By 1860, William Brinton Hooker was the "cattle king of Florida," owner of over 10,000 head of open range beef cattle. If he had looked out from the piazza or porch of his thirty-three-room home on Madison Street in Tampa and felt satisfied with his accomplishments, Hooker could be excused. For over forty years he had played a prominent role in the pioneer life of south Georgia and Florida.²

William B. Hooker was born May 3, 1800, in Montgomery (now Tattnall) County, Georgia, the eldest child of Stephen and Elizabeth (Brinton) Hooker.

The ancestral line has been traced back to William Hooker who lived in Surry County, Virginia, in 1687. Searching for new land, he joined many others who moved over into North Carolina in the 1690s. William left a will in Chowan Precinct of Albemarle County in 1717, naming seven children, including a son William, Jr.

The younger William, also a yeoman farmer, inherited his father's plantation and died in Bertie County in 1756. In his will he listed five sons: William (III), John, James, Nathan and Stephen. All were prominent citizens. John was sheriff of Tyrrell County in 1757 and represented his county in the General Assembly from 1771 to 1777. Stephen, a weaver, served in the Colonial Assembly in 1760, was captain of the militia in Tyrrell's "Scuppernong District" and held the position of deputy sheriff under his brother, John. William (III) moved to Dobbs County, where he was active in local affairs and served in the American Revolution. James lived in Hertford County where he was ensign in a militia company in 1770. Nathan Hooker pioneered to Georgia about 1762, settling in St. George Parish, later Burke County, where he became wealthy in cattle and lands. He died in 1781, leaving a widow, Martha (Jones) Hooker, but apparently no children. His brothers continued to live in North Carolina but William (III) and his son Heymrick, obtained grants in Burke County, Georgia, in 1786 and 1789. John Hooker also had land in Burke County in 1768. Georgia was clearly a place that offered new opportunities for the Hooker family. Nathan Hooker, the son of William (III), was living next to the Canoochee River in Montgomery County in 1797. Stephen Hooker, the son of James Hooker, first appears in public records in Washington County, Georgia, May 13, 1793, when he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the militia. The following year, Stephen was listed as a dragoon in another company. Throughout the 1780s and 1790s, the settlers in that part of frontier Georgia were in fear of Indian raids. He served on the grand jury in Washington County in 1796 and moved to Montgomery County in 1799 where he had been a witness to a deed to Nathan, two years earlier. Stephen married Elizabeth Brinton, daughter of the late sheriff of Washington County, Major William Brinton. Brinton was an energetic man: a surveyor, sheriff and militia officer. Stephen Hooker, born in 1769, was ten years older than his bride who was a native of North Carolina. In 1801, Tattnall County was formed from Montgomery and Stephen and his family first lived next to the Ohoopee River on a 100 acre tract. In this coastal wiregrass community, they raised a family of eight children, the eldest, William Brinton, being named after his maternal grandfather. In 1806, Stephen was living in neighboring Bulloch County, but by 1810 he and his family had returned to Tattnall. His first cousin, Nathan, had moved on by 1807 to Tennessee and later Mississippi, but several years earlier, in one of their business dealings, Stephen had given Nathan a note evidencing a debt. Nathan later assigned the note to another party and Stephen was unsuccessfully sued by the holder in 1818. As a way to supplement his income, Stephen Hooker, in 1815, obtained a license to "retail spiritous liquors" at his residence. How this squared with his wife's strong Methodist leanings is not known. Under rules set by the Inferior Court in 1810, Stephen was allowed to charge twenty-five cents for each one-half pint of cognac brandy; eighteen and three-fourth cents for rum; twelve and one-half cents for brandy; eighteen and three-fourths cents for Holland gin and eighteeen and three-fourth cents for wine. "Cyder" sold for twelve and one-half cents per quart. By 1817, the family had moved to the Canoochee River section in the 401st militia district of Tattnall County, an area that had been attached to Tattnall from Liberty County in 1811.

