Hooper Notes

Nicholas A. Anthony married Emma L. Hooper, according to family records. The same records indicate that Emma Hooper was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama on 3 February 1849.

Tuscumbia, Alabama was in Franklin County until 1867, when Colbert County was formed. In the 1850 census of Franklin County, in the town of Tuscumbia, we find the following family enumerated on 25 January 1850:

His first name is practically unreadable, but the first letter is clearly B and it . Next door is Joel Roberts (age 31) also a grocer, with whom Hooper may have been in partnership. Other Hoopers in Franklin County were:

            E. W. Hooper, age 35, born in Virginia, an unmarried bootmaker
            Susan Hooper, age 68, born in Tennessee, in the household of Emaline Lusk (age 32)
           

In 1860, what may be the same family is enumerated on 15 August 1860, with several inconsistencies when compared to the 1850 record:

Next door is L. R. Perry, also a tailor. Again, nearby is E. W. Hooper, age 45 and born n Virginia, now a blacksmith who has acquired a wife and three young children. Note that B. Y. Hooper’s wife Mary may be a different person as the wife in 1850, as her age and birthplace have both changed. “Emma” has become “Amer B.”, a discrepancy I can’t explain.

In the 1870 census, Tuscumbia fell into newly-formed Colbert County. In the town of Tuscumbia we find what is apparently the widow and children of B. Y. Hooper, living with her mother, enumerated in on 16 June 1870:

This household clearly includes the widow of B. Y. Hooper and her two children Emma and Edward. The 1880 census clarifies that Nancy Beaumont is her mother. This census strengthens the notion that May Hooper may not have been the same Mary as in 1850, thus possibly the stepmother of Emma. The column for “Married within the year” is not checked off for Emma Anthony, suggesting that she and Nicholas Anthony were married prior to June 1849. Emma Anthony could read and write, since those columns are checked off for her.

Where Nicholas Anthony was this year is unknown. Edward Young Anthony was born four months later (according to his own testimony) in Tuscumbia, so Nicholas was apparently not around when his wife was pregnant. His father’s household for 1870 back in Bedford County has a male of about the right age, but he is enumerated as “Nathan S. Anthony”, age 23, a schoolteacher. There are several Nicholas Anthonys in the 1870 census for Alabama and Tennessee, none of which are him. Nicholas Anthony may have been in someone else’s household in 1870, thus not indexed as a head of household himself.

In 1880, we find the same household in Tuscumbia, Colbert County, enumerated on 4 June:

The 1880 census was the first to ask the birthplaces of each person’s parents, marital status, and the relationships of the household members. In this case, it is clear that the widow of B. Y. Hooper was a daughter of Nancy Beaumont. Note that the two women have aged only five years each since 1870. Although Mary Hooper’s age and birthplace are again different than in prior years, she is clearly the same person as in 1860 and 1870.

By this time, Nicholas Anthony and Emma are back in Bedford County.

Edward W. Hooper, who may have been a brother of B. Y. Hooper is in the Franklin County 1880 census as “Edward W. Hooper, age 66, born in Virginia. He gave Virginia as his own birthplace and that of both parents. According to a summary of a collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Edward William Hooper was the son of