Transcript 

of

Edward Hooker [Obituary]

Trans. Devon Assoc., vol. XXXV, (1903), pp. 37-38.

by

J. Brooking-Rowe (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1903 Sidmouth meeting. Yale University Library contains a collection of Hooker Family Papers, Call No.MS289. The site visitor is informed that these papers contain correspondence, financial and legal records, genealogical material, account books, maps, autograph albums, scrapbooks, ships' logs, and memorabilia from several generations of the Hooker family of Farmington, Connecticut. Early family records contain correspondence and documents relating to the American Revolution. Eighteenth-century legal and financial records in the papers include deeds and leases on land in Farmington, Connecticut; indentures (1760-1763); wills; and inventories of estates. One of the major figures in the papers is Edward Hooker (1822-1903), commander in the United States Navy. Two volumes document his command of the Potomac Flotilla (1863) and of the U.S.S. Commodore (1864-1865), both during the Civil War. Maps and charts collected by Edward Hooker relate to the Civil War and eight are connected with his command of the U.S.S. Idaho during its voyage around the world (1867-1868). Mr Hooker’s obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Edward Hooker. This gentleman was elected a member of the Association in 1900. He was a direct descendant from the Rev. Thomas Hooker, founder of the colony of Connecticut, and of the city of Hartford. His mother was Elizabeth Daggott, a niece of Roger Sherman, one of those who signed the Declaration of Independence. His grandfather was Colonel Noadiah Hooker, an officer of the Revolutionary War, who commanded the first troops to reach Boston from Connecticut at the siege of Boston. His father was Edward Hooker, of Farmington, where Edward, the subject of this notice, was born, 25th December, 1822. In course of time he entered the merchant service, and at the age of twenty-two he was in command of a vessel making voyages to the West Indies, and he continued in this occupation until the breaking out of the war between the Northern and Southern States, when he offered his services to the United States Navy, which he entered as acting-master in 1861, attached to the North Atlantic squadron in the Louisiana. He was severely wounded later in the year, but recovering was with the Burnside expedition to the Sound of North Carolina in the same vessel in 1862, and fought the ship in the absence of her captain at Washington, North Carolina, 4th September, 1862, and was in consequence promoted lieutenant for gallantry in action. In 1865 Hooker became commander, and from 1865 to 1867 he was storekeeper at the Navy Yard, New York, and occupied important posts in the service until his retirement at Christmas, 1884, at the age of sixty-two. He then took up the work of compiling a history of the Hooker family. For this purpose he made large collections and worked diligently upon the work until the end of the year 1901, when failing eyesight compelled him to abandon his project, and this disappointment affected him so much that he seems to have lost all interest in life. He died 30th April, 1903, at Brooklyn, United States, leaving a son and two daughters and nine grandchildren surviving.