William Adams Hocker (December 5, 1844 – July 17, 1918) was a justice of the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and one ...

from January 6, 1903, to January 5, 1915. Born in

Buckingham County, Virginia Buckingham County is a rural United States county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and containing the geographic center of the state. Buckingham County is part of the Piedmont region of Virginia, and the county seat is Buckingham. B ...

,"William A. Hocker", ''The Ocala Evening Star'' (July 18, 1918), p. 2.Erik Robinson, "Florida Supreme Court Justices: List of Life Dates", Florida Supreme Court Historical Society (June 2010).Joseph A. Boyd Jr., Randall Reder,
A History of the Florida Supreme Court
, ''University of Miami Law Review'' (1981), p. 1043-1047. to William Hocker and Susan Mildred Lewis, Hocker was descended from early Virginia settler

Ambrose Cobbs Ambrose Cobbs (1603 – c. 1655) was an early Virginia colonist and planter who established the long lasting social and political Cobb dynasty in the southern states. Life Ambrose Cobbs was born in 1603 in Kent, England. He was the son of Ambro ...

. He served in

Fitzhugh Lee Fitzhugh Lee (November 19, 1835 – April 28, 1905) was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was the son of Sydney Smi ...

's cavalry during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, and his company was General Lee's bodyguard at Appomattox. Hocker studied law at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, and in November 1868, he married Gertrude Venable and settled near

Leesburg, Florida Leesburg is a city in central Florida. The population was 20,117 at the 2010 census. As of 2019, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 23,671. Leesburg is in Lake County, between Lake Harris and Lake Griffin, at the head of the ...

, in 1874. In 1891, he served in the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

, and as a state's attorney. He served as a delegate to the

Florida Constitutional Convention of 1885 Florida's Constitution of 1885, its fifth, was drawn up by the Constitutional Convention of 1885. The convention was held from June 9, 1885 until August 3, 1885 in Tallahassee, Florida "for the purpose of reforming the "Carpetbag" Constitution of 1 ...

. He moved to Ocala in 1892, where he became circuit judge for the fifth circuit from 1893 to 1901, when the Florida Legislature addressed the court's increasing workload "by authorizing the court to appoint three attorneys to act as commissioners and assist the court in performing its duties", with Hocker being appointed along with James F. Glen and Evelyn C. Maxwell. These appointments lasted until 1902, at which time Hocker was elected to a seat on the Florida Supreme Court vacated by the retirement of Chief Justice Milton H. Mabry. Hocker occupied the position for twelve years. In 1909 he was married the second time to Mattie N. Glover of Roanoke, Virginia. He retired from the court in 1915 due to failing health. Hocker died in Jacksonville, where he had been taken to a sanitarium for an operation."Judge W. A. Hocker", ''The Miami Herald'' (July 20, 1918), p. 2. He was survived by his second wife, and three of his four children.

References

1844 births 1918 deaths People from Buckingham County, Virginia People of Virginia in the American Civil War University of Virginia School of Law alumni Members of the Florida House of Representatives Justices of the Florida Supreme Court 19th-century American judges 19th-century American legislators 19th-century Florida politicians {{Florida-state-judge-stub