Nothing is known about young Bill Hooker's education. He may have attended one of the six academies which existed in Georgia at the turn of the nineteenth century. Savannah, Sunbury, Augusta or Burke County were not that far away. He may have been tutored by a learned neighbor or schooled at home. Whatever the case, he received the basis of a good education.³

In 1819, Bill received his first public office, ensign in the militia, and three years later he served as coroner of Tattnall County. Still unmarried in 1824, he joined his parents and six brothers and sisters in a move to Appling County in south Georgia. In August of that year the Inferior Court appointed Hooker sheriff. In December 1824, Ware County was created from Appling, with the county seat at Waresboro, now a small community a few miles west of present-day Waycross. William Hooker became captain of the 451st militia district at Waresboro in 1827 and thus first earned the title he was to carry the rest of his life. He was also elected Ware County’s second sheriff in 1828. Perhaps the major event in his law-enforcement career occurred in 1829 when Hooker was commended by Governor John Forsyth for capturing a band of white rustlers. John McDonald and the Stafford brothers and one Tucker had killed Indian Billy of Ware County and stolen his horses. McDonald and the Staffords were apprehended and the stolen horses were retaken. A reward was then offered for Tucker who had fled over into Florida.⁴

Bill Hooker also had time to father an illegitimate child, Winaford Henderson, July 10, 1827. But he accepted responsibility for his daughter by taking her into his home and rearing her. He also had her legitimized by the Georgia legislature with her name changed to Winaford Hooker.⁵

His younger brother, James Tarpley Hooker, moved over into Florida about 1826, and by 1830 the remainder of the family settled along the Suwannee River in Hamilton County. On August 1, 1830, at the age of thirty, William B. Hooker was married to Mary Amanda Hair, the daughter of William Hair, in a ceremony performed by the Reverend James Hutto, one of the earliest circuit-riding Methodist preachers in south Georgia and north Florida. The following year, in Hamilton County, Bill registered the WH brand for his cattle. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1831 and began accumulating property, eventually owning 489 acres of land near Upper Mineral Springs, known today as White Springs. Justice of the Peace Hooker had jurisdiction over a district and also met periodically with the other justices "for county purposes" when they exercised administrative and legislative powers over county affairs. In 1834 the Legislative Council granted William B. Hooker authority to establish a ferry across the Suwannee River at the site of his plantation. Rates established by the county court in 1839 allowed him to charge $1.00 for each loaded wagon and team that crossed the river, fifty cents for each yoke of oxen and cart, twelve and one-half cents for a man and horse, and various other charges for animals and conveyances. Hooker also purchased fifteen shares of stock in the newly formed Union Bank of Florida, according to a list of 1833-1835 shareholders. Mary's father, William Hair, was an active Primitive Baptist but Mary joined the Methodists after she married Bill Hooker. The family ties to Methodism were further strengthened by the marriage of Hooker's sister Mary to Levi Pearce and Nancy to Benjamin Moody. Pearce became a Methodist preacher and Moody was a lifelong pillar of the church. Methodist camp meetings were held as early as 1835 at Swift Creek, only about five miles northwest of Hooker's residence, which was now known as "Hooker's Ferry." The Hookers were regular attendants at camp meeting.⁶

Union Bank of Florida Note 1835

In December 1835, when war with the Indians was imminent, William B. Hooker joined Captain John McLemore’s company as third lieutenant. The company was composed mostly of Hamilton and Columbia County men. McLemore was initially headquartered at Fort Jennings, or Suwannee Old Town. By late December 1835, the captain and about 250 refugees abandoned the area and moved to Newnansville. Left in charge at Fort Jennings was Lieutenant William B. Hooker and a tiny detachment.⁷ On January 17, 1836, Hooker was crossing his men and horses over the Suwannee, near Old Town. The Tallahassee Floridian reported that Hooker

