Hooper Early Settlers in Union Descended From Absalom Hooper
(Sr.) Revolutionary War Soldier
THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of Union
County, Georgia
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Hooper
Early Settlers in Union Descended From
Absalom Hooper (Sr.) Revolutionary War Soldier
No Hooper families were listed
in the 1834
special census of the new county
of Union founded
in
1832. However, by the 1840 census, three
families of Hoopers with heads-of-households listed as Absalom, Andrew
and Enas
(Enos) were living in Union. Absalom and his wife were between thirty and
forty and had two sons and eight daughters and one slave.
Andrew and his wife were also between forty
and fifty and had three sons and three daughters. Enas
(probably should have been spelled Enos)
and his wife were between thirty and forty and had six sons and four
daughters. By the 1850 census, the
Hooper population had grown with seven households enumerated.
The first three Hooper men to settle
in Union were all sons of the
Revolutionary
War soldier, Absalom Hooper (Sr.). Some
of the exploits of this soldier show his bravery, daring and
determination. He was born about 1764 in
South Carolina
in the vicinity of the Green and Main Broad
Rivers. His father died when he was a youngster. His mother sided with the Tories (those
favoring the British). But Absalom
Hooper definitely had sympathies for the colonists and left home to
join the U. S.
forces in
1776. His pay was to be in bounty of
$30.00 and $5.00 per month, plus 640 acres of land at the close of the
war. However that payment was not
forthcoming according to his signed statement in 1833.
His military service saw him in many
places during the war. He was under the
command of General Howe at Sullivan’s Island
in South Carolina. But the British General Sir Henry Clinton
conquered the island and Howe and his forces went to Florida and
fought against the British
forces at the St. Mary’s River. From
there they returned to Charleston,
to Purrysburg, SC, and finally into Georgia.
He was in the attack against the British at
Stono Fort on the Edisto
River. From thence his regiment went to Beaufort Island.
Back to Savannah,
he was with the American and French forces, allies, in the siege of Savannah. There Absalom Hooper was wounded in the right
arm. From there they returned to Charleston where
Absalom
received another wound, that time in his left thigh.
He was imprisoned and was in the enemy prison
hospital until he somewhat recovered. He
escaped and went to Georgia
to find refuge in his uncle’s frontier home.
The Tories captured him, held him five days and brought him to
trial,
but released him.
He heard of the whereabouts of his
group, and joined up again at Augusta
in Captain Daniel Gunnals’ regiment.
They had skirmishes around the Augusta
area, especially with parties of Tories.
Then his regiment went to South Carolina and joined forces
with General Pickens
around the Little River area and Ninety-Six District.
The Cherokee during the Revolution sided with
the British. Absalom and his regiment
were in the Battle of Long Swamp against the Cherokee but were defeated. They returned to Long Swamp,
and awaited the end of the war.
Absalom Hooper married Sarah Salers at
Pistol Creek in Elbert County,
Georgia
about
1783. Ten years after they married, they
moved from Georgia
to Table Rock, South Carolina. Their next move was about 1810 to Haywood County, North Carolina (later that area was
named Jackson
County). Along the Tuckaseegee River
where they settled, some of the highest peaks in North Carolina towered above their
land. There they reared their family of
twelve children: James (1784), Elizabeth
(1786), Andrew (1792), Kissiah (1794), Nancy (1797), Mary (1798),
Absalom, Jr.
(1880), Eleanor (1800), Margaret (1802), Enos (1805), William (1806), and Isaac (1807).
Three of these children of Absalom and
Sarah Salers Hooper moved to the new county of Union
sometime in the
late 1830s and were counted in the 1840 Union census.
Also Hooper sisters moved to the area. Kissiah
married Milton Brown. They were living in Union
when the 1834 census was taken, with eleven in their household. She and Milton preceded her three brothers,
Absalom, Jr., Andrew and Enos in settling in Union. Mary who married Henry Brown lived in the
Hightower section of Union that
became a part
of Towns
County when it was
formed in 1856. In fact, most of the
Hooper households were
on land that became Towns, so they automatically became citizens of the
new county
of Towns.
Nancy Hooper and her husband, Benjamin Chastain, were in Union by 1850 and their farm at Hightower was
absorbed
into Towns.
Next week’s column will present more
on the Hooper family that still has many descendants with multiple last
names
still remaining in the Towns and Union County
areas.
c2010 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published Oct.
21, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA.
Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail [email protected];
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
Updated October 30, 2010
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