John Hooks

John Hooks was my 3rd Great Grandfather, yet I know so little about him.

He appears in the 1850 and 1860 censuses as a young man with a young and growing family. The family of his wife, Martha Carpenter Hooks, daughter of Thomas Carpenter and wife, Elizabeth B Broadaway Carpenter,  and granddaughter of James Ludwell Carpenter and wife, Obedience Broadway Carpenter, has been well traced back for multiple generations. Yet, John remains a mystery.



He served in the Civil War and there lost his life.

The lives of his children became tangled afterwards and somewhat difficult to follow. Rife with illegitimacy and unhappy stories, it's been work to figure out who belongs to who and the obvious connections of people living in the same households, and a few, I have yet to figure out where they fit.

John Hooks, himself, appears to have came out of nowhere. Ancestry.com has a new feature that is quite interesting, called Thrulines. It's a neat little feature that compares the trees of people you share DNA with and lists your recorded and potential ancestors. It then lists how many people you share dna with who also descend from that ancestor. It seems like a magic feature, but you still have to use precaution with it. Unfortunately, you can have a "group" incorrect lead. One person will happen upon a name and everyone else will blindly jump upon the bandwagon. Yes, you have a common ancestor, and yes, you are all related, however, this person, or couple, may not be your actual common ancestors.

There was the suggestion of a Daniel or David Hooks line in my Thru Lines, as being the father of John Hooks. At first I looked at it, then, decided to take it with a grain of salt until I did my own digging. But they may be on to something. There are people with common ancestry claiming Daniel as the father of John. They also point toward a Davidson County, NC connection.

Until the Thru-lines hint, all I had to go on was this note from John Hooks Civil War records, "Ann Hooks, Mo" seems to suggest that his mother was Ann Hooks. His wife's name was Martha. "Mo" suggests mother to me, not wife. Why his mother would pick up his belongings and not his wife, is a bit of a mystery to me, but possibly, she was unable. It's a hint to explore, however, not written in stone.


John Hooks Civil war receipt for personal items

My descendancy from John Hooks looks a little bit like this:

John Hooks and wife, Martha Carpenter Hooks - Great Great Great Grandparents

Sarah Jane Hooks Hill and husband, William Mathew Hill - Great Great Grandparents

Lottie Hill Lemmons and husband, Harvey Lafayette Lemmonds - Great Grandparents

Bertha Virginia Lemmons Lambert and husband, Burley Melvin Lambert- Grandparents

Then my parents to my self.


This is the little I DO know about My GGGreat Grandfather John Hooks. He first shows up in Ross Township in the 1850 census. He is living near several Cobles and Arnold Watkins. Ross was located in the southern part of the county near the Rocky River.





Name:John Hooks
Age:23
Birth Year:abt 1827
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1850:Ross, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Gender:Male
Family Number:753
Household Members:

Name	Age
John Hooks	23
Martha Hooks	22
Elizabeth Hooks	2

Some people try to attach an 1840 census listing in Anson County to him, but that was an entirely different John Hooks, who was living in Morven, near the South Carolina line in 1850, but who also was married to a Martha. There may be a connection somewhere down the road, but at this point, I don't know of one. In 1840, my John would have been 13 and would NOT have been the head of his own household.

In 1850, John and Martha Carpenter Hooks had probably been married 3 or 4 years and their firstborn child, Elizabeth, was about 2.



Name:John Hooks
Age:37
Birth Year:abt 1823
Gender:Male
Home in 1860:Stanly, North Carolina
Post Office:Albemarle
Dwelling Number:320
Family Number:321
Occupation:Farmer
Cannot Read, Write:Y
Household Members:

Name	Age
John Hooks	37
Martha Hooks	33
Daniel J Hooks	13
Betty Hooks	11
Mary E Hooks	10
Sarah J Hooks	8
Eliza A Hooks	6
Nancy V Hooks	4

By 1860, the family had increased to 6 children, my 2nd Great Grandmother, Sarah Jane Hooks, had been born and they were living next to Martha's father, Thomas Carpenter. They were living among other Carpenters, Coleys, McIntyres and Aldridges, which I know was in the Tyson Community, near present day Aquadale and Cottonville.

