Rev. John Hooke

His son, John, born 1634, died 1710, was minister at Basingstoke. A tablet to the memory of William Hooke may be seen in Center Church, New Haven, and literature of that church says that the property known as "Hooke's Lot" at the corner of College and Chapel Streets, New Haven, which Rev. William Hooke gave to the church upon his departure, when offered for sale to the Trustees of the Collegiate School in 1717, was the inducement which caused Yale University to locate in New Haven rather than Wethersfield or Saybrook. A very interesting thing brought out by the record of this family of Southampton is the fact that it espoused the Cromwellian cause, also that it drew away from the Church of England and became Puritan in belief. Other records indicate that the family was divided during that trying period (see "Rural Life in Hampshire" by W. W. Capes), but it is possible that this served to protect both sides when either was out of sympathy with the government in power. This was proved in one case where one branch of the family interceded with Parliament for rights that had been withdrawn from another branch. (James Hook and Virginia Eller, page 35)