William Howard Hoople

William Howard Hoople (August 6, 1868 – September 29, 1922) was an American businessman and religious figure. He was a prominent leader of the American Holiness movement; the co-founder of the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, one of the antecedent groups that merged to create the Church of the Nazarene; rescue mission organizer; an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, and first superintendent of the New York District of the Church of the Nazarene; YMCA worker; baritone gospel singer; successful businessman and investor; and inventor.

Early years

Family background

Hoople was born in Herkimer, New York, on August 6, 1868, the oldest child and only son of Canadian immigrants William Gordon Hoople (born April 3, 1841, in Dickinson's Landing, Eastern District, Upper Canada; died December 28, 1908, of "acute indigestion" in New York), an Episcopalian clerk employed by his uncle, and Agnes T. Blackburn (born March 1844 in Osnabruck Township, Eastern District, Upper Canada; died 1915), an Episcopalian school teacher. William and Agnes, were childhood sweethearts who grew up in Osnabruck in Stormont County, Ontario, near the Long Sault just across the Saint Lawrence River from Upstate New York, an area had been settled originally by the 1st Battalion of Sir John Johnson's King's Royal Regiment of New York (also known informally as the Royal New Yorkers and the Royal Greens) after the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783. WG Hoople had been born on a farm on the banks of Hoople's Creek granted about 1797 to his grandfather Henry Hoople (born 1760 in Cherry Valley, New York; died 1838 in Stormont, Ontario, Canada) on the Second Concession by the British government as reward for fighting for the Loyalist cause. "Willie" Gordon Hoople was born after the death of his grandfather, however the farm was supervised by his grandmother, Henry's widow, Mary Whitmore "Granny" Hoople (born in New Jersey in 1767; died 1858), who, after the massacre of her parents and two siblings on Easter Day, March 26, 1780, had been abducted from the family farm at Mud Creek (now Jerseytown, Pennsylvania) by the Delaware Indians and lived among them for seven years. After their marriage in 1788, Mary and Henry had twelve children: nine sons and three daughters, with Willie's father, Joseph Hoople (born 1809 in Newington, Ontario; died 1892 in Newington). being the eleventh child and youngest son.

In April 1862 William G. Hoople migrated to New York City, in the same month as the second marriage of his father. After three years of advanced education in a New York academy financed by his uncle, in 1865 W.G. entered the firm of his uncle, William Henry Hoople (born 1805 in Ontario, Canada; died June 17, 1895, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, age 89), a widower who was also a prosperous businessman, whose son, William H. Hoople, Jr., had refused to enter the family business.''Hoople Creek'', 118. WH Hoople had founded Van Nostrand & Hoople in 1832 with John Van Nostrand at 38 Ferry Street, near the corner with Cliff Street, in an area of lower Manhattan known as "The Swamp", the fetid southeastern blocks of the city centred on Jacob and Ferry Streets just east of City Hall, that had been "the (stinking) locus of the tanning and leather currying industry" since the late 1690s. This firm sold tanning materials and dyes.

After two years working for his uncle in a clerical position, W.G. Hoople returned to Canada to marry Agnes at the Long Sault (now South Stormont), Ontario on June 26, 1867. Soon after William Howard Hoople's birth in August 1868, the family moved from Herkimer to New York city. W.G. Hoople acquired US citizenship on July 27, 1869, at which time the family resided at 117 2nd Avenue (at the corner with Seventh Street) in what was then in the Little Germany section of the Lower East Side of New York City. By 1870 the family had relocated to Jamaica, Queens, where WG Hoople lived with his wife; his widowed mother-in-law, Sarah Blackburn; and his son, William Howard Hoople; and a servant. Subsequently their family was enlarged through the births of his three daughters:
* Mary Edith Hoople Staebler (born 19 April 1870 in Jamaica, Long Island, New York; died 1955);
* Clara L. Hoople (born 1873 in New York; died 1873); and
* Bessie Maude Hoople Nichols (born June 1880 in New York; died 1966).