Oddly, Elizabeth "Betty" Hooks was no longer the oldest child, which gives way for the question, 'Where was Daniel J Hooks in 1850?' Or, could the census taker have just made a mistake and Betty was actually older than Daniel, and Daniel was actually less than 10, but tall? Who knows, but this was the last census for Papa John.

Martha was most likely expecting Ellen Catherine Hooks at this time and the 8th and last child, John Wesley Hooks, would be born in 1862.

In 1864, John would enlist in Company D, 42nd Regiment North Carolina, of the Confederate Army. The final, most  solid information I have on him is from his military papers.


John Hooks
Private Company D North Carolina Infantry, 42nd Regiment.

He enlisted on January 1, 1864, which was rather late into the war, in Salisbury, Rowan County, which may be a hint to his origins.

He enlisted for a period of 3 years or the War, by Capt. Crawford, and was present in the January and February musters.

In just a few months, he would be at Wilmington, and then in the April to August muster, he was noted to have died at Richmond in the hospital. His date of death is given as July 2, 1864 and the name of the hospital as "Winder". He was admitted on June 11, 1864. His occupation was a nurse and his physical condition was given as "disabled". This may have been why he waited so long to enlist and why he was given the job of a nurse. He only had $1.30 in his effects and possessions. His effects were recieved by Ann Hook "mo.", Mother?

The 1850 and 1860 census records give no hint of a disability for John Hooks. Could his disability have been acquired in battle? Was his assignment to Winder be due to a need for nurses? Was his death the result of caring for sick men and catching a contagion? The following newspapers give the account of the suffering of North Carolinians at Camp Winder. A wing with a capacity of 450 had been opened just for them.

From the Richmond Whig, 6/8/1864

CAMP WINDER HOSPITAL – NORTH CAROLINA WOUNDED.

In the House of Representatives, a few days ago, some of the Representatives of North Carolina in zealously advocating the granting of furloughs to wounded soldier for a less term than sixty days, as provided by the __ existing law, alluded in strong terms to the suffering of the North Carolina wounded at Camp Winder. We approved of the charge as advocated, and would have now, and until the war is over (and God grant it may be soon,) every brave boy from North Carolina in the bosom of his family, as soon as wounded, if it were practicable. It will be thus seen that there is not a shade of difference of opinion between us and the most zealous advocates for the proposed change in the furlough system. However the tone of the remarks of more than one of the North Carolina delegation, who took part in the discussion already alluded to, induced us to infer that at Camp Winder Hospital the North Carolina wounded were treated with neglect, to use the mildest term. What then was our astonishment, yesterday, when we met an energetic daughter of Virginia – one of those angels of mercy whose good deeds will never be fully known or appreciated until they are unfolded in another and a better world – with a subscription list headed by a well known citizen of Richmond, with fifty dollars (and the amount promised to reach a round sum) with which to purchase delicacies for a ward in this Hospital, which is occupied by none others than North Carolinians. She informed us that a committee of ladies of which she is a member, but rarely allow a day to pass without carrying them such articles of nutriment as will suit the condition of their health. On Saturday last they carried four gallons of ice cream – a donation from Mr. Pissini the well known confectioner on Broad street – and distributed it among these gallant North Carolinians, whose Governor Vance says are called "Tarheels," because their feet adhere so closely to the battle field that they are never able to retreat.

We have no issue to make with the North Carolina delegation for their zeal in behalf of the wounded, but we publish the above to let the mothers, wives and sisters of wounded North Carolinians know that their dear ones in Virginia, though prostrate from wounds received while bravely opposing the advance of the accursed Yankees, find, among their sisters in Virginia, many a Florence Nightingale, ready and anxious to minister to their wants. In a word, that while some are deprived of the endearing associations of home, because the character of their wounds will not permit them to be moved, that they have excellent and attentive surgeons, and are not permitted to suffer for the want of suitable food or kind nursing.

John Hooks left a wife and 8 children and died at the age of 37 in Virginia. Where he came from, I don't know, but am on a journey to discover. No land records exist in Stanly County for the Hooks, until Martha Carpenter Hooks receives a share of her father Thomas and grandfather, James Ludwell Carpenter 's estates. No Hooks appear in the early court records of Stanly County, just his children later on. He remains a mystery.

So, we have a possible father as a Daniel, which makes sense, as his oldest son was named Daniel J Hooks.  We have a possible mother of Ann Hooks. Now to find them..