Hook Genealogy

 

Hook Genealogy

At the beginning it was not contemplated that this book would be more than a brief account of the lives and ancestry of the pioneer Hook and Eller families in Wapello County, Iowa. But as the work progressed, and other family records became available, it was decided to expand it to include the extra data. This brief statement will explain why the ancestral families of the subjects of this book have received a more liberal treatment in the text than many of the others.

The genealogical information contained in this volume was obtained for the most part from old family Bibles. Records of very early families were checked and descents substantiated by wills, deeds, courts, church and cemetery records. The writer has seen the original records referred to herein and can vouch for their authenticity. Where the source of information is family tradition, it is so stated, but in practically every case such tradition has been checked through two and sometimes three and four widely separated branches of a family, so that the information given is substantially true.

The writer will be greatly indebted to any one who will point out errors that this book may contain, or who will supply additional information that may be included in a larger and more elaborate record of the various families which may be published later. Considerable information about certain branches of the various families has already been collected. Much of it, however, could not be identified closely enough to be included in this volume.

The members of the Hooke family were active in a commercial way from earliest times. At first they numbered among their tribe many fishermen and seamen, but as time passed, we find them moving farther inland, and taking up land south of London. In the early seventeenth century and before, we find merchants among them; sheriffs and aldermen, knights, barons and lords, and quite often a clergyman of high standing and many soldiers and sailors. As time goes on, we find men of letters, and artists, and musicians. In the professions we find lawyers, doctors, editors and engineers. Occasionally we find professors in the universities and philosophers, and once a Lord Mayor of London. We find no descent from Kings, Princes or Potentates. The family, for the most part, was like all other families; it had its men of note and its men of failure, but on the whole it was sturdy, honorable, and an average family that played its full part in the building of the British Empire.

Henry Hooke, second Lord of the Manor of Bramshott, was a very energetic member of the old family. He developed a local iron industry, using water power to avoid the laws against use of wood fuel, and made a great success of it. It operated for many years and served as an important link in the growth of the great iron and steel industry in England.

During the Cromwellian period and after, the Hookes of Bramshott, Surrey, Buckingham, Middlesex, Kent and Berkshire, engaged in paper making on a large scale. For many years they made the water marked paper used in the paper bank note currency issued by the Bank of England. Mills were erected at Flints near Hawarden Castle in North Wales and in Surrey and the south of England. The industry remained in the Hooke family for many years. The mills at Flints are still in operation under the management of William Pitt and Company, first cousins of the Hookes. The mills of South England finally drifted out of the family control, due largely to the extravagant tastes of some of the early family who squandered their estates in ridiculous fashion.

When the London Times was started, Thomas Hooke, father of John Hankey Hooke, because of his large control of the paper industry, was invited to become one of the organizers. He declined the offer as too small an affair for his consideration, but donated the paper required for the first few months' editions. A copy of the first edition is still in the hands of a descendant of Thomas Hooke.

John Hooke, while engaged in the family's paper business, taught the first game of cricket in North Wales, near Holywell. The ball, made by himself with the aid of the village cobbler, is still a possession of one of his descendants.

The descendants of James Hook, son of Thomas:

Genealogies on the following related families are also provided:

 

 

 
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