In the fall of 1836, Hooker was serving as third lieutenant in Captain William Reed’s company of Florida Mounted Militia. He participated in the Battle of Wahoo Swamp on November 21, 1836, and Lieutenant Colonel Mills cited Hooker along with Capt. Reed and a fellow lieutenant for "correct and soldier-like conduct"⁹ Colonel Benjamin K. Pierce praised Hooker and several others for "behav[ing] throughout the day with great energy and bravery."¹⁰ From June 16 to December 18, 1837, he served as first lieutenant in Captain Robert Brown's company, mustering in at Fort Lancaster (Lake City), about twenty-five miles from Hooker's Ferry. When he was discharged at Fort Gilleland he listed one servant named Bill, who had accompanied him on the campaign, along with two horses. Hooker received rations and forage for his service and the records show that his pay was due from enrollment. The war continued to drag on into the summer of 1838 when new Indian attacks prompted Brown, now a colonel, to urge the calling out of more volunteer companies. He was authorized to do so by Governor Call in April, even if the army command declined to accept them into Federal service. One of the companies enrolled by Brown was commanded by Captain William B. Hooker. Hooker's company served on the frontier from April to July of 1838. In 1840, he hired out his wagon to the U.S. military and received $369 in reimbursement. With most of the pioneer settlers forced to abandon their agricultural pursuits due to the Indian war and frequently stay in forts and stockades away from their homes, military service provided a welcome supplement to their income. One cynical army officer observed in July 1838:

In October 1838, elections were held for the upcoming territorial constitutional convention at St. Joseph. Hamilton County was entitled to two delegates and Joseph Watts took that prize in the first election. However, there was a tie for second place between William B. Hooker and Appleton Rosseter. A second election was held and Hooker was the victor. The convention met on December 3, 1838, and in a twenty-seven to twenty-six vote with Hooker in the majority, Judge Robert Raymond Reid was elected President of the convention. Hooker was appointed to the Committee on the Right of Suffrage and Qualification of Officers. He joined fellow Democrats when he consistently took an anti-bank position in his floor votes. However, he voted against a proposal for ad valorem taxation of lands. But he was in the majority when he voted against a proposal that would have required a belief in God as a requirement for holding public office. Hooker returned to Hamilton County in early 1839 and the following year he was appointed Justice of the Peace by the new territorial governor, Robert R. Reid.¹²

Though not a wealthy planter, Hooker, by 1840, owned six slaves, a substantial amount of land and was a leader in the county’s politics and government. He also purchased a section of land in Columbia County at the site of Ichetucknee Springs. Financial reverses soon followed and by 1841, in the midst of a territory-wide depression, Hooker was forced to supplement his income by teaching school. He was paid $16.83 for teaching three students arithmetic and spelling. He also taught grammar to his younger brother, John. The Armed Occupation Act of 1842 proved to be Hooker’s salvation, but his departure from Hamilton County the following year was not a graceful one. In January 1843, he offered for sale his lands in Hamilton and Columbia counties. At the same time, he transferred the 489 acres in Hamilton to his brother John, in trust for his children: Winaford Meryan; Ann Elizabeth, born in 1831; Eliza Jane, born in 1833; Martha Harris, born in 1835; William Jasper, born in 1836; Julia Loretta, born in 1839; and Mary Henrietta, born in 1842. Creditors were pursuing Hooker but he asserted that the land transfer was for the sole purpose of complying with the terms of the Armed Occupation Act. At any rate, the Hamilton county property was eventually sold in 1845 at a sheriff’s sale. Additional insight into the 1845 sale can be found in an 1851 letter from former Hamilton County Clerk Perry Green Wall to William B. Hooker:

In January 1843, William Hooker filed an Armed Occupation Act application for 160 acres of previously unsurveyed land in Hillsborough County, Florida. Formerly known as the Marsh Place, it was located at Simmons Hammock or present-day Seffner. The "road from Tampa Bay to Pease Creek" ran through the north side of the tract. A permit followed in April 1843 and when the land was surveyed in the first quarter of that year, the surveyor showed Hooker’s claim on his map. Less than a mile to the north were the Thomas and John Weeks claims which Hooker later purchased. Nearby to the east was a body of water that became known as Lake Hooker. About three miles east of his homestead was the tract of John Parker, who had married the widow of Hooker’s brother, Stephen. About six miles to the southeast, near the Alafia River, were the claims of John Hooker and Levi Pearce. Also, within two miles to the south was the homestead of William Parker, who in 1844 married William Hooker’s daughter Winaford. At Camp Ground Lake, about four miles northwest of Captain Hooker's homestead, Methodist services were held as early as 1845 at the site of present-day Bethlehem Cemetery. Historian John Solomon Otto observed that the early Hillborough County cattle-ranchers followed a lifestyle

