Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/359

 HOOPER

HOOPER

in 1747, to take charge of Trinity parish, to which he had been called as rector, in which capacity he remained till his deatli. During the twenty years of his pastorate he enjoyed the utmost af- fection and reverence of his congregation. He married Mary, daughter of John Dennie, an emi- nent merchant of Boston. Of their five children, William "the signer," John, George, Mary and Thomas, — John died unmarried, Mary married a Mr. Spence, and William, George and Thomas re- moved to the south, George marrying Catherine, daughter of Archibald Maclaine, of Wilmington, N.C., a fiery Revolutionary patriot, prominent in the provincial conventions ; and Thomas marry- ing Mary Heron, daughter of Capt. Ben Heron, of Windsor, Bertie county, N.C. The Rev. William Hooper died suddenly while walking in his gar- den in Boston, Mass., April 14, 1767.

HOOPER, William, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Boston, Mass., June 28, 1743 (U.S.); son of the Rev. William and Mary (Dennie) Hooper, and grandson of Robert and Mary (Jaffray) Hooper of Edenmouth. parish of Ednam, near Kelso, Scotland. William studied under the cel- ebrated John Lovell, who prepared him for college. He was grad- uated at Harvard in 17G0 and studied law under James Otis. In 1767 he settled in practice at Wil- mington, N. C. He took an active part ''J with the government V against the ' ' Regu-

^f**^ JtooA^'*^'^'^ lators," who were defeated at Ala- mance, May 16, 1771 ; represented the Wilming- ton district in the house of commons in 1773 ; was one of the five projectors of a provisional congress which met in New Bern, Aug. 25, 1774 : and represented the state of North Carolina in the Continental congress, 1774-77. He was speaker of the Hillsborough and Halifax, N.C, conventions in 1776, and wrote an eloquent address to the British parliament. He signed the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 ; served on important committees, and resigned his seat in congress in 1777 in order to earn money to support his family. He was forced to leave Wilmington upon the occupation of the city by the British, but returned in 1781 after the evacu- ation and removed the following year to Hills- borough. He was a Federal judge in the New York and Massachusetts boundary commission dispute in 1786, and retired from public life in

1787. In the fall of 1767 he married Anne, daughter of High-Sheriff Thomas and Barbara (Murray) Clark, of Wilmington, N.C, and sister of Col. and Brevet-Brig. -Gen. Thomas Clark, of the American army, who is mentioned in the war records at Washington, D.C., " in the list of officers of the late war who continued to the end there- of." They had three children : William, who married Helen Hogg ; Thomas, unmarried ; and Elizabeth, who married Henry Hyrne W^atters and left no children. William " the signer" died in Hillsborough, N.C. Oct. 14, 1790.

HOOPER, William, educator, was born in Hillsborough, N.C, Aug. 31, 1792 ; son of William and Helen (Hogg) Hooper ; grandson of AVilliam " the signer " and Ann (Clark) Hooper, and great- grandson of William and Mary (Dennie) tlooper. He was graduated at _

the University of North Carolina, A.B., 1809; A.M., 1812; was tutor there, 1810-17, and pro- fessor of ancient lan- guages, 1817-22. He studied at Princeton Theological seminary, 1812-13, one session. He was made a deacon in the P.E. church in 1819, ordained priest, April 24, 1822, and was ' rector of St. John's church, N.C, 1822-

Gonnected with the University of North Carolina as professor of logic and rhetoric, 1825-28, and of ancient anguages, 1828-37. He became an adher- ent of the Baptist denomination in 1831, and was theological professor in the Furman institution, near Winnsboro, S.C, 1838-40; professor of Ro- man literature in South Carolina college, Colum- bia, S.C, 1840-46, and president pro tempore for a time; president of Wake Forest college, N.C, 1846-49 ; teacher of a boys' school, Littleton, 1849-51 ; pastor of the Baptist church at New Bern, 1852-54 ; president of the Chowan collegiate institute, Murfreesboro, 1855-61 ; teacher in the Female seminary, Fayetteville, 1861-65 ; and as- sociate principal with his son-in-law, J. De Ber- niere Hooper, of Wilson collegiate seminary for young ladies, 1866-75. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from the College of New Jersey in 1818, that of D.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1857, and that of LL.D. elsewhere. After his father's death his mother was married to the Rev. Dr. Joseph Caldwell, president of the University of North Carolina. He married in December, 1814, Fanny P., daughter of Edward Jones, solicitor-general of North Carolina. Of

or ot. J onus L822-24. He was ^