George Hooker - Bishop Post, G.A.R.

Most sources agree that George Hooker was born on August 11, 1846, in Maumee City, Ohio.  He was enumerated with his parents in Lucas County in both 1860 and 1870 along with his siblings, Charles Edward and Elizabeth.  His father was a brick mason and by 1870, George and his brother were working in the same occupation.
In the 1870 census, his mother, called Eliza, was 58 and noted to be insane.  Sister Elizabeth was "keeping house."  

In July, 1863, George was listed in the Civil War Draft Registration in Springfield Township, Lucas County.  But George had already enlisted and was serving in the 1st Ohio Artillery. His pension card added that he was in Battery H of the Light Artillery.

He was just 17 when he enlisted on August 5, 1862, for three years.  He served mainly in Virginia and Pennsylvania, with presence at Winchester, Fredricksburg, and Chancellorsville, Virginia, and the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.  A monument stands to the Ohio 1st Light Artillery, Company H, called the Huntington Battery, at one end of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg.

This battery consisted of 123 men and 6 ordnance rifles who fought valiantly at Gettysburg on July 2nd and 3rd, 1863.  They took part in 12 general engagements, including the siege of Petersburg later, according to the official record.  At Gettysburg, 2 were killed, 1 mortally wounded and 4 wounded.  

In the 1890 Veterans Census, George reported that he suffered a disability because a gun fell on him and smashed his back and foot.  No mention is made where the incident occurred nor the nature of the gun.  Despite this, George mustered out with his unit on June 14, 1865 at Cleveland, Ohio.

On March 15, 1870, Sarah Elizabeth Smith became the wife of George Hooker.  They settled on the Brunersburg Road by the 1880 census.  George worked as a plasterer, and he and Sarah Elizabeth had two sons, Charles E. (Edward) and George L.  (Leroy). 

It would appear that the George Hooker family lived in the Defiance area for about fifteen or twenty years.  Like many of the G.A.R. men, George was involved in the Defiance community.  He served as a fireman and was financial secretary for the group in 1877.  In 1882, he ran for assessor of Defiance Township and lost to E.H. Gleason, but he was appointed delegate to the Republican City Convention that year, representing the 3rd ward.  That same year, he ran for Sheriff and lost to J. Sheffield.  M. J. Rourke defeated him when he ran for Defiance Township constable in both 1885 and 1887.

He kept his military years close by participating in a number of events related to them.

Defiance Democrat, February 10, 1876

 

Defiance County Express, April 2, 1885

Sometime between 1887 and 1890, George and Elizabeth moved to Seattle, Kings County, Washington.  It was there that he was enumerated on the 1890 Veterans Census.  He lived on Seventeenth Avenue in Seattle in the 1900 census, along with his wife, his son, Charles E., 29, a druggist, and Charles' wife, Catherine.  George reported that he worked as a brick mason at the age of 51.  In 1910, George had the job of department assessor for the city of Seattle and they had their own home at 14th Cor. S.

The last census that George appeared in was in 1920, in Los Angeles, California. He was living as a roomer with Martha Mallery and her daughter and son-in-law. His other son, Leroy, lived in California, so the move there was understandable.  But where was Sarah? She was in Los Angeles, too - a roomer at a different place on West 7th Street.  68 years old and born in Indiana - that's her.  What was happening?

George Hooker died on May 7, 1923, at the age of 76 in Glendale California. He iwas buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery there.  No obituary could be located for either George or Sarah Elizabeth, called Bessie, who died in 1928.

www.findagrave.com

(This is part of a series on Civil War veterans of Defiance County who were part of the G.A.R., Bishop Post, that headquartered in the city.  Formed in 1879, the post was named after a local man, Captain William Bishop, Company D, 100th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Army who died as a result of wounds received in battle.  The veterans' photos are part of a composite photo of members that has survived.  If you have other information or corrections to add to the soldiers' stories, please add to the comments!)