William Hooper: NC Signer of the Declaration of Independence

William Hooper as an older man

William Hooper was born on June 17, 1742, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Reverend William and Mary (Dennie) Hooper. He was the eldest of five children. His family ancestry can be traced back to Scotland, where his paternal grandfather resided in the Parish of Ednam, near Kelso. His father, the Reverend Hooper, was born in Scotland and educated at Edinburgh University before immigrating to Boston in 1734.

Growing up as the son of a minister, Hooper was expected to follow a ministerial path, but He was more inclined to practice law. His father’s views, such as insisting on proof, evidence, and reason, would greatly influence Hooper. His father tutored him before enrolling young William in the Boston Latin School. He entered Harvard in 1757 as a sophomore. Both schools had a curriculum based on the classics, and he would master Latin, speak some Greek, read Cicero, Justinian, Socrates, Homer, and Vergil, among other literary authors. He could also read the New Testament in both languages. He graduated from Harvard in 1760 and worked in James Otis’s office until 1764.

            Hooper moves to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1764, taking with him a letter of introduction from his father’s friend, James Murray. He was moving because he believed there was more opportunity there than in Boston, which was full of young lawyers. Murray had gone to Wilmington with him but left the city because of the climate. Hooper initially settles in Wilmington and becomes a Circuit Court Lawyer. Then, in 1766, he was elected Recorder of the borough. His father soon passed away, leaving him with books and manuscripts. It was with the death of his father that Hooper decided to stay in Wilmington, even though health problems plagued him due to the climate.

            In 1764, Hooper met Anne Clark while she was visiting Murray’s sister in Boston. She would return to North Carolina to be near him, but her father and his sponsor, Murray, would oppose their marriage. Her father thought Hooper was too Whiggish. They courted for three years before deciding to go against others’ wishes and marry. She was the daughter of Thomas Sr. and Barbara (Murray) Clark. Hooper and Anne would have seven children together. Richard was born in 1767, and William in 1768, but died either in the mid-1790s or around 1804, depending on the documentation. William marries Helen Cauldwell, and they have at least three children. William II becomes an Episcopalian minister and President of Wake Forest. His other two children, Thomas and James, were successful lawyers and merchants. Another son, Thomas, was born in 1772, but his death is unknown. Their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1770 and married Henry Watters. She will have at least one child, but her date of death is also unknown. The last three children were born between 1774 and 1778, and all of them died young.

            He was appointed Deputy Attorney General for the King in the Salisbury District Court in March of 1766. Hooper takes the position to make himself more suitable for marriage to Ann. It was during this time that he was involved in the Regulators’ incidents. This was an armed resistance by the Regulators, who were angry with the court system. They began attacking people associated with the courts. This incident would leave him wary of democracy and untrusting of the people.

In September of 1770, Hooper was dragged through the streets of Hillsborough by the Regulators. Initially, there were not enough troops to put down the crowds, but the Governor called up the militia. Hooper would serve with the colonial militia to put down the Regulators. Ironically, Hooper sides with the Regulators to some extent because he recognizes the validity of their claims.[1]  While the majority of the Regulator cases were settled in 1768, with convictions on both sides, Hooper remained involved in the court battles until 1771.

By 1773, the Hoopers had purchased a home in Masonboro Sound, near Wilmington. Before this purchase, he owned a small home in Wilmington that served as his law office. In addition to his home purchase, he was elected to the Provincial Congress Assembly. This assembly meets for forty-two days, and Hooper becomes associated with several up-and-coming leaders such as Samuel Johnston and John Harvey. He shows himself to be a hard worker and introduced three bills during this session, all of which were approved by the Assembly. During his time in the assembly, he attacked Governor Martin in a series of letters. He was paid £20 and 5 shillings for his services. This would be equivalent to £2,270 or $3,477 in today’s money.

He starts 1774 with another land purchase: a beach home called Finian. He owns a small number of slaves, but they steal from him, and this piece of property was not a plantation. The property does have a salt works, and this adds to his income during the war. He would sell salt for about $250.00 per pound. He also encourages his brother, John, to stay in Boston rather than come to North Carolina because of the climate and the lack of a good judicial system.

In the spring of 1774, Governor Mart was using ad hominem attacks against Hooper and other members of the Legislature while rejecting many of the bills the Legislature sent him. This was a difficult year for Hooper financially, as many short assembly sessions took time away from his law practice.[2]  In August of this year, the First Provincial Congress met, and Hooper was elected to the First Continental Congress. As a member of the Wilmington Committee of Safety, he was aware of the Committee of Correspondence’s information. He understands that what is about to happen will require many sacrifices and will be a long, hard, and messy battle for freedom. He also understands that negotiation, while it needs to be attempted, has probably already passed. By August of 1775, the royal government in North Carolina had collapsed, and Governor Martin took refuge at Fort Johnson.