Within a year of his arrival in Hillsborough County, Hooker was appointed a justice of the peace. In 1847, two years after Florida became a state, William was elected to the Board of County Commissioners. His younger brother John was elected sheriff in the same election. Captain Hooker, now forty-seven years of age, began to concentrate his activities in four different areas: (1) building up a large herd of beef cattle; (2) pursuing other agricultural pursuits such as citrus growing and cotton raising; (3) large-scale land acquisitions; and (4) establishing himself and his family as a political power in Hillsborough County. Hooker was present at an Independence Day celebration at Fort Brooke in 1847:

The county tax lists are a principal source for determining the size of cattle herds in pioneer Florida, although the figures are no doubt conservative estimates of cattle ownership. In 1847, William B. Hooker owned 600 head of cattle and in 1848, 800 head. By 1849, the figure had doubled to 1,675 and in 1850 he is listed with seven slaves and 2,000 head of cattle. The 1850 U.S. census included an agricultural schedule which states that Hooker had 600 milch cows, four working oxen and 1,900 "other cattle." He owned thirty-five sheep, 150 swine and his farm produced 400 bushels of "Indian Corn" and 200 bushels of sweet potatoes. The total value of livestock was $13,355. Hooker listed himself as a planter on the census rolls but his primary activity was stock raising. Indeed he was the second largest cattle owner in the state, just behind Redding W Parramore of Madison County who owned 2,606 head. Hooker’s closest competitors in Hillsborough were William Hancock with 1,700 head and Jacob Summerlin with 652. In the early 1850s Summerlin also owned over 1,000 head in Orange County. Hooker’s primary cattle brand was Heart H, which he registered in Hillsborough County on April 12, 1852.¹⁶

Grady McWhiney, who has advocated a Celtic interpretation of Southern history, wrote that

According to McWhiney, it led to laziness. William B. Hooker was many things but he was not lazy. Nor, for that matter, was he a Celt. He may have been a rough-hewn "cracker" frontiersman but he wanted more from life than the ownership of a large herd of scrub cattle. He was ambitious and acquisitive, not afraid to take risks. Sometimes he made enemies, from persons jealous of his success.

As Hooker's cattle herds grew in size, he looked east and south for new grazing lands. In 1845, the United States government had established a neutral zone barring white settlement within a twenty-mile strip north and west of the area set aside by General Worth as a temporary Indian boundary in 1842 at the close of the Second Seminole War. Worth made it clear that the neutral zone was to extend twenty miles outward from the south branch of Peas Creek (Charlie Apopka Creek). By 1848, Captain Hooker had driven cattle into a new grazing area which became known as Hooker's Prairie, just at the northwest boundary of the neutral zone. By the mid-1850s, the Hooker beeves roamed over present-day Hillsborough, Manatee, Polk, Hardee, Highlands and Glades counties. Highlands Hammock, now a state park, was originally known as Hooker Hammock. The Captain had cattle pens at a crossing on Fisheating Creek near present-day Venus. Cattle were shipped from Hooker’s Pens at a point on the north side of the lower Manatee River known today as Hooker’s Point. The other, more famous Hooker’s Point, which projects into Tampa Bay was also a shipping point for his cattle, as well as one of his properties.²¹

Captain Hooker was a pioneer in the Florida citrus industry. In the year 1846, he planted an orange grove at the site of present-day Parrish, in Manatee County. "His plantings were all ‘seedlings’-budding and grafting were then unknown in the industry. That is to say he developed his groves from the seeds of selected fruit."²² Hooker eventually acquired over 1,000 acres of land near Fort Hamer and the Manatee River, about 800 acres of which were obtained under the provisions of the 1847 Federal law which allowed 160 acre grants of bounty land to persons who had served in the Mexican War. In late 1848 and early 1849, five veterans assigned their 160 acre warrants to Hooker. He selected the property he wanted, built a log home and in 1853 ventured into the growing of sea island cotton with William H. Johnson. Johnson was to cultivate thirty-three acres of cotton on Hooker’s farm and Hooker was to build a cotton gin, gin the crop and divide it equally with Johnson. Johnson claimed that Hooker failed to divide the crop with him and sued Hooker in Hillsborough circuit court in 1854. He prevailed, but Hooker appealed to the state supreme court and won a reversal in 1856. Johnson sued again and won; this time the judgment was affirmed by the high court. But the litigation dragged on until 1861, with jury awards to Johnson of over $1,000; but by this time Johnson was dead. Captain Hooker was frequently involved in litigation and several of the lawuits in which he was a party went to the Florida Supreme Court for final action. His lawyers included Tampa's finest: James Gettis and James T. Magbee.²³

