bedford/Pittsylvania Co area of Virginia and then on to Washington  
Co.VA also
spending time across the line in Washington Co. NC which is actually  
Tennessee
today. During those days prior to Tennessee becoming a state in I  
believe 1795,
NC encompassed all of what is now TN. So many early pioneers that stated
later  on census records that they were born in NC were actually born  
in what is
now  Tennessee. I have pasted an article below that mentions both  
Jesse Bounds
and Francis Bird as witness's to the will of Fredrick Starnes who was  
killed
by  Indians during a hunt. This took place in Scott Co. VA which  
previously
was  a part of Washington Co. VA. Note in the last sentence that  
Fredrick
Starnes was  appointed as Constable on the Holstein in 1770. Francis  
Birds brother
Thomas T  Byrd was appointed as the Constable in 1772.

  FREDERICK & JOSEPH STARNES  & MICHAEL MOYER KILLED
[Scott County Herald Virginian, August,  1965]

In his pension statement  Joseph Starnes of Burke County, North  
Carolina,
says he was born in November,  1755, on Smith's River, but could not  
say whether
in Virginia or North  Carolina.  (Smith's River is the river that  
runs through
Martinsville,  VA).  He further states:
"I was once in a company of four in  the year 1779, April 7th, over on a
watercourse in Virginia, back of the  settlements towards Boonesboro,  
where we
were fired on by about 25 or 30 Indians  and my father, (Joseph,  
Sr.), my Uncle
Frederick Starnes, and brother-in-law,  Michael Moyer were shot and I  
made my
escape, although they saw me for upwards  of a mile and kept firing  
on me, but
I made my escape in the cane and other  undergrowth."
If  they were hunting as Joseph Starnes states, "on a watercourse  
back of the
  settlements toward Boonesboro", then the Starnes brothers and  
Michael Moyer
were  killed on the waters of Guest or Powells' Rivers in present  
Wise or Lee
County.
The  Starnes brothers, Frederick and Joseph, were very early settlers  
on the
Holston,  with perhaps the first record of their settlement being in  
Augusta
County, with  perhaps the first record of their settlement being in  
the Augusta
County Survey  Book, which reads: "A survey of 500 acres on the west  
side of
Woods (New) River  known by the name of the "Old Starnes Place",  
dated 30th of
October, 1746.   Frederick Starnes was living on Holston when he was
administrator of the estate  of Jacob Goldman, (site of VPI), which  
was probated May
28, 1757.
Mary Goldman, widow of  Jacob, may have been a sister of Frederick  
Starnes.
Others think of her to  have been a sister to Humphrey Baker and  
Annie who
lived in the bounds of  present day Washington County before 1754.   
Others
contend that Mary  Starnes was a daughter of Jacob Goldman, and  
Annie, wife of
Humphrey Baker was  born a Goldman.
The Carlock family also come in for  a strong interconnection with  
Starnes,
Goldman and Baker families, for in 1811,  Conrad Carlock leaves his  
property to
"his sister's two sons, Adam and Samuel  Starnes", and there is  
little doubt
that Conrad Goldman and Conrad Carlock were  named for the same common
ancestor. (Courtesy of Gordon Aronhime for  genealogical data.)
The will of Frederick  Starnes was proven in Washington Co., VA on  
May 18,
1779.  Witness to the  will were Francis Byrd and Jessee Bounds, both  
of whom
lived in present day  Scott County.  Appraisers of the estate were  
Elisha
Dungins.  Robert  Reaugh (Ray?) Conrad Henninger and Jessee Bounds,  
with the widow,
Mary Starnes  as Executrix.  Children mentioned in the will are Jacob  
and
David  Starnes.
As the same date Katherine Starnes,  widow of Joseph, was granted
administration of his estate and Jessee Bounds,  William Bates,  
William Russell, Jr., and
George Bader as appraisers.
As further proof  of the early settlement of the Starnes family on  
Holston
River a court for  Botetourt County, on the 14th of February, 1770,  
"Frederick
Stern is appointed  Constable for that precinct upon Holston where  
he  lives."

Deanna (Hooper) Baumgardner