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s£y cfa&tsnJicLs j£A(Xy^ WcrzTpLeyts X^/-7&0~/97(\ •..ii :7iCRGF!LMED 5 Oct. 57 PROJECT arid G. S. ROLL # CALL # WE TRAVEL WLTH A MULTITUDE ty Virginia Sharp Hooper A history of the Hooper, Sharp, Adams, and Bonnifield families and tuenty-five allied families ca, 1700 to 1970 From England, Ireland, France, Germany, and Italy to the United States Dedicated to / or in memory of the people whose stories are told herein Perirassion to reproduce excerpts, with credit given, is hereby granted TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction • •••••••••••••••••••! Fan Chart - Hoopers and Adams • • h Fan Chart - Sharp and Bonnifield £ Photographs • ••••••••• between pages 6 and 7 Book Qne - Hooper History of the Hoopers • 7 History of the Fetherams • •••••31 Mystery of the Hopes ••••• 35 History of the Cams-Wilsons 39 History of the Littons • .69 Book Two - Adams History of the Adamses 73 History of the Taliaferros • •.,83 History of the Kirkwoods • .93 History of the Hayos ••• 95 History of the Koontzes ••••••••••• 103 History of the Geerys ••••••• Ill History of the Sissons •••••• 115 History of the Phillips 119 Book Three - Sharp History of the Sharps ••• •••• 121 History of the Wrights •••••••••••• 139 History of the Heifers ••• lili History of the Per jues ll*3 History of the Johnstons ••••• IhS History of the Wileys •••• I69 History of the Tennises ••••• 181 History of the Antrobuses 185 Book Four - Bonnifield "History of the Bormifields • • • • 191 History of the Inskeeps •••••• 227 History of the Minears ••• 237 History of the Ambroses ••• 2li9 History of the Nears ••••••• 253 History of the Knights 257 History of the Scotts •••• 269 History of the Carswells 271 Epilogue • 273 Postscript •••••••• 275 (Our 1970 Tour of English Ancestral Sites) Index of persons 0 c •«•••• • 277 INTRODUCTION This book is an outgrowth of my unwavering belief that while we move ahead in our lives we also bene fit from knowing our tie to the past. The person who has respect for the past may well have a posi tive outlook on the future, Wty own future is in the hands of Douglas A., Charles L., and Stanley W, Hoop er, now ages 11, 9, and 7, who must find their own ways through life's puzzling wildernesses just as the pioneers cleared trails through a physical forest. The stories contained in this volume are inspiration for what is yet to come. Many Hoopers and Sharps were worthwhile people and we can learn from their example — and from their shortcomings, too. I am confidant my readers will agree that fact is as readable as fiction. The twelve years of researdi spent compiling this book were tremenduously enjoyable as each person emerged from the long forgotten past as from a deep fog. Each family line unraveled as challenglngly as a well written mystery story. Family archivists res cue souls from oblivion and enshrine thera in print er's ink. This is actually four books, one for my husband's paternal lines (Hooper), one for his maternal lines (Adams), one for my paternal lines (Sharp), and one for my maternal lines (Bonnifield), A Hooper-Adams and a Sharp-Bonnifield ei ît-genera tion fan chart are the trees on which to hang the stories. The surnames which appear in the sixth ring on the chart are given chapters. Interwoven with the genealogies are all the stories I could find. The maps are meant as illustration, and I do not advise using them as a guide to highway travel. Two choices are open in writing family history. One is to select an ancestor and come forward, telling of every descendant. This type of book is a better ref erence work because every line in it carries the same surname. I am at a loss, however, to know whom to choose out of the one thousand ancestors of three hun dred years ago. I have therefore chosen the. second alternative which is to start with today and follow the direct lines. It has meaning to me, because every person is a grand parent. It provides a look at all the family lines so as to select one for writing a genealogy of the first type. I have picked up each line as far back as possible and come forward on the direct line. On many lines I do have data on the children of the brothers and sis ters of these grandparents. A cutoff point has to be somewhere, so these children are not shown. As with all my fellow researchers, I welcome hearing of inaccuracies and even more, welcome hearing of ad ditional data. An axiom of American society has been "from rags to riches and back to rags in three generations." l-ty husband and I came on the scene when most of our lines had arrived back to rags (depression years re ally made this true), but the glory was there once. Let it be recorded. Virginia Sharp Hooper Santa Clara, California 1970 The numbering of the generations is very diffi cult with so many lines as are included in this family history. I have assigned number 1 to my children. The longest line, Carus-Wllson, therefore, goes back to generation number 2if« The other lines go back seven to twelve generations to the immi grant ancestor. /tevfiev - foam*, rj^y?