During the early 1850s, Hooker also purchased a large number of city lots in Tampa, thus increasing his wealth. In April 1851, the County Commission granted a lot on the northeast corner of Lafayette (Kennedy) and Morgan Streets to William B. Hooker, Leroy G. Lesley, Franklin Branch, Alderman Carlton and C. A. Ramsey as trustees for the Methodist Episcopal Church. Construction was soon underway on a modest frame structure, Tampa's First Methodist Church. A Masonic lodge was established in Tampa in 1850 and two years later, William B. Hooker petitioned for membership in Hillsborough Lodge No. 25, Free and Accepted Masons. He received the Entered Apprentice Degree on April 17, 1852 and the Fellow Craft Degree on the evening of Saturday, August 7. The Lodge then went from "Labor to Refreshment" and reconvened the following morning, August 8, 1852. Hooker and John Levi Skipper "being in waiting they were admitted and the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason [was] conferred on them, . . ." Among those present for the ceremony were Worshipful Master Joseph Moore, James McKay, Stephen Hollingsworth and James T. Magbee. Benjamin Hagler, who became Hooker's son-in-law in 1851, succeeded John Irving Hooker as sheriff in 1849 and remained in office until 1853. John Parker was elected to the county commission in 1849 for a two-year term. Thus Hooker’s position and power were enhanced by the presence of his relatives in high positions. Hooker and his wife Mary were concerned that their children marry well and live comfortably. They gave $2,000 a year to each son-in-law. Captain Hooker was opposed to his daughter, Martha, marrying Benjamin Hagler, whom he considered an "old fogy" with an irritating speech impediment. He preferred that she marry her suitor, George G. Keen, from Columbia County. But Mrs. Hooker prevailed, believing Sheriff Hagler to be a wealthy match for her daughter. As it turned out, Martha married Hagler, but the marriage eventually ended in divorce. Indeed, neither John Henry Hollingsworth, who married Ann; William W. Stallings, who married Eliza Jane; nor Hagler were wealthy men. Only William Parker, who married Hooker’s daughter Winaford, was a man of any considerable wealth.²⁴

All of William B. Hooker’s activities came to a halt in December 1855 when word reached Tampa of the Indian attack upon Lieutenant Hartsuff's surveying party in southwest Florida. Tampa citizens quickly convened a meeting at the courthouse on December 24. A visitor in Tampa wrote:

A list was. . . presented for the signatures of those who felt disposed to fight for their country for all they held dear and sacred and for the removal of the Seminoles. Several rose up at once and with a steady step and solemn air marched up to the table and signed the paper. [Captain] Hooker, Rev. . . .Lesley and Sherad Edwards were the first signers, all of whom were Indian fighters in the last war. . . . ²⁵

In a letter to Governor James Broome, January 3, 1856, Hooker wrote:

In February, Hooker’s company was mustered into Federal service at Fort Meade. Hooker was headquartered at Fort Meade and a detachment under Lieutenant John Parker was stationed at Fort Green in Manatee County²⁸ The post at Fort Green soon became a problem. It proved more difficult "to supply. . . than any other post on the frontier."²⁹ Chronic malcontent Matthew P. Lyons, probably in league with his friend, Sergeant James D. Green of Hooker’s company, criticized the army command and Captain Hooker in letters which were published in the Tampa newspaper, the Florida Peninsular. Lyons complained that the troops at Fort Green were lacking in ammunition for their weapons and food for their horses.³⁰

