Kenelm Hooker of Blaston

Kenelm Hooker

Kenelm Hooker (aka Kenellyme) was born about 1525 in Blaston, Leicestershire, England, the son of Thomas Hooker and Cecely (Unknown). It is uncertain who his wife was. His son was Thomas Hooker 1553-1635 discussed below. He died November 8, 1601 in Blaston, Leicestershire, England. Please see the section "Incorrect Parents" before making any changes to these profiles.

Thomas Hooker

He married Susannah (Pym?). They were married in 1583 in Marefield, Tilton, Leicestershire, England. They had three known children:

• Reverend Thomas Hooker, Jr. b. July 5, 1586 m. Susanna Garbrand
• John Hooker b. 1588
• Dorothy Hooker b. about 1588 m. John Chester and George Alcock

He died of Bubonic Plague. on 24 July 1635 in Marefield, Tilton, Leicestershire, England. He was buried on 24 July 1635 in Marefield, Tilton, Leicestershire, England.

Biography

The following is from Ernest Flagg, Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England My Ancestors Part in that Undertaking (Hartford 1926) p 324-5.[1]

"HOOKER. Thomas Hooker of Marefield in the parish of Tilton was the father of Rev. Thomas Hooker1, the emigrant. He occupied, in 1586, land in Frisbye and Gaddesby, co. Leicester. The parish register of Tilton records the burial of Thomas Hooker of Marefield, July 24, 1635; administration of his estate was granted to his eldest son, John Hooker, in the Archdeacon's court at Leicester, Jan. 11, 1637; and he is there described as Thomas Hooker of Marefield, in the parish of Tilton, gentleman. The Tilton Begister, under date of April, 1631, gives the burial of Mrs. Hooker, wife of Mr. Hooker of Marefield; probably the wife of Thomas* (N. E. Beg., 44, p. 398; Ibid., 47, pp. 189-192; Memorial History of Hartford Co., 1, p. 245.) The Bev. Geo. L. Walker, D.D., in a contribution to the Memorial History of Hartford Co., (1, p. 277), says: " This little hamlet of Marefield is one of four tithings or towns which make up the parish of Tilton and contains but five houses, having had six at the time of Hooker's birth." The only children of Thomas Hooker* who are known, were Thomas1, John and Dorothy, wife of John Chester of Blaby, co. Leicester, and mother of Leonard Chester of Watertown, Mass., and Wethersfield, Conn. (Savage, p. 375; Ibid., 3, p. 416.) The family was related to William Phillips of Hartford. (Savage 1, p. 53; Ibid., 3, p. 416.) Mather in his Magnalia says of Rev. Thomas Hooker1, that he " was born at Marefield in Leicestershire, about the year 1586, of parents that were neither unable or unwilling to bestow upon him a liberal education." (Book 3, part 1, appendix, ed. of 1853, vol. 1, p. 33.) The father of Thomas Hooker* was"

1. Kenelm Hooker* of Blaston, co. Leicester, who was the only son of
2. Thomas Hooker" or Hoker of the same place, whose will, dated Sept. 2, 1559, was proved Jan. 27, 1561-2 by Cecilia his relict and executor. It is supposed that this Thomas Hooker" held some stewardship or like office under the Digby Family, who possessed estates in this part of Leicestershire. Kenellyme Digby, Esq., is a witness, and is named a supervisor of the will. The son was evidently named from this Kenelm or Kenellyme Digby.

"The will of John Hooker of Marefield, co. Leicester, brother of Rev. Thomas Hooker1 of Hartford, is printed in the N. E. Beg., 44, pp. 397-398. He is described as " John Hooker of Marfield in the county of Leicester, gentleman." The date is January 1, 1654. The will was proved November 26, 1655. It mentions cousin William Junnings and his wife; cousin Samuel Hooker, student in New England; cousin Elizabeth Erricke; her daughter Abigail; cousin Alice Burton; cousin Bebecca Webster; cousin Catherine Coge; William and John Junnings, two sons of John Junnings ( ?) of Chilcott in Denbighshire; Elizabeth and Dorothy, the two daughters of the said Junnings; cousin John Hooker, student in Oxford, and the children of " my sister " Frances Tarlton of London. "

"Samuel Hooker, named in the will as a "student in New England," and John Hooker, as a "student in Oxford," were sons of Rev. Thomas Hooker1. Samuel graduated at Harvard College in 1653. At the date of the will he was a Fellow of the College. He was settled in 1661 as the minister at Farmington, Conn., where he died Nov. 5 or 6, 1697, aged 62. (See sketch of his life in Sibley's Harvard Graduates, vol. i, pp. 348-52.) John Hooker, brother of Samuel "in 1660," according to Miss Talcott, "became vicar of Marsworth in Buckinghamshire, and in 1699 was presented by Sir Edward Pye, Bart., to be rector of Leckhampstead in the same county. He died in 1684 and was hurried at Marsworth."[1]

Incorrect Parents

Leslie Mahler the undisputed authority on this family has published several articles relating to the English Origins of Hooker and Garbrand Family. He points to the work of Ernest Flagg, Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England My Ancestors Part in that Undertaking (Hartford 1926) p 324-5 above and called Ernest Flagg one of the greatest genealogists of his time. Leslie Mahler has seen no need to update this portion of his work. Other sources published since this time have upheld this work.[2][3][4]

However, an earlier book published in 1909 by Edward Hooker called "The descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker, Hartford, Connecticut, 1586-1908 : being an account of what is known of Rev. Thomas Hooker's family in England : and more particularly concerning himself and his influence upon the early history of our country : also all items of interest which it has been possible to gather concerning the early generations of Hookers and their descendants in America." incorrectly printed a pedigree showing Thomas Hook as son of Member of Parliament John Hooker of Devonshire See page XI here. This claim was broadly copied. However, as the detail of the will above naming the New England family shows this pedigree was unsubstantiated.[5]

Burial

Find A Grave 56534264[3]

Sources

• 1 Ernest Flagg, Genealogical Notes on the Founding of New England My Ancestors Part in that Undertaking (Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood & Brainard 1926) p 324-5 link
• 2 Lucius Barnes Barbour, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut (Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Com, 1977 - 1982) p 310 - 311 link
• 3 Edmund James Cleveland, The genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland families : an attempt to trace in both the male and the female lines the posterit (artford, Conn.: Printed for the subscribers by the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1899) Vol I p 478 Hooker link
• 4 William Seymour Tyler, Autobiography of William Seymour Tyler, D.D., LL.D., and related papers : with a genealogy of the ancestors of Prof. and Mrs. William S. Tyler (Priv. print., 1912) p 307 Link
• 5 Edward Hooker, The descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker, Hartford, Connecticut, 1586-1908 : being an account of what is known of Rev. Thomas Hooker's family in England : and more particularly concerning himself and his influence upon the early history of our country : also all items of interest which it has been possible to gather concerning the early generations of Hookers and their descendants in America (Rochester, N.Y. : Margaret Huntington Hooker, 1909) p XI link
• 6 Find A Grave 56534264