Month: October 2012

Tombstone Tuesday: Albert C Hocker Sr.

Kris Hocker on 30 Oct 2012

Albert Curtin Hocker gravestone

Albert Curtin Hocker gravestone

Albert Curtin Hocker Sr., son of Levi and Anna (Frantz) Hocker, was born 9 September 1860 in Swatara Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He died 24 July 1940 in Cumberland County and was buried 27 July 1940 in Paxtang Cemetery in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He was a farmer and a carpenter. He married Lillian Ainsley Leedy, daughter of Samuel Krehl and Sarah (Parsons) Leedy in 1881. The couple lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania then later moved to a farm in Cumberland County near Newville.

Albert C. Hocker was my great-great grandfather.

George and Elizabeth (Hassler) Hocker

Kris Hocker on 29 Oct 2012

If you’re familiar with William O. Wingeard’s A German-American Hacker-Hocker Genealogy, you might have read the chapter on George Hocker (Frederick4, Johan Adam3, Christoph2, Stephen1). In it Bill freely admits that he had trouble continuing the family line from George and his wife Elizabeth. I’m not afraid to admit that he’s causing me some consternation, too.

George Hocker, son of Frederick and Catharina (Fuchs) Hacker, was born in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania most likely sometime between 1785 and 1790. He was most likely one of the males under 16 years of age in Frederick Hocker’s 1790 census entry and the male 10-16 in Frederick’s 1800 census entry.1 When Frederick died intestate in 1812, his two eldest sons, John and George, were administrators of his estate. The eldest son John renounced his option to take his father’s real estate on 12 April 1812 and the Orphans Court awarded it to the next son George.2

George purchased 26 perches of additional land in Cocalico Township on 11 August 1812.3 On 1 April 1813, George and his wife Elizabeth sold this 26 perches to Jacob Studenroth.4 On 13 May 1813, George sold 150 acres of land formerly of his father’s estate to Michael & Jacob Stine.5 George of Cocalico Township, Lancaster County purchased 177 ¼ acres in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County from Andrew Fahnestock on 26 March 1814.6 George and his wife Elizabeth sold 16 acres of land in Lower Paxton Township, formerly of Andrew Fahnestock, on 4 July 1814 to George Firestone.7

So, a few years after his father’s death, George sold the family farm and moved his family to Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. George Hocker appears in the 1813 tax list for Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County.8 Susquehanna Township was formed in 1815 from part of Lower Paxton Township, and George is listed in tax records there from about 1816 through 1830.9

This provides a general location for the family during the years they would have had children. But who were their children?

Wingeard lists their children as Peter, George Jr. and Christina, but provides no sources for this information. I found several baptisms for children of George and Elizabeth Hocker in Zion Lutheran Church in Harrisburg and Shoop’s Reformed Church in Dauphin County. They included:

  • Catharine, born 11 May 1814, baptized 10 July 181410
  • Sara, born 10 October 1817, baptized 12 December 181711
  • Andrew, born 18 September 1819, baptized 26 December 181912
  • Daniel, born 10 April 1821, baptized 22 July 182113
  • Eli, born 25 August 1823, baptized 29 February 182414

I believe I found George Hocker in Upper Swatara Township—which adjoins Susquehanna Township—in the 1830 census.15 The household included:

George Hocker 1830 US Census

George Hocker, 1830 US Census, Upper Swatara Township

  • 2 males 5 to 10 (Daniel, Eli)
  • 1 male 10 to 15 (Andrew)
  • 1 male 20 to 30 (George or Peter?)
  • 1 male 30 to 40 (?)
  • 1 male 40 to 50 (George Sr.)
  • 1 female < 10 (?)
  • 2 females 10 to 15 (Sarah, Catharina)
  • 1 female 15 to 20 (?)
  • 1 female 40 to 50 (Elizabeth)

Based on this census, it would appear that George and Elizabeth may have had a son, born ca 1800-1810, and a daughter, born circa 1810-1825, in addition to the children listed in the baptismal records. While there may have been older children who were married and no longer at home, the male aged 30-40 is too old to have been a child of this couple. I haven’t been able to find this family in the 1810 or 1820 census records and I think, but am not sure, that they may have been back in Lancaster County in 1840. After that, I have no clues—no census, tax, death or estate records.

I’ve traced the family of Daniel Hocker and have marriage information for his sister Sara and brother Andrew. This information will be included in A Hacker-Hocker Family. It was not in A German-American Hacker-Hocker Genealogy. I also have information on George [Jr.] and Peter Hocker, but am in doubt about whether or not they belong to this family—they may belong to George’s uncle, Johan George Hacker and his wife Christina Miller.

I may also have to chase down the possibility that George had a son named John. The 1827-1830 tax lists for Susquehanna Township show, not only George Hocker, but also a single man named John Hocker. He would have been born circa 1806 (or maybe earlier), but would not have married prior to 1830. In 1830, both George and John’s names are crossed off the tax list, with a notation of “Pottsgrove” for George Hocker. Did they leave for Northumberland County? I’ve also noted entries for a single man George Jr. in 1828, 1832 and 1833 with the 1833 entry crossed off and “gone” written in. If these are all members of the same family—father and sons—then they all left Susquehanna Township by 1830 and 1833.