On June 14, 1856, Indians attacked the Willoughby Tillis place near Fort Meade. Lieutenant Alderman Carlton and six men rushed from Fort Meade to offer relief to the besieged family. In the attack, Carlton and two other men were killed, including Hooker’s son-in-law, William Parker, and three wounded, including another son-in-law, John Henry Hollingsworth. Only three men of the seven-man force were from Hooker’s company. Lieutenant Streaty Parker of Lesley’s company with eighteen men, pursued the Indians after the battle and engaged them on the banks of Peas Creek, south of Fort Meade on June 16. Two volunteers were killed and three were wounded. Three men from Hooker’s company participated in the second battle. At least five Seminoles were killed although as many as twenty may have died in the three-day affair.³¹

In his official report, printed July 5, in the Florida Peninsular, Captain Hooker explained that he marched a detachment "into the woods in search of Indians as I supposed they would attack isolated homes of settlers on the full of the moon,. . . "³² After scouting down the Alafia River and noticing Indian signs, it was thought the Indians had headed south to Manatee. After moving to that place and finding all quiet, the troops proceeded back to Horse Creek where the Indians were known to obtain supplies of potatoes. They camped on the night of June 15 and sent two men to Fort Green to ascertain the situation there. About midnight they returned with word of the attack on the Tillis place. Hooker and his men arrived at Brooker’s place on the east side of Peas Creek about 2 p.m. on June 16 where the wounded men from the battle of that day had been carried. Hooker consolidated his force and immediately went in pursuit of the retreating Seminoles, south into the swamps along Peas Creek. By the next day, "[s]everal of the men were sick, vomiting violently and their clothes were badly torn, exposing their flesh to insects and weather."³³ The following morning, June 18, Hooker sent out a detachment to continue hunting the Indians and then returned with the sick and disabled to Fort Meade.³⁴

Matthew P. Lyons in a letter to Colonel Munroe at Fort Brooke, dated July 7, accused Hooker of leaving Fort Meade and Fort Green without military protection and taking his men on a beef scout to round up his cattle. Lyons, who was not serving in any of the military units, charged Hooker with neglect of duty. He referred Lieutenant John Parker and Sergeant James D. Green to Munroe for proof of the charges. The charges were printed in the Florida Peninsular and following their publication the Assistant Adjutant General at Fort Brooke directed Hooker to provide Lyons’ letter to Parker and Green for verification or denial. Green equivocated, saying he could not "say the Charges is true as opinion has nothing to do with the matter. neither Can I exonerate the captain as the report is Common amongst the members of the Company Commanded by Captain Hooker." Parker, however, defended Hooker, saying "I believe the charges false and will not sustain them."³⁵ Hooker appeared to have the last word when he printed a notice in the Florida Peninsular of August 16:

Four days later, with their six-month enlistment having expired, Hooker and his entire company were honorably discharged from the United States service.³⁷ Several revisionist historians in recent years have criticized Hooker’s actions, asserting that had the post at Fort Meade been at "full strength the Indians might have been defeated or even wiped out..."³⁸ But all through the first half of 1856, detachments of troops were constantly sent on scout to follow up rumors and reports of Indian parties in the woods. Federal and state authorities ordered troops from Peas Creek south to join the regulars and in early June of 1856, some of Hooker’s men, along with soldiers from other companies, had been ordered to look for Indians in Hernando County. If Hooker had remained holed up at Fort Meade he probably would have been criticized for that. Instead, he chose to lead his men along the trails and into the swamps in search of the hostile Indians. That was, after all, an important part of his job.³⁹

As a final postscript to the 1856 controversy, a letter from Francis A. Page, Assistant Adjutant General at Fort Brooke, to Captain Pleasanton, dated January 31,1857, is instructive. In arguing against re-establishing a guard at Fort Green, Page wrote:

