HOOKER

Hymbrick and I share a birthday, and...not much else. Records disagree on where he was born, but they all agree that he was born on the 23rd of September, 1806. He spent a considerable amount of time living and farming in Lawrence County, Mississippi, and it was there that he met and married Myranda Baggett, when he was 23 and she was 16. Despite what seemed to be a shotgun wedding (their first child was born not long after they were married), the two went on to have 9 children in total, and stayed married until they both passed away in 1885. 

In the 1860s, the Hooker family began to feel the effects of the Civil War, and sought to purchase land elsewhere. They settled in rural Texas, naming the area Old Bethany, after a fond area in Mississippi. While Hymbrick and Myranda seemed content in Texas, all but two of their children eventually moved back to Mississippi. Those who stayed, along with neighbours and new settlers, began to grow Old Bethany, building a church, school, and post office. Prior to Hymbrick and Myranda's passings in 1885, they set aside land to be used as a cemetery, and were the first two to be buried there. 

Hymbrick and Myranda's children:

Nathan James Hooker, 1829 - 1881

William Richard Hooker, 1832 - 

Ann Hooker, 1835 - 

Francis Marion Hooker, 1837 - 1862

Marcus Lafayette Hooker, 1840 - 1915

Thomas Jefferson Hooker, 1843 - 1927

Martha Jane Hooker, 1846 - 1927

Henry Hooker, 1849 - 1923

Winston Hooker, 1852 - 1923

Winston Hooker was most likely born in 1852 (sources differ, but most state 1852) in Mississippi. In either case, he was the youngest child of Hymbrick and Myranda, and one of two children who remained in Texas, working on the family farm. On the 18th of April, 1877, he wed Josephine Tidwell, and the following year, they had the first of their eight children. Winston made a living as a labourer and farmer, and sometime after his wife's passing in 1904, settled in Arizona. He passed away there on the 2nd of April, 1923. 

Winston and Josephine's children:

Nathan Hooker, 1878 - 1917

Netta Hooker, 1880 -

Robert Hooker, 1880 - 1946

Homer Hooker, 1882 - 1947

William Ernest Hooker, 1884 - 1963

Ola Hooker, 1887 - 1982

Winnie Hooker, 1890 - 1926

Richard Hooker, 1892 - 1973

William Ernest Hooker came into the world on the 30th of December, 1884, one of the middle children of Winston and Josephine. Interestingly, it's hard to say when William learned of his actual name, as he was given the nickname "Pat" as a toddler, apparently when he began learning to walk and pat pat patted his way around his family home. He would keep that name for his entire life, and so, I continue to use that name when I speak about him. Pat spent his early years farming, and in 1910, was living with his younger brother Richard, on a farm in Oklahoma that neighboured the Bowen farm. The following year, on New Year's Eve, Pat married Telia Bowen. Pat and Telia would have just two children, almost a decade apart, and in two different states: Josephine in Oklahoma, and Winnie in Texas. Sometime between the 1930 and 1940 census, Pat retired from farming and became a civil servant, working as a custodian for the local courthouse, a job he would hold until he retired at 71. On the 16th of December, 1963, Pat passed away at the age of 78. 

William and Telia's children:

Josephine Hooker, 1914 - 1996

Winnie Hooker, 1924 - 2022

Josephine, the eldest of  Pat and Josie's two children, was born on the 12th of October, 1914, and lived long enough for me to meet her. I've yet to find where or when Josephine met Clarence Hough, but they had their first child, my grandmother, in 1933, and my great-aunt two years later. Josephine was a gorgeous woman, and by all accounts was outspoken, funny, and a little intimidating. I met her when I was 10, but unfortunately, all I remember about her is that she yelled at Clarence about keeping the television too loud, when she, herself, also kept the television too loud. She passed away on the 1st of October, 1996, when I was 16 and she was 81. 

Josephine and Clarence's children:

Clara Jolene Hough, 1933 - 1994

Sarah Katherine Hough, 1936 - 2011

To learn more about Josephine and Clarence's children, please visit the Hough page.