After the retirement of his uncle in 1870, and after five years "learning the ropes", W.G. Hoople became a partner and managed Van Nostrand & Hoople, until his uncle's death on 17 June 1895. As a reward for his stewardship, W.G. Hoople received a sizable inheritance of $55,000 in real estate from his uncle. The success of his various business enterprises resulted in William G. Hoople becoming a multi-millionaire. In 1870 Hoople, in partnership with Edward Everett Androvette, established Hoople & Androvette, dealers in tanning materials and dyes, at 250 Front Street, New York city, a five-story building that they purchased in September 1902. Also in 1870 W.G. Hoople and Loring Andrew Robertson (born November 12, 1828, in Windham, New York; died October 9, 1890, in New York) formed Robertson & Hoople, which traded as a leather merchant. On January 3, 1884 W.G. Hoople and Robertson incorporated the New York Leather Belting Company which manufactured oak-tanned leather belting, waterproof leather halting, and electric belts at its factory at the corner of South Eleventh Street and Kent Avenue, Brooklyn. Additionally, W.G. Hoople had established Hoople & Nichols, in partnership with William S. Nichols (born February 1845 in Rhode Island; died September 25, 1892), whose son, Albert I. Nichols, later became his partner in the firm, and also married his youngest daughter, Bessie. This firm imported shellac, but later expanded to become a hardware store, selling brushes. WG Hoople was also involved in real estate investments. In September 1893 WG Hoople purchased four multi-story buildings at Peck Slip and Pearl Street, Manhattan that were under foreclosure, while in August 1897 he sold a four-story brownstone-front building near the infamous Five Points at 32 Great Jones Street for $27,000, and in 1899 he sold the building that housed his offices at 38 Ferry Street, New York, to philanthropist businessman Charles Adolph Schieren (born February 28, 1842, in Germany; died March 15, 1915), the penultimate mayor of Brooklyn (1894–1895). WG Hoople was also a director of the Hide and Leather Bank that had been established on June 15, 1891, and was headquartered in a ten-story building at 88–90 Gold Street. By 1909 WG Hoople was also a member of the New York Drug Trade Club.

Education and business

By 1879 the WG Hoople family had moved to 352 Greene Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. William Howard Hoople was one of the first twelve students at the Pratt Institute,Miller, 34. a co-educational trade school at Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, established on October 17, 1887, and endowed by Charles Pratt (1830–1891), the wealthy co-founder of Standard Oil, "for training skilled artisans, foremen, designers and draftsmen". After graduation from Pratt Institute, Hoople attended another business college in Brooklyn. About 1888 Hoople was still living at 1475 Pacific Street, Brooklyn with his parents. Soon after Hoople opened his own leather business, which manufactured Goodyear Welting at a factory he built on a property owned by his great uncle, William H. Hoople, at 50 Ferry Street, New York City. Upon the death of his great uncle in 1895, he inherited this property, then valued at $10,000.

Family

On May 2, 1891''Syracuse Herald-American'' (June 26, 1966). Hoople married Victoria Irene Cranford (born May 24, 1867, in Brooklyn, New York; died April 1952) in the home of Victoria's parents.