Immediately following his military service, William B. Hooker plunged into political and civic activities in Tampa. On August 23, 1856, a meeting at the courthouse promoting a railroad to Tampa appointed Hooker and several others as delegates to attend an upcoming convention at Ocala. On August 25, he played a prominent role in a county Democratic Party convention which nominated James Gettis for the post of State Assemblyman. On September 2, he helped organize the Tampa Democratic Club and was elected to the post of third vice president. Finally, in the fall of 1856, Hooker was foreman of the Hillsborough Grand Jury. The General Presentment of the Grand Jury called for (1) speedy repair of public roads; (2) a good fence around the courthouse; (3) continued prosecution of the Indian war; and (4) correcting defects in the state Internal Improvement Act. One historian has asserted that Hooker "suffered" from the controversy surrounding his record in the Seminole conflict, but the evidence of his subsequent leadership role in Tampa and Hillsborough County affairs clearly negates that assumption. At the presidential election of November 4, 1856, William B. Hooker's name appears on the list of 172 voters at Tampa Precinct, Number 2. ⁴¹

Hooker decided to quit the cattle business, and in two conveyances dated December 25, 1857 and January 1, 1858, he conveyed his 1,000 acres in Manatee County and his 6,000 head of cattle branded Heart H, with twelve to twenty thousand pounds of seed cotton to his son Jasper and son-in-law, Benjamin Hagler, for $35,095. Ten annual payments were set up with interest at 6% per annum. Hooker also leased his ten slaves in Manatee County to the partners. However, the arrangement was not successful and by September 1858, they were offering the cattle, land and orange grove for sale. Hooker and Hagler dissolved the partnership in July 1859. Captain Hooker was compelled to reenter the cattle business and take over control of his extensive herds.⁴²

In 1858 Hooker was elected to the Tampa City Council and often served as Mayor protem in place of Mayor Madison Post. In that position, he presided over the Mayor's Court. The most prominent defendant Hooker faced was the bibulous Tampa lawyer, James T. Magbee. On June 15, 1858, Magbee appeared and pleaded not guilty to the charge of violating the 5th ordinance, assault and battery. After examining the witnesses, Hooker found Magbee guilty and fined him $10.00 plus costs. Tampa experienced a wave of lawlessness and violence in the spring and summer of 1858, in response to which a group of prominent local citizens organized a Regulator or vigilante group. Magbee was a target of the Regulators and Hooker may well have been sympathetic to their goals. No direct evidence has been found that he was a member, but Mayor Post and other friends and associates of Captain Hooker were active in the Regulator movement.⁴³

Bill and Mary Hooker had five more children after their move to Hillsborough County: Meroba Hair, born in 1845; Sarah Drucilla, born in 1846; James Newton, born in 1848; Georgiann Florida, born in 1850; and Flora Ella, born in 1853. Little Georgiann died in 1854, but the death of seventeen-year-old Julia from typhoid in 1857 was especially poignant. The yellow fever epidemic which hit Tampa in the fall of 1858 may have been responsible for the deaths of their daughter Eliza Jane Stallings and two of her children. Interested in the education of their children, the Hookers sent two of their daughters, Mary and Meroba to the Southern Masonic Female College in Covington, Georgia, in the late 1850s to complete their education. Both daughters married well. On May 1, 1860, Mary became the wife of the rising young Hernando Countian, Samuel E. Hope. Later that year, on September 20, Meroba married Florida Peninsular editor, Simon Turman, Jr. Hope ran an unsuccessful race for the state senate in 1860 and was opposed by the wily lawyer, James T. Magbee. Ironically, Turman became embroiled in a feud with Hope and threw his support to Magbee.⁴⁴

Samuel Edward Hope

Mary Henrietta Hooker Hope

Courtesy of Florida State Archives. (Larger views not available)

Simon Turman, Jr., ca. 1829 - 1864, courtesy of Vivian Shelton

The Orange Grove Hotel during the 1876 - 77 winter season.  Judge and Mrs. Henry L. Crane, who operated the hotel, are standing on the left side of the second floor porch.  Sidney Lanier has been identified by contemporaries as the man standing on the far right side of the second floor porch with his leg propped on the rail.  But D. B. McKay in the Tampa Tribune, March 6, 1955, said Lanier is standing at the left end of the first floor veranda.  The original of this photo was owned by Mrs. Samuel E. (Mary Hooker) Hope, later Mrs. Clara (Hope) Baggett and now Mr. and Mrs.L. E. Vinson of Tarpon Springs.

Hooker's signature appears on this receipt dated March 4, 1867.  From the Lesley Family Collection, courtesy University of South Florida Special Collections.