Before the collapse of the royal government in North Carolina, Hooper arrived in Philadelphia on September 12 and took his seat in the First Continental Congress on September 13, 1774. He had traveled 450 miles on horseback with Joseph Hewes, and he was still loyal to the crown but mindful of the necessity of colonial rights. He did think about independence at this time, but it was not a necessity to him. In this session, he was unknown and participated in only two committees. He agrees to the Non-Importation Association, and he travels back to North Carolina to be with his family when Congress adjourns in October of 1774.

His brothers, Thomas and George, were successful merchants in Wilmington who moved there in the early 1770s. Like their brother, Hooper, they were successful, but they had no interest in politics. Eventually, they would be labeled Tories and have some of their property confiscated, but in 1775, they began to get involved in the Committee of Safety. As merchants, they walked a fine line between the British and the Patriot cause to save their business. They showed no inclination to observe the Non-Importation Agreement, which North Carolina had entered into, and they are in the limelight because of Hooper’s activities.

Thomas and George’s involvement in the Revolutionary cause began when the Committee asked them to disclose the amount of gunpowder in their stocks so the colony could protect itself.[3]  The committee would decide that no gunpowder was to be exported or sold in the colony, and the brothers complied with this order. The brothers would continue to report all the goods they received because most of them had been ordered before the 1774 deadline imposed by the Non-Importation Agreement. While the brothers are committed to the cause, this changes by 1775, and they eventually leave North Carolina. George would, on several occasions, reach out to Hooper for help and assistance, but Hooper soon learned this was only when George wanted something and it was profitable for George. All of their shenanigans strained the relationship between the brothers for many years; even the tragic death of George’s newborn son[4] would not heal the relationship between the brothers. Hooper and George had been especially close, but they would never have the same type of relationship as they had before the revolution.

In addition to dealing with his brothers, Hooper was elected to the Second Continental Congress. He travels to Philadelphia by boat with strict instructions not to yield to the British demands and takes his seat on May 10, 1775. He was part of the Marine and Secret committees as well as serving on the postal, treasury, and admiralty courts, and an assortment of other committees. In August of 1775, he traveled back to North Carolina to attend the Provincial Congress in Hillsborough. This was the largest meeting, at the time, and proof positive that the royal government had collapsed. He was appointed to nearly every committee, and his advice was sought in all corners of North Carolina.[5] 

Hooper returns to Congress in October of 1775, but there is no record of his participation until November 2, 1775. This was because he was working on the Transylvania Project, which involved people settling on land granted to the Transylvania Company. Then he requested a leave of absence to survey the military in Boston, which lasted from February to March of 1776. While in Boston, he visits family and then meets with General Washington. Each man is impressed with the other.

In March of 1776, Hooper returned to North Carolina, on leave, to deal with some personal matters. He stayed in North Carolina until the end of the May session, but was re-elected to a third term in the Continental Congress. He was not in Philadelphia for the July 2 vote but returned in time to sign the engrossed documents on August 2. The journals of Congress make no notation of his presence, but through John Adams’ diaries, we know he was there for the signing.[6]  He was the youngest signer from North Carolina and earned £ 2,000 during his final term.[7]

Hooper resigned from Congress in 1777 to address his affairs. He was frustrated with being in Baltimore and wrote, “I earnestly wish that the Congress would return to Philadelphia without hazarding the Ignominy of a second light or charge of Caprice. This dirty boggy hole beggars all description.”[8]  Tired of politics and serving in the Congress, he wrote, “I am weary of politics. It is a study that corrupts the human heart, degrades the idea of human nature, and drives men to the expedients that morality must condemn.”[9]  He also contracted malaria before leaving Congress and had stayed only as long as he did because he was the only North Carolina delegate; if he had left, there would not have been a quorum.

After he returned to Wilmington in May of 1777, Hooper wrote to Robert Morris and explained that he was:

“again appointed a Delegate, but the situation of my own private affairs, the importunity of my wife and little ones, & that delicacy which I felt, as a friend, did not leave me a moment in suspense whether I should decline the honour intended me; and to you who feel the full force of conjugal and paternal effection, and are all alive to the wrongs done to your friends, sure I am, I stand justified.”[10] Additionally, he would write in this letter that “We hear nothing from Congress and are kept in profound ignorance of the state and movements of our Army…I wish however the Journals of Congress were published from day to day, and complete copies diffused through the several states…I thought long ago that patriotism in the ranks of our Army was mere cant, but am now sorry to find that the absence of it has not been supplied but its usual successor, Avarice. It is needless to say that the depreciation of money occasions this backwardness.” 

It is interesting to note that even in the days of our Revolution, they wanted transparency, as well, and could be equally frustrated with the government as modern-day Americans.

