Hooker family papers

The Hooker Family Papers, 1790 to 1963 are arranged in five sections: correspondence, 1820 to 1930; financial and legal papers, 1790 to 1920; diaries and petty cash books, 1852 to 1926; miscellaneous papers, 1820 to 1963; and photograph albums, ca 1860's - 1890's. Sixteen of the twenty-seven boxes contain correspondence.

The main body of the correspondence in the papers is written to Susan Pamela Huntington Hooker (1841-1928) by her children, in-laws, and peers. These letters reveal many of the social attitudes of the day. Especially noteworthy are the concerns of women in this era; late 1800's and early 1900's. In reading the correspondence one develops a feel for how child-raising, loneliness, managing households, the illnesses were dealt with. Within the collection are several distinct groups of letters. The earlier correspondence, 1820-1840, consists of land and business transactions carried out mainly by James Hooker (1792-1858) and Horace Hooker (1794-1865). Other business oriented correspondence, 1830-1840, was written by members of the Huntington family. Of particular interest are two scrapbooks dating from 1862 to 1864 which contain letters written by Susan Huntington Hooker to her husband Horace B. Hooker during the Civil War. The letters from 1890 to 1910 revolve around the college life of Susan Hooker's children including several journeys abroad to Europe and Jamaica. Many of the letters from 1893 relate to the Chicago World's Fair.

The two boxes of financial and legal papers, 1790-1890, contain material relating to the early Hooker family. The financial papers consist mainly of account rosters of Helen (Wolcott) Hooker; Chloe Wolcott, mother of Helen (Wolcott) Hooker; and Horace Hooker, husband of Helen (Wolcott) Hooker. The remaining papers are promissory notes involving the Hookers, Wolcotts, and others.

The legal papers deal with land and real estate in Carthage, New York, now part of Rochester. The majority of the deeds involve Elisha Beebe Strong, who formed a land company with Herman Norton and Elisha Beach and pioneered the settlement of Carthage. Many of the deeds involved three of Dolly (Hooker) Strong's brothers, Henry (1803-1893), James (1792-1858), and Horace Hooker (1794-1865). Along with the deeds and promissory notes exists a folder of tax receipts and records, 1844-1870.

The diaries and petty cash books, 1852-1926, contain sporadic entries concerning daily life. The majority of the books belong to Alcesta F. Huntington (1837-1919), who was the older sister of Susan H. Hooker.

Four of the boxes contain a variety of miscellaneous material. The first box contains financial and legal papers related to the later (1800's and early 1900's) Hooker family. Principle contents are Hooker Process patents, 1880's and 1890's, and foreign patents, 1880's; deeds and documents re: Mandarin Cottage in Florida, 1899, 1940, 1943-44. Other papers deal with the Jarley Wax Works. The wills and related correspondence of Calvin Huntington, 1896; Elon Huntington, 1906; Charles Cole, 1890; Henry C. Hooker, 1907, are included within this box. Also present is campaign material for Elon Huntington Hooker who sought the Republican nomination for New York governor in 1920.

The second of these boxes mainly contains the literary work of Susan P. Huntington Hooker. There are eight folders of her essays and notes including a folder with material and notes about the history of Carthage, read before the Rochester Historical Society on March 10, 1902. (This paper was published as "The Rise and Fall of Carthage" in the Rochester Historical Association, Publication Fund Series, Vol. II (1923) p. 204-232). Contract correspondence with the Madden Music Company, 1906 to 1907 and correspondence about the historical pageant of 1893 are included. There are two folders comprised of poetry and prose written by several members of the Hooker family.

The last two of these boxes contain a wide variety of small notebooks, copy books, tributes, bills, newspaper articles, and post cards relating to members of both the Huntington and Hooker families.

Boxes 25 to 27 hold six photograph albums, three of which date from the 1860's-1880's and contain photographs of the Hooker family, cousins, and others. One album contains photographs from a trip to Europe in the 1890' s, another contains individual photographs of Union Civil War soldiers. The remaining album bears photographs of a variety of people not directly related to the Hooker or Huntington families.