The consistency of entries for George Hocker in the Susquehanna tax records from 1816 through 1830, the 1813 Lower Paxton Township tax entry, and the 1814 land purchase in Lower Paxton—most likely in a portion that became part of Susquehanna Township in 1815—point to Frederick’s son George Hocker. What happened to him after 1830? And what was his relationship to the John and George Jr. in the Susquehanna Township tax records? These are questions I’ll be trying to answer. Stay tuned.

Follow-up: From Deed to Land Warrant and Back Again

Kris Hocker on 28 Oct 2012

John Hoover 1752 Conestoga Township land patent
John Hoover 1752 Conestoga Township land patent

John Hoover 1752 Conestoga twp land patent

In my last post, “From Deed to Land Warrant and Back Again,” I found that John Huber had patented 25 acres in Conestoga in right of Michael Hess and surveyed a 110-acre tract that he had purchased from Jacob Eshleman. My next step was to determine what happened to this tract. Did John sell it or perhaps leave it to his heirs?

I was unable to locate a deed of sale from John Hoover. However, I found two deeds documenting the later sale of these tracts. One deed was from Leonard May for a mortgage on the property from Joseph Cauffman.1 May had purchased the land from Daniel Keeports of Lampeter Township in 1765. The second was from Daniel Keenports, selling the land to David Hess.2 Leonard May and his wife Christina had sold the land back to Keeports/Keenports on 23 August 1768.

Jacob Eshleman Conestoga Township tract

Jacob Eshleman Conestoga Twp tract

While there is no explicit mention of John Hoover in these documents, the description of the properties is a match to those previously owned by John Hoover. He had apparently either sold the tracts to Daniel Keeports—or someone who then sold it to Daniel Keeports—sometime before 10 January 1765 when Keeports sold it to Leonard May.

John—presumably this one—had inherited his father’s land up the Pequea in Conestoga Township in 1757.3 He, then, sold this property on 10 Oct 1767 to Melchoir and Anna (Good) Brenneman.4 It is believed he left the county soon after.

John Hoover of “Timber Hill”

Kris Hocker on 26 Oct 2012

John Huber's Timber Hill tract

In reviewing some information on John Hoover (Ulrich1), I came across the following: “May also be the John [Hoover] who had 50 acres surveyed on May 10, 1768, in York Co. called “Timber Hill.”1 It sounded familiar, so I looked it up. The tract was warranted to Andrew Hershey on 24 October 1738 and patented to John Hoover on 17 August 1772 for 146 acres and 80 perches, Patent AA13:193.2

I recalled seeing land transactions between Andrew Hershey and John Hoover—although in connection to another Hoover family—and decided to dig a little deeper. John is a very common name. Which John Hoover patented Timber Hill?

John Huber's Timber Hill tract

John Hoover’s Timber Hill tract in Manheim Township

John Hoover had 140 acres known as “Timber Hill” in Manheim township surveyed on 10 May 1768.3 This land was adjacent other lands of Andrew Hershey, Jacob Bollinger, Thomas Wilson and Mark Furney. Ownership of this land must have been contested at one point, because there were multiple surveys, including several in the name of Jacob Gotshalk.

Jacob Gotshalk had applied for a patent on this land in 1767, but apparently never lived on it according to several later surveys.4 In any case, John Hoover purchased the rights to the land from Gotshalk in 1771 for £35.5 In this deed John Hoover was of Hempfield Township, Lancaster County. John Hoover, Miller, of Hempfield and his wife Ann sold this tract and another that they’d inherited from her father Andrew Hershey to Jacob Burkhard in 1775.6

Andrew Hershey made his will on 9 December 1754, it was probated on 19 February 1755 and left his property—except for one tract left by name to his grandson Christian Hershey—to be divided equally amongst his heirs.7 In 1766, Andrew’s heirs—including John and Anna Hoober—quitclaimed a tract in Hempfield Township to Benjamin Hershey.8

While I don’t know for certain where John Hoover (Ulrich1) was after he sold his father’s tract in Conestoga Township on 10 Oct 1767, I do know that at that time his wife’s name as Mary.9 Furthermore, John Hoover of Hempfield and wife Anna bought and sold property in Hempfield and Manheim Townships, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania from the 1760s through the 1780s—a period that overlaps John Hoover’s (Ulrich1) life in and eventual disappearance from Conestoga Township.

From these records, I would conclude that John Hoover (Ulrich1) was not the man who patented Timber Hill. Instead, it appears to me that John Huber of Hempfield Township was. This John Hoover was most likely the son of Christian Hoover of Hempfield Township who died prior to 27 November 1757. John lived his entire life in Hempfield Township. He wrote his will on 30 August 1798 and it was probated in Lancaster County on 17 September 1803.10

Writing My Family Genealogy ~ The Tools

Kris Hocker on 24 Oct 2012

Writing My Family Genealogy

The last time I blogged about writing my family genealogy, I discussed the process of determining the content and format of the book. I touched a little on the tools I’ve tried, but not specifics of what applications I’ve used. So, let’s talk tools.