From 1777 to 1781, he served in the General Assembly from Wilmington. After taking his seat, Hooper was immediately assigned to six committees. It was uneventful, routine work, but towards the end of his service, he was being left off committees, and it was becoming less interesting to him. Hooper would resume riding the law circuit and reopen his practice. His law practice would soon include defending a loyalist whose property had been confiscated during the war. This would anger some people, but Hooper felt that the treatment of loyalists should be moderate and not severe, unreasonable, or vengeful.

            1780 would be a very profitable year for Hooper, even with the inflated value of money. In one two-week period, he clears about $38,591[11] and charges between $500 and $800 for a variety of cases, but for counterfeit cases, his fee is $1000. However rich those fees sound, costs were high during the war. For example, a pair of cotton hose costs $575, a handkerchief costs $500, an inkstand costs $250, and sugar costs $600 per pound.[12] Between 1780 and 1783, Hooper would earn approximately $280,000 in grossly inflated Continental money.

            While Hooper was doing well professionally and financially, the war hit close to home for him between 1780 and 1781. He lost his home to the British when they arrived in Wilmington, and he tarried in relocating his family, as well, with no good reason to do so. He moved his family into their Wilmington home, but his wife and children had to flee to Hillsborough, as it was set on fire by the British. Mrs. Hooper was ill at the time, and Hooper had contracted malaria while on the run, which would affect him for the rest of his life. He took laudanum, which made him delirious, and Peruvian bark before the fever broke a month later.

            By 1782, although his finances had suffered from the British invasion of North Carolina, he had purchased a new home in Hillsborough from General Francis Nash.[13]  He also returns to his country home, Finian, to begin restoring the property. He hires two additional slaves at £20 each to help with the Salt Works, which is his main source of income. He also begins to ride the circuit again, and his legal career takes off. He would not participate in any public service until March of 1784.

            In 1784, he sat in the Assembly, and since it was meeting in Hillsborough, he did not have to travel as much. Hopper was on several committees, such as the Indian committee and the Impact Study of certificates used to pay soldiers. His political leanings align with those of the Federalist Party.

            Hooper was appointed Judge of the Federal Court by Congress to settle a boundary dispute between New York and Massachusetts in 1786. During that time, he was re-elected to the Assembly, and the session was very busy. He remains in Fayetteville, where the Assembly was meeting, and misses Christmas with his family. This was the first time he had missed Christmas in many years. But the session was not a happy one, for the first time, he was in the role of leader of the opposition. Unfortunately, in 1787, he had to retire due to health problems and had no interest in going to the Constitutional Convention when the idea was presented.

            On October 14, 1790, Hooper passed away in Hillsborough, North Carolina. His death would occur one day before the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth. At the time of his death, he owned 1,835 acres of land and 22 slaves and was the third-largest landowner in Hillsborough. He was buried at Old Town Cemetery, but was reinterred with John Penn at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro in 1894. On top of the tomb, in Greensboro, stands a statue of William Hooper because he was known as a good orator.

Tidbits

He is described as a handsome, graceful gentleman with a charming demeanor and a brilliant mind. He was of medium height and slender.

Would be ill with malaria on several different occasions.

Was viewed as an aristocrat. He was cultivated, fearless, and aloof with people except those whom he loved and those who loved him. He had a sharp tongue and tended towards sarcasm, but this worked well for him when he entered James Otis’s law firm to study.

Hooper and Jefferson did not get along, as Jefferson was jealous of his oratory skills.

John Adams noted that he was one of the great orators of the Congress.

[1] Kneip, Robert Charles III. “William Hooper, 1742-1790: Misunderstood Patriot” (Dissertation Abstracts International, 1981) 32-34

[2] Kneip, Robert Charles III. “William Hooper, 1742-1790: Misunderstood Patriot” 96-99

[3] Kneip, Robert Charles III. “William Hooper, 1742-1790: Misunderstood Patriot” 145

[4] George Hooper left his home in the morning with his wife and newborn son in bed. They fell asleep, and his wife rolled over onto their newborn and smothered him to death. She would awake to find their son dead in bed with her.

[5] Kneip, Robert Charles III. “William Hooper, 1742-1790: Misunderstood Patriot” Dissertation Abstracts International, 1981. 210

[6] Kneip, Robert Charles III. “William Hooper, 1742-1790: Misunderstood Patriot” 264

[7] The reader must remember that this inflated number is due to the inflated value of money at the time.

[8] Kneip, Robert Charles III. “William Hooper, 1742-1790: Misunderstood Patriot” Dissertation Abstracts International, 1981. 327

[9] http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers‑by‑state

[10] Unpublished Letters by William Hooper. The Historical Magazine, and Notes and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History, and Biography of America (1857‑1875), 4, 87.

[11] This amount does not reflect the value of money at the time due to inflation resulting from the war and is misleading to the modern-day reader.

[12] Kneip, Robert Charles III. “William Hooper, 1742-1790: Misunderstood Patriot” Dissertation Abstracts International, 1981. 411 and 414

[13] This structure is still standing, is a private residence, and is a National Historic Landmark.