John Hooker John Hooker (1816-1901) was an American lawyer, judge, and abolitionist as well as a reformer for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

. He married

Isabella Beecher Hooker Isabella Beecher Hooker (February 22, 1822 – January 25, 1907) was a leader, lecturer and social activist in the American suffragist movement. Early life Isabella Holmes Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the fifth child and secon ...

in 1841 and lived in Farmington and Hartford, Connecticut. With his brother-in-law,

Francis Gillette Francis Gillette (December 14, 1807 – September 30, 1879) was a politician from Connecticut, USA. He was the father of actor and playwright William Gillette and politician and editor Edward H. Gillette. Gillette was born in Old Windsor, ...

, he purchased 140 acres in 1853, and they established the Hartford neighborhood known as " Nook Farm." Nook Farm was a community of reformers, politicians, writers and friends;

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

, and Charles Dudley Warner were the most famous residents.

Life and career

John and Isabella Hooker House, Hartford, CT - August 2022

In John Hooker's memoir ''Some Reminiscences of a Long Life'', he mentioned that he was the son of Edward Hooker, who was the fifth in direct descent from

Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding spea ...

, the first minister of the First Church of Hartford and the founder of Connecticut. John Hooker also experienced the Amistad case first hand in Farmington, Connecticut. His memoir alludes to the fact that his law office in Farmington on the store's second floor in the 1840s. His office was also next to an African men from Amistad captives. The building was originally on Main Street next to the Deming's house, and later moved to the Mill Lane in the 1930s. John and Isabella Beecher Hooker raised three children in their home in Nook Farm at the corner of Forest and Hawthorn Streets. Under his wife's influence, he was an advocate in the

movement and supported his sister-in-law, Harriet Beecher Stowe, during the initiation of her activist career. John and Isabella Beecher Hooker composed "A Woman's Property Bill", published in 1877. John Hooker was an active abolitionist throughout his legal career. For instance, he was instrumental in helping Reverend James W.C. Pennington gain his freedom from his Maryland slave owner for $150 when Reverend Pennington was a minister at the Talcott Street Congregational Church, an African-American church in Hartford, Connecticut. This financial arrangement helped Pennington feel safe in the north, and Reverend Pennington returned from exile in Europe to continue his career as an African-American minister. John Hooker was also the president of an anti-slavery committee in Hartford and organized the liberty convention on October 27, 1846. John Hooker served as a congregational deacon, and he also accepted the beliefs of the Spiritualism movement whose members thought it was possible to communicate with spirits of the dead.

Charter Oak Newspaper (1838)

Charter Oak was an anti-slavery 19th century newspaper. It was published by the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society of Hartford, and the Charter Oak's masthead carried the motto, "Free Principles–Free Men–Free Speech–And A Free Press. Digital copies can be found at the Connecticut State Library's Newspapers of Connecticut collection.

Married Women's Property Act

Married Women's Property Act, or A Woman's Property Bill, was a Connecticut state act that was enacted in 1877. It contributed to women's rights movement and aimed to give women more "power" within the family. The act states: "This legislation enabled a married woman to control her own property and to sue and to be sued in the same manner as her husband."

References

External links

History of the first African-American Church in Hartford, Connecticut

Charter Oak Newspaper

Farmington Historical Society

Hartford Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, John American abolitionists 1816 births 1901 deaths People from Farmington, Connecticut People from Hartford, Connecticut Activists from Connecticut American suffragists