Rev. Thomas Hooker was born at Markfield, near Leicester, England, in 1586. He was educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he took his degree A.B., 1608, and M.A., 1611, and was chosen one of the fellows. He was four years in Chelmsford in Essex, but his intense aversion to some of the ceremonies of the church compelled him to withdraw from the pulpit. He opened a school at Little Baddow, five miles from Cambridge, where the famous John Eliot was his assistant, but being still troubled by the ecclesiastical court and placed under bonds, fled to Holland, where he preached the gospel for two years at Delft, from there going to Rotterdam to assist William Ames. One of the early Massachusetts settlers, George Alcock, had married a sister of the Rev. Hooker, and this increased the attraction the new world already had for him. Privately he got passage in the "Griffin" with the Rev. Samuel Stone and the noted John Cotton, arrived at Boston, September 3, 1633, settling the following month at Cambridge, where he was made a freeman, May 14, 1634. In June, 1636, with a majority of his parishoners, he traversed the wilderness to Connecticut, where they founded the city of Hartford. He died July 7, 1647, in his sixty-first year. His widow, Susanna, was a second wife, and not the mother of his older children. He was possessed of a large landed estate and a valuable library. A clause in his will forbade his eldest son John from "marrying and tarrying" in England. Children by first wife: Joana and Mary. By second wife: John, Sarah, Sarah (2) and Samuel.
(II) Rev. Samuel Hooker, son of the Rev. Thomas and Susanna Hooker, was born the year of the American emigration, 1633, whether in England or Connecticut is not recorded, although it is generally supposed he was born at New Towne (Cambridge), Massachusetts. He entered Harvard College in 1651 and was graduated in 1653. He entered the ministry in 1657 and preached at Plymouth, Massachusetts, although not regularly settled there. He remained at Plymouth until he removed to Farmington, Connecticut, in 1661, where he succeeded his brother-in-law, Rev. Roger Newton. He was the second minister at Farmington, where he remained until his death in 1697. He was famous as an eloquent preacher, and Mather, in his "Magnolia," says: Thus we have to-day among us our dead Hooker, yet living in his worthy son, Samuel Hooker, an able, faithful, useful minister at Farmington in the colony of Connecticut." He married Mary, daughter of Captain Thomas Willet, a merchant of Plymouth. He succeeded Captain Miles Standish in command of the famous military company of Plymouth. The marriage of Rev. Samuel and Mary Willet was no doubt celebrated in a proper manner, for an account of it is handed down in the Willet family, thus: "And Samuel and Mary did there brew a great bowl of punch." They had nine sons and two daughters, and from these sons came all the Hookers who claim descent from Rev. Thomas Hooker. Children:
- Thomas, died in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1720; married Mrs. Mary (Smith) Lord.
- Samuel, a merchant; died at Hartford in 1730; married Mehitable, daughter of Captain Giles and Esther (Crow) Hamlin.
- William, merchant; died at Farmington, 1689.
- John, see forward.
- James, of Guilford, Connecticut; died 1740; probate judge and deputy; married Mary Leete.
- Roger, died April 29, 1698.
- Nathaniel, merchant and prominent citizen of Hartford; deputy several years; married Mary Standley.
- Mary, married Rev. James Pierpont; the Pierpont family have a portrait of her that shows a woman of uncommon beauty.
- Hezekiah, died young.
- Daniel, graduate of Harvard, 1700; he studied medicine and was licensed to practice; he became the first tutor of Yale College; in 1703 was graduated, nominally the second but really the first actual student to graduate; he was the first B. A. of Yale; he afterward studied law and was admitted to the bar, but he continued the practice of medicine at Wethersfield, Connecticut, only using his legal knowledge in making wills, etc., for his patients; Dr. Hooker was surgeon of the expedition against Canada in 1711; died 1742; married Sarah, daughter of Deacon John and Esther (Newell) Standley.
- Sarah, married Rev. Stephen Buckingham, graduate of Harvard, 1693; a member of the corporation of Yale College and pastor of the church at Norwalk; she was accounted the most accomplished woman that ever came to Norwalk; the fame of "Dame Buckingham" is preserved in the annals of the town, and the story of her beauty and stately grace is still remembered in the traditions of the place.