/ //arytuAL-s >^^-^^^^/^^ *sru*: U*7<ZmUUy Q^ vr T^CUi^r CzryiyAÂuruzs^ OeA&srv AâyH^ jbSS •St &A>.U7/rns yA y rt T'Aiyyn^ri' CfcA-nVtruf f 80 -py\ ; fi/nzm.- *%V' * t/7ezi/Leyi&m7 | TycrtryutJtS 7?£^r^ QaTiruiZcnT. ^ ./*A9 Û^^.. -jyu^. TJczUl^^j;^^ ^.^z S7S~ — v h • • *"^srn~,'Trvu0Cis ftiLnâ^. ;*£/V ^^l'lt*""'^; v4^^~^ y-Â2$ z.z--:: A v.;,{_ y>£i^^yf^z^^<yL ^ n-^£-c^j-^_ yt> -cAP&zS- HISTORY OF THE HOOPERS (Each is the child of the preceding one) The English origin of the name Hooper is hoop-maker. Hooper's hoops fit onto Cooper's barrels. This is our line which most recently came to the Uni ted States (1889). Nearly all the story back to gener ation number 5 was handed down to us in letters, photo graphs, and legal papers. Generation 6 was turned up by Mr. Francis Leeson, our English genealogist who did research on the story of the John Hope painting (see next chapter), RICHARD HOOPER (Generation number 6 back from the wri ter's children), was b, in 1796 in Bedminster pari ish, Somerset, England (actually part of southwest Bristol, Gloucester),m, MARI (HOPE ?)ca, 1819 probably in Bristol, and d, aTter 1872 9 probably in Bristol, He was a linen draper or silk mercer, or what we would call a dry-goods merchant, Mary (Hope ?) Hooper was b. in 1795 in St. Stephens parish in Bristol, and may have been the dau, of John Hope, The date and place of death is not known. The children of Richard and Mary (Hope ?) Hooper (Generation number 5) were: i. Bichard Hope, b. 1820, m. Anne Petheram, see next. ii. Alfred, b, 1829, a silk mercer in Bristol, unmarried in l85l at age 22, sent gift to wedding of Edith Hooper Fox Tosswill in 1856 with no wife's name, iii. Susan, b, 1835, visited Richard Hope Hoop ers in 1890 and 1693, was abroad in 1899 at time of Richard Hope's funeral These children appeared in the census record. Men tioned in Hooper letters were Ima, Lilly, and Bris coe. Also a Mrs. Crook,"sister of the deceased", attended Richard Hope.'s funeral. From 1825 until I863 Richard Hooper appears in Bristol directories as a partner in the store of Hooper and Stuckey, silk mercers, employing six men at 2k Wine Street, Christ Church parish, Bris tol. The family resided at, or close to, 2k Wine Street as the children were Baptised in Christ Church par ish. By 1851 the family appears in the census at 3 Richmond Terrace, Clifton, Bristol, Gloucester, "Richard Hooper, head, married, age 55, silk mercer employing 6 men, b, Bedminster, Somerset Mary Hooper, wife, age 56, b, St, Stephens, Bristol Alfred, son, unmarried, age 22, b, Christ Church, Bristol Susan, daughter, age 16^ b, Christ Church, Bristol two female servants" (Richard Hope, at 31, was gone from the home.) One of the very Vf^^S ^, ^ funny coincidences _-^WGLOUCesr&t *%> of this hobby yû' i occurred here, for*ttfAt/f&S^ ^8/ Mr, Leeson*s sec- 1/ *~S^Wi,lft/^' retary lived next y^,_^7w door, at U Rich- f A"~ ^^ mond Terrace for ( »7^TT^ ten years as a MSS£S^J^ de scnbe^tJ^td the neigi'^ - SomtFRSITT borhood as having tall and elegant houses and over looking a beautiful part of Bristol, including Brun ei's suspension bridge over the river Avon, She said the neighborhood is enjoying a comeback after deterioration during the 1950 's. The I81i9 Hunt's Gloucester Directory lists Richard as being at 3 Richmond Terrace and of the firm of Hooper and Stuckey at 2k Wine Street, I had a search made at Somerset House, London, where vital statistics after 1837 are kept. Their search was for ten years, 1863 to 1872, and was fruitless, I searched the Somerset House index from 1673 to 1865 and did not find Richards and Marys of the right agest in or out of Bristol, 6 RICHARD HOPE HOOPER (5), was b. on August 7, 1820, in Christ Church parish, Bristol, Gloucester, m. ANNE PETHERAM on October 12, 1852 in Pinhoe, St. Thomas District, Devon, He d. on January 26, 1899* at Far- ingdon, Berkshire. Richard was ^1&(. the vicar of St. Giles Church, ^ ± parish of Great Coxwell, near c/p***s Faringdon.

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