Until recently I surmised that the elusive Robert Hooker was born in about 1792 and died in 1832. The birth date was based upon the death notice I found as I could find no evidence of a baptism for him.
Recently however, I have been in touch with a new contact Jerry – we were both interested in William Henry Hooker born 1793 – and his investigations have turned up a whole new possibility i.e. that Robert was born much earlier in 1771 and was, in fact, the uncle of William Henry and not his brother as we had previously thought. Interestingly, this possibility of an older Robert was also suggested by my other contact Sam when we met earlier in the year.
The only problem I have with this scenario is that I can find no death notice for this older Robert. It seems fairly certain he was dead, or out of action, by 1827 when his youngest daughter died in the workhouse. His son Robert also died there in 1830 and his wife Elizabeth was also living there in the 1841 census. Unfortunately, the 1841 census does not note the marital status of people. He was certainly dead by 1847 when his wife remarried. So far I have found no suitable death record in those years.
So, do I go for a younger Robert with no birth/baptism record or an older one with no death/burial record?
On evidence I think I will go with the older Robert version – the evidence for that version does not refute any previous findings except the birth date and indeed explains the close relationship between Robert and William Henry. William Henry’s father seems to have disappeared from the scene quite early so Robert may well have been close to his nephew, especially as he himself had no family until he was in his forties.
It is interesting that this change in my thinking is due to the generosity and hard work of my contacts Jerry & Sam – it is lovely to be able to share ideas & information with them and know they are not going glassy eyed with boredom as most people do when the subject of family history arises 🙂