(III) John, son of the Rev. Samuel and Mary (Willet) Hooker, was born at Farmington, Connecticut, February 20, 1664-65. He became one of the most prominent men of his day. He was judge of the supreme court of the colony from 1724 to 1732; member of the lower house of assembly, 1699 to 1723, and then was elected to the upper. He served twenty-one sessions, of which he was clerk two and speaker six. He was chosen assistant in 1723 and rechosen annually for eleven years. He was called to settle disputes between towns, churches, filling other and various important public trusts. He married, November 24, 1687, Abigail, daughter of Captain John W. and his second wife, Sarah (Fletcher) Standley, of Farmington. Mr. Hooker built his home under the branches of a wonderful elm tree, where it was the center of a generous hospitality for generations. The "Hooker Elm" was a widely known feature of the beautiful Main street of Farmington. When the estate passed to his son Roger he continued the far-famed hospitality of the house and greeted his friends under the beautiful tree. Major Roger Hooker died without issue in 1830 and the family mansion and famous tree passed into unfriendly hands. The house was rebuilt, and because it interfered with a straight path from the front door to the street, the stately "Hooker Elm" was laid low in the dust. A chonicle of those early days thus describes the ending of a Farmington Sunday: "The holiness of the day was supposed to end at sunset, but not a child in the town dared to stir, until the signal came from Mr. Hooker that the day was ended. When the sun had sunk below the horizon, Mr. Hooker, coming to the door with his pipe in his hand, walked down the path to the gate, leaning over it, resting his arms upon the top. The moment his arms touched the gate, open flew the doors and out came the children with a wild rush and shout — Mr. Hooker was at his gate, Sunday was over." Captain John N. Standley, father of Mrs. Hooker, was a man of wealth and high social position who had won distinction as lieutenant and captain in the Indian wars. Children of John and Abigail Hooker:
- Hezekiah, see forward.
- Abigail, died in infancy.
- John, died in infancy.
- John, justice of the peace and an active business man.
- Abigail, married Nathaniel, son of Captain John and Mary (Moore) Hart.
- Mary, married Lieutenant Samuel, son of Captain John and Mary (Moore) Hart.
- Sarah, married Matthew, son of Captain John and Mary (Moore) Hart; married (second) Huit Strong.
- Joseph, captain of the militia; he became very corpulent and for several years was unable to attend to any active business; when the militia paraded it was their custom to march past Captain Hooker's house and salute him as he sat in his big chair by or outside the door; he married Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel and Abigail (Ashley) Lewis, of Farmington.
- Ruth, married (first) Captain Ashahel Strong, a prominent lawyer of Farmington; married (second) Solomon Whitman (second wife).
- Roger, was a favorite son of his father and accompanied him upon his official journeyings about the colony; he married (first) Mercy, daughter of Captain Josiah and Sarah (Bull) Hart; married (second) Anna, daughter of Captain Martin and Dorothy (Chester) Kellogg.
(IV) Hezekiah, son of John and Abigail (Standley) Hooker, was born in Farmington, Connecticut, October 14, 1688. He removed to Woodbury, Connecticut, where he was a farmer of Bethlehem Parish. He married, December 18, 1716, Abigail Curtis, born 1695, daughter of Captain Josiah and Abigail (Judson) Curtis, of Stratford, Connecticut. Children:
- Hezekiah,
- James, see forward,
- Josiah,
- Abigail,
- Mary,
- William, removed to Greene county, New York;
- Jesse,
- Eunice,
- Asahel;
- Sarah, married Captain Timothy Judson, of the revolution.
(V) James, son of Hezekiah and Abigail (Curtis) Hooker, was born at Farmington, Connecticut, January 30, 1728. He removed to Poultney, Vermont, in 1779, and died there June 18, 1798. He married, March 31, 1754, Dorothy Parmalee, of Branford, Connecticut, born May 8, 1731, died at Poultney, April 25, 1814, daughter of Timothy and Desire (Barnes) Parmalee. Children:
- Thomas.
- Josiah, died July 24, 1776; was a soldier under General Montgomery.
- James, see forward.
- Samuel, a farmer of Hampton, New York.
- David, died young.
- Sarah, married and removed to the west.
- David, a soldier of the war of 1812; he removed to Ridgway, New York.
- Josiah.
(VI) Colonel James (2), son of James (1) and Dorothy (Parmalee) Hooker, was born at Woodbury, Connecticut, December 25, 1760, died at Poultney, Vermont, August 9, 1844. He was a soldier of the revolution, enlisting in the Eighth Regiment, Connecticut Line, and spent the terrible winter at Morristown, New Jersey, with Washington's army. He was a colonel of the Vermont militia, and ever an earnest advocate of an efficient and thoroughly organized citizen soldiery. He married (first) Lucina Christy, died at Poultney, September 2, 1832. Married (second) Chloe (Hickok) Hoyt, widow of Deacon Hoyt, of Castleton, Vermont. Children by first wife:
- Marquise de Lafayette, see forward.
- Martha Stoddard.
- Asa Christy, married Bertha Bliss.
- Emily, married Stephen Ransom.
- Rev. Herman F.; his widow removed to Mexico, where she had a school for orphan girls.
- Maria, married William Goodspeed.
(VII) Marquis de Lafayette (commonly called Marcus), son of Colonel James (2) and Lucina (Christy) Hooker, was born at Poultney, Vermont, February 22, 1792, died August 18, 1831. He married Lucinda Bachelder. Children:
- Mary Jeanette, see forward.
- Lucinda Bachelder, married Charles Cutler, of Guildhall, Vermont; children:
- Charles Hooker and
- Edwin Hervey Cutler.
- Esther Ann, born in Poultney, November 29, 1829, died March 9, 1830.
(VIII) Mary Jeanette, daughter of Marquis de Lafayette and Lucinda (Bachelder) Hooker, was born at Poultney, Vermont, May 30, 1822. She married, October 25, 1848, Judge Francis Norton Mann (see Mann VII).