By 1896 the Hooples were living at 102 Decatur Street, Brooklyn. The Hooples had one daughter and five sons:Ingersol, "Century".
* Ruth Agnes Hoople (born January 14, 1892, in New York; died July 1972 in Syracuse, New York), who graduated from Syracuse University in 1914, and completed a Master of Arts in History in 1915. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She worked for the next two years in social service in Buffalo, New York, for the YWCA; was as a missionary with the YWCA in China (1917–1928), serving in Peking (1917–1918), at the Girls' Normal School in Mukden, Manchuria (1918–1920, 1924), and Tientsin (from 1920, where she was general secretary of the YWCA in Tientsin); began a PhD program at Columbia University in 1922; and later served as a chaplain at the Syracuse University, and as the executive secretary of the Syracuse-in-China programme (1941–1952);
* William Clifford Hoople (born October 20, 1893, in New York; died September 2, 1943, in New York "of a heart ailment"), married Marguerite (Marjorie) Landenberger (born October 24, 1893, in Pennsylvania; died December 1978 in New Hampshire) in 1915, graduated from Syracuse University in 1920, coached rowing at Harvard University, and became an artist who provided illustrations for the ''American Legion Weekly''; ''Saturday Evening Post'', ''Country Gentleman'', ''Farm Life'', and ''McCall's'', and to accompany the writing of Agatha Christie; WC Hoople was considered one of the contemporary artistic rivals of Norman Rockwell;
* Gordon Douglass "Gymp" Hoople (born 19 February 1895 in Brooklyn, New York; died 4 June 1973 in Syracuse, New York), who after completing his Bachelor of Science (1919) and M.D. (1922) at Syracuse University and his internship in Brooklyn, spent four months as a missionary in Chengdu, China, from December 1921, married Dorothea L. Brokaw on August 2, 1922, before departing on August 24, 1922, to serve as a missionary doctor under the Methodist Episcopal church as part of the Syracuse-in-China programme in Chongqing, China, Professor of Otolaryngology at Syracuse University (1928–1953), who served on the board of trustees of the university since 1931, and chairman by 1962, and was awarded The George Arents Pioneer Medal in 1951 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by his ''alma mater'' in 1967. During World War II, Gordon D. Hoople served as a major in the US Army Medical Corps. The Gordon D. Hoople Special Education and Rehabilitation Building of Syracuse University, which was completed in February 1953, is at the corner of South Crouse Avenue and Marshall Street, contains the Gordon D. Hoople Hearing and Speech Center.
* Howard Cranford "Tot" Hoople (born October 12, 1897, in New York; died August 27, 1977, in Damariscotta, Maine), a graduate of Syracuse University in 1921, married Nelda Rautenberg (born June 14, 1898; died August 1985 in Maine) in the summer of 1921 in New York, who by 1930 was a life insurance salesman; and who from 1945 to its temporary closure in 1965, owned Camp Med-O-Lark on Washington Pond, Washington, Maine;

By June 1900 Hoople and Victoria were living back at 1475 Pacific Street, Brooklyn with three servants, and Henrietta (Hettie), Victoria's 49-year-old spinster sister.

* Ross Earle Hoople (born June 30, 1900, in New York; died June 17, 1946), graduated from the philosophy department of Syracuse University in June 1922, attended Harvard in 1922–1923, married Ruth T. Pearsall (died November 21, 1958, in Syracuse, New York) at the Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon, New York, in June 1926, and was by 1932 professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, and chairman of the Faculty Forum on Religion, and later the author of ''Preface to Philosophy: Book of Readings'' (1946); and
* Robert Blackburn Hoople (born February 25, 1905, in New York; died March 31, 1992, in Binghamton, New York), who graduated from Syracuse University in 1926, later earned a Master of Arts degree.

Personal

According to Basil Miller, "Hoople was a mighty man in frame as well as spirit, for he stood six feet and six inches (when he took off his leather shoes) and pushed the scale beam up at 250 pounds". In another account Hoople is described as "a large man with a commanding presence and great earnestness of manner."Bruce Herald, "Saw Heaven in a Trance: A Tale of Pentecostal Vision", ''Rōrahi'' XXVIII, Putanga 2880 (27 Hōngongoi 1897):3, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=BH18970727.2.10&l=mi&e=-------10--1----0-all

Spiritual background

As a child Hoople and his family attended the Sunday School of the Central Congregational church located at Hancock Street, near Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn, and later became a member of that church. In December 1885 Hoople attended an evangelistic service for young men in the newly opened building of the Central Branch of the YMCA at 502 Fulton Street, Brooklyn held by Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey, and at the conclusion of the service, while the choir sang '' Just as I Am'', responded to the gospel invitation and "walked into the arms of Jesus". In an interview for the ''Brooklyn Eagle'' in February 1895, Hooper indicated: "I was converted nine years ago at the Central branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Brooklyn"."Mr. Hoople's Unique Church", ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (Friday, February 1, 1895):12. Hoople believed he was saved from "a life of frivolity and ambition."

Hoople was a baritone who "was blessed with a beautiful voice", Hoople was described in 1933 as "a great singer, having a fine, deep, powerful voice. If he couldn't accomplish his purpose in any other way, he sang his way through." Hoople often sang solos and led the singing in churches of various denominations, at the Methodist Home for the Aged in Brooklyn, and at services sponsored by the YMCA and the Christian Endeavor Society. Additionally, by 1891 Hoople spoke regularly in YMCA meetings, and preached in the Bethesda Congregational Church while the pastor was on vacation. Hoople was a member of the "famous Hadley Male Quartet", which further spread Hoople's fame and influence in the city. One report indicated: "If there were no other way through, the quartet helped Hoople sing his way through. When this quartet sang to an audience of six thousand at a meeting of J. Wilbur Chapman's revival in New York city there were few dry eyes."Miller, 36.

