Samuel Hooker

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According to traditional sources, one-time Albany resident Samuel Hooker was born in May 1745. He was the son of John and Mary Partridge Hooker of Medway, Massachusetts. We strive to not confuse him with a number of more prominent, same-named contemporaries.

This individual generally was called a carpenter and also a builder. We seek information on his training and his credits.

In July 1766, Samuel married Rachel Hines in Rutland, Massachusetts. Philip Hooker was their eldest son. The marriage produced more than six children - most (if not all) of them christened in Massachusetts churches.

Samuel Hooker is said to have brought his family to live in Albany in 1772. However, solid evidence has not placed him in the city until much later. Thirty years-old at the outbreak of hostilities in 1775, we have not yet uncovered information on his wartime record.

Early in November 1787, transplanted yankee Samuel Hooker was among those instructed to appraise the building at the ferry by the Albany corporation. We seek information on a possible earlier time in Albany.

The Albany assessment of 1788 valued the house and property of Samuel Hooker on the southside of the booming post-war community. Two years later, the census counted nine people (including three men) in Samuel's second ward home.

Sometime thereafter, he removed his family to the west leaving Philip Hooker behind in Albany. Samuel is said to have settled in Utica.

In 1797, he (with his son John) built a landmark house in Utica on behalf of the Holland Land Company. Perhaps, about 1798, Dr. Alexander Coventry visited him there at "York House" where he ate oysters supplied by "Mr. Sam Hooker."

Samuel Hooker was counted among the pioneers of Utica.

In 1803, he was among the first subscribers and then a vestryman and warden of Trinity church in Utica.

In 1810, he was among the stockholders of the newly incorporated Utica glass manufacturing company."

Samuel Hooker died in October 1832 and was buried in Utica.


biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Samuel Hooker is CAP biography number 8524. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. Background and out-of-Albany information relies on traditional sources and on the most comprehensive work on his famous son.




first posted: 1/30/12