Genealogy Program

Christopher Fritz posted an article on using Gramps, his genealogy software of choice, to write his book. I’ve never used Gramps, so I can’t speak to its abilities. I use Reunion and I thought about using it to generate the book. I even went so far as to include the content for each person from A German-American Hacker-Hocker Genealogy in their record. I, then, created a “Register Report” and included the specific fields and notes that I wanted in the book.

The resulting report included the information I wanted and numbered everyone correctly, but I had several issues. First, there were formatting problems. It’s a register report, so it used the Register Style for a numbering system. I want to use the NGSQ style. Major problem! Also, it included the source information as endnotes, not footnotes.

Also, I include the facts regarding an ancestor—as I find them—in Reunion, not just my conclusions. This means that I may have multiple entries for date of birth or death. Including all this detail is unnecessary and potentially confusing to readers. I just want to tell the story as I’ve deduced it from my research.

Additionally, I think the text generated in the report is stilted and repetitive. But, more importantly, I find it nearly impossible to write a narrative in my genealogy program. It just doesn’t work for me.

Word Processors

My next step was to move to a word processor—Microsoft Word. It’s a powerful tool and can do just about everything I need—with the exception of NGSQ style numbering for lists within lists. The problem I had with it was that it was too powerful.

Word has so many features, it can be difficult to figure out how to use. And when I used the more advanced feature of “master documents” to manage my large, unwieldy, and difficult-to-find-anything document, I found it difficult to come back to the manuscript after any time away from it, because I would have to figure out how to use it all over again before I could start writing!

I, then, turned to a writing tool I’d used for creative writing—Scrivener. This software was designed for writers and makes it really, really easy to organize chapters, sub-chapters and so on. It’s even easy to re-organize chapters. But, while I love Scrivener, I found that for this project, I need to see the document in it’s correct format while I write. Scrivener is for writing books, not formatting content.

So, I moved on to Apple’s Pages. It’s a simplified word processor. It doesn’t have the features or power of Microsoft Word—doesn’t even do indexing, but it allows me to easily format the content as I write. So far I’m satisfied with it’s abilities. I’m not overwhelmed with options and I can do what I need to do. And at 218 pages, the book hasn’t yet become too unwieldy.

At some point I will need to transfer the manuscript back into Microsoft Word for some final formatting. An ebook or PDF version will be fine without an index because the reader can easily search for a specific name or place. However, an index is a must-have for a printed book. Word is the only program I have where I can create one from the manuscript.

Note:
I didn’t go into detail on what any of these programs can and can’t do. If you’re interested in learning more about any of them, leave a comment and I’ll write a more detailed post on that program.

Obituary: George Walker

Kris Hocker on 23 Oct 2012

WALKER – At the age of 85 years, George Walker at his residence at Marsh Creek, on Friday of last week. He was the father of twenty-six children. The funeral took place on Sunday.1

In 1891, the 3rd of April was a Friday.2 So according to his obituary, George Walker died the week prior on the 27th of March and was buried on the 5th of April.

George Walker was married twice, first to Catherine Walker and second to Mary Ellen Woods. Catherine had 12 children; Mary Ellen had 14.3

Friday Finds: Judge William Adam Hocker Portrait

Kris Hocker on 12 Oct 2012

It’s always great to find an photo or image of an ancestor or relative. This one was an unexpected find… and delight!

Judge William Adam Hocker

Judge William Adam Hocker (Florida Supreme Court)

William Adam Hocker, son of William and Susannah Mildred (Lewis) Hocker, was born 5 Dec 1844 in Buckingham County, Virginia.  He married Gertrude Alice Venable, daughter of Thomas Frederick and Mary Priscilla (Venable) Venable, on 11 Nov 1868 in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia and then Mattie Norvell Glover on 1 Dec 1909 in Roanoke, Virginia. He died in Jacksonville, Ocala County, Florida on 16 Jul 1918. Justice Hocker had five children with his first wife: Mary Venable (Hocker) Lovell, William Hocker, Lucy Lewis Hocker, Alice Walton (Hocker) Drake, and Frederick Roche Hocker.

He was educated at Hampden-Sidney College and the University of Virginia and admitted to the bar in Virginia in 1868. He moved to Florida in 1874 where he served as States Attorney from 1877 to his resignation in 1886. He was a judge in the 5th Judicial Circuit between 1893 and 1901, served on the Supreme Court Commission in 1901-1903 and was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida from 1903 to 1915.

Justice Hocker was my 3rd cousin 5 times removed. His great grandfather, Johan Georg Hacker, was the brother of my 6 times great grandfather, Johan “Hans” Adam Hacker.

Image Credit: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/34483