On June 18, 1891 Hoople was elected the first treasurer of the nonsectarian Industrial Christian Alliance, which would give "practical help to the outcast poor", in a similar manner to the methods of the Salvation Army. By July 14, 1891, the ICA was incorporated."TO EXTEND A HELPING HAND.; THE INDUSTRIAL CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE AND ITS FIELD OF LABOR", ''The New York Times'' (July 14, 1891)8, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/07/14/103320946.pdf. On November 30, 1891, the Alliance opened a 39-bed home at 113 MacDougal Street (today the site of the Minetta Tavern), near Hoople's business, where the poor could stay for up to sixty days, "be cleaned, clothed, treated medically and mentally", and given the opportunity to work in one of the sponsoring businesses. Plans were to establish a depot for women, rescue missions, and to establish kindergartens, day nurseries, and industrial schools. One of the activities of the ICA was to establish a broom factory where the residents could work in exchange for their room and board, and the brooms and whisks were sold to generate income for the ICA. As a result of the Panic of 1893, unemployment and poverty increased dramatically in this area, necessitating the relocation of the ICA home to a 100-bed facility at 170 Bleecker Street by May 1, 1893. During the Winter of 1893, the ICA opened the People's Restaurant at its headquarters at 170 Bleecker Street and at six other locations. The ICA provided a million meals to the impoverished unemployed for only 5 cents for a hot meal for a family of four people, but by the end of 1894 the ICA was pleading to the general public for the first time for additional financial resources, and Hoople was no longer treasurer.

According to Hoople, "For several years after I was a member of a praying band". In the early 1890s Hoople began attending the noonday prayer meeting at the John Street Methodist Church at 44 John Street, Manhattan. There he met Charles H. BeVier (born September 5, 1858; died about 1905), "a zealous witness to holiness and choir leader at the largest Methodist church in Brooklyn." According to Nazarene historian Timothy L. Smith, "Hoople thought BeVier's "fanaticism" a pity, and set out to argue his new friend into rejecting sanctification. Instead, Hoople wound up finding the blessing himself" in his own shop in 1893. Hoople began attending some holiness meetings held in private homes in Brooklyn, "where they could worship God in the freedom of the Spirit."Redford, 30. In July 1893 Hoople underwrote the expenses for the first ever camp meeting to be held in the small hamlet of Nanuet, New York, near his country home. At that time Hoople was a still a member of Central Congregational Church, which was pastored by Dr. Adolphus J.F. Behrends (born 1839 in the Netherlands; died c.1899 in New York). However, by October 1893 Hoople had left the Congregational church and was attending the Methodist church at Windsor Terrace, Flatbush. In 1895 Hoople indicated that because he became an adherent of "Methodist doctrine", he was "unwelcome in the Calvinistic church that nurtured his early faith in Christ"."Across a Century: The Heritage of the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America", http://www.nazarene.org/ministries/administration/centennial/goals/across/display.aspx.

Ministry

Soon after his entire sanctification, Hoople continued to operate as a leather merchant in business hours, but each evening he began preaching on the streets, in rented halls, and "wherever a tiny crack in some mission door appeared". Gradually Hoople believed that "God was leading him to provide a place where sanctified people could sing and shout to their hearts' content". Consequently, Hoople rented a former saloon (next to a brothel) at 123 Schenectady Avenue in Brooklyn. Hoople had it cleaned and furnished, and on New Year's Day, 1894, began holding services. On January 4, 1894 Hoople and BeVier, who led a Methodist mission in Brooklyn, opened an Independent Holiness Mission, with Hoople being elected superintendent by the members. From the beginning the basic motivation was to establish a holiness work and especially to preach to the poor.

Utica Avenue Pentecostal Tabernacle (1894–1904)

From this mission a congregation developed rapidly, necessitating relocation to a larger facility. Hoople; John Norberry (born July 29, 1867, in Paterson, New Jersey