Printer, Omaha Daily News

1918 Draft Registration Records show John Young Hooper's occupation as printer, and his employer as the Omaha Daily News. The Omaha Daily News published from 1899 to 1927.

1918 Family Residence

World War I Draft Records show that John Young Hooper & family lived at 3119 N. 58th Benson, Nebraska. Benson is now part of Omaha, and this house, at 3119 N 58th St., Omaha, was built in 1910. So I think its a good guess that this is the house where John lived with his wife Edna and daughter Alice during the 1910s.

This house is currently on the market, priced at $119,000. I'd love to buy it!

5:00 p.m., December 25, 1905

Here is one of the photos from Brittny. I love this picture!

"Xmas at John's" refers, I believe to John Young Hooper Jr. and his home in Omaha Nebraska. My grandmother Elizabeth Alice Hooper, who was born in June 1904, is-- I believe-- the "AH" in the photo and appears to be a toddler; hence the 1905 date.

Upper row left to right: (N.H.) Nellie Hooper, (F.H.) Frank Lee Harris Hooper, (G.H.) Gertrude Hooper, unknown, (E.H.) Edna Eddy Hooper. Next (middle) row: unknown, (ma) Helen Baldwin Hooper, (AH) Alice Hooper, (FC?) unknown, (MH?) Myrl Hooper. Lady at bottom is unknown, but I believe the child in her lap (LH) is Lester Hooper.

This is the only photo I have ever seen of my grandmother with her family!

Note the clock in the back... shows the time as 5:00.

Brittny + Ginny = Good Karma

For 5 years I have made a habit of "returning" old photos, documents, and books. I buy items at flea markets... old photos with names written on back, photo albums with traceable clues, old Bibles with family trees. I spend minutes or hours (or days) researching on Ancestry.com and other online sources to find descendants. When I can make a connection, I mail the item and I never ask for (or accept) any payment, including for postage.

I do this in part because I love doing it... I love learning the history and I love the idea of precious family items finding its way home. But I must admit another reason... I fervently hoped that someone would do it for me! Or, at least, I would rack up enough karma points to have a shot at seeing old photographs or finding information about my own family... people whom I've spent hours researching and people whom I have so precious little information.

Well... it worked! Perhaps thanks to karma, definitely thanks to Brittny and Ginny, every minute-- every penny-- every effort I spent returning family history to strangers has been repaid. Long lost cousins Brittny and Ginny have provided invaluable, terrific, amazing information. Some of the folks to whom I've mailed items to have told me "I'll never be able to thank you." Now I say to Ginny & Brittny: "I'll never be able to thank YOU!"

Up until now, most of my ancestors have been faceless. Brittny has shared photographs that have given some of these ancestors faces. And Ginny has provided a copy of a letter that is rich-- very rich-- in biographical details that I could never have hoped to learn. It's the kind of thing that family researchers like myself dream about.

Sincere thanks to both Ginny & Brittny for your help and generosity!

Civil War Pension File for John Young Hooper, Part 1

Here is the first part of the Civil War Pension File for John Young Hooper. See my previous post for some information about the file.

By the way, I received these files from the National Archives. It took about two months and about $150. Small price to pay!

Some highlights in this section are on page 40, letter from Charles M. Hooper (John's brother) and page 43, letter from James B. Sly (John's uncle).

John Young Hooper Civil War Pension File Part 1

Civil War Pension File for John Young Hooper, continued

I was surprised to realize that I have no entries on John Young Hooper as I've dug up lots of stuff on him. Since I promised the civil war pension file I have for him to a few folks, I'll put it here in my first post on John Young.

John Young Hooper (the elder) was born in 1841 and died at the age of 50. He served in the Civil War as bugler for the Nebraska Infantry and Calvary. During his service, he suffered a scrotal hernia (google "scrotal hernia" to see how hideously painful this injury must be!) John Young did not report the injury during the war and when he became increasingly ill from the injury after the war, he began the process for trying to secure a pension. When he died, leaving six children under the age of 15, his wife Helen Baldwin continued the fight to gain a pension. Apparently, Helen's application was denied several times. Helen persevered with the appeals and eventually won the widow's pension.

There's a lot of mundane stuff in the file, but there are also some really amazing documents and information in here, too. This is the second part of the pension file.

John Young Hooper civil war pension file Part 2

Horse Ears Eddy!

In my last post, I wondered if there was a connection with Edna Eddy's uncle Theodore Eddy and Mark Twain. Twain (nee Samuel Clemmons) and Theodore were both born the same year; they both grew up in Hannbal Missouri (at the time, circa 1860, population 1100).

Wow, the wonders of Google. Twain wrote of Theodore Eddy in his autobiography. Funny passage! He talks about how Theodore could "work his ears like a horse".

I know a descendent who has ears "like a horse" but I won't say who it is!!