 

In the spring of 1866, Captain Hooker and his family returned to Tampa, to their home on Madison Street. The new Mrs. Hooker, who had operated a hotel in Ocala with her first husband, may have convinced the captain to turn the mansion into a hotel. Hooker was in debt and facing creditors, so the decision to become an innkeeper was a wise one.⁵⁸ In April 1866, Hooker announced the opening of the Orange Grove Hotel:

This house, having just been renovated, and refitted, is now ready for the reception of boarders. Regular and day boarders will find this a comfortable and convenient house, and every attention will be paid to the wants of travellers. The table will be filled with the best the market affords, and the charge will be reasonable.

The climate, the sea breeze, fish, oysters &c., makes this a place of resort, for health and pleasure.

Stables are attached to the premises where horses, will be well attended to.

W. B. Hooker, Proprietor⁵⁹

Hooker also began to sell off his property. On July 16, 1866, he sold the Fort Hamer tract, over 500 acres consisting of a log house, orange grove and other improvements to Charles A. Turner, son of Major William I. Turner, for $1,000. Major Turner named the place Oak Hill and later it became the center of the small town of Parrish. Hooker also began selling off many of his town lots in Tampa. A judgment in favor of William B., John A., and James F. Henderson was entered against Hooker and Benjamin Hagler in the fall term of circuit court in 1866. Block 52 of the Town of Tampa, the Orange Grove Hotel property, was sold at public sale, March 4, 1867, to satisfy the judgment. In an apparently pre-arranged agreement, son-in-law Sam Hope bought the property for $2,555. The Hendersons received the $720.74 due them and Hooker was reimbursed the balance of $1,834.26. In August 1867, Hooker managed to protect his Orange Grove Hotel property from creditors by means of a trust deed from son-in-law Sam Hope, naming Hooker as trustee of the property for the benefit of Hooker’s children and heirs. At the spring term of circuit court in 1867, three judgments were entered against him. Perry G. Wall, executor of the John Eubanks estate, won a judgment of $715.50 in an assumpsit action. Kennedy and Darling and J. R. Fulmore also obtained judgments against Hooker. A sheriff’s sale was ordered for December 2, 1867, to sell off much of his Hillsborough County property, including that at Simmons Hammock. Hooker, however, still had a trick up his sleeve. He petitioned Major Richard Comba, commander of the United States occupation troops at Fort Brooke, for a postponement of the sale of his property. Comba received approval from his superiors and ordered a delay of six months until June 2, 1868. On August 17, 1867, he put up his Hernando County plantation for sale and announced an auction on November 2. But the land did not sell and in March 1869 it was finally sold at a sheriff’s sale in Hernando County to satisfy the earlier judgment in favor of Perry G. Wall.⁶⁰

From the Tampa Florida Peninsular, August 17, 1867

Dedicated June 1992, corner of Kennedy Blvd. and East Street, Tampa, FL.

Captain Hooker tried to remain active in local affairs, attending Democratic party and railroad meetings. However, his health was declining and for a time he drank heavily, no doubt saddened by the financial reverses of the post-war years. He and his wife Nancy separated in early 1869, when she released her dower rights in his estate in exchange for notes in the amount of $2,400. Later that year, he turned over management of the hotel to his daughter Meroba and his son-in-law, Henry L. Crane. In December of 1870, the Tampa newspaper reported that Hooker had been seriously ill and was staying at Live Oak. His will, dated December 5, 1870, left modest bequests to his children and two of his orphaned grandchildren. He left all of his books and the secretary in which they were kept to his son, James N. Hooker. Finally, he named his son James and his "trusty and well tried and worthy friend and son in law Henry L. Crane" as executors^.61

The end came six months later in the early morning hours of June 11, 1871. That afternoon at 4 p.m., members of Hillsborough Lodge No. 25, Free and Accepted Masons, met in special session at the lodge building. They then marched in procession to the Hooker residence where the funeral service was performed by the chaplain. Then the lodge members and others accompanied the body to the grave yard where final Masonic honors were granted to Captain Hooker. Today, an impressive stone obelisk marks his grave in Oaklawn Cemetery where he rests along with Tampa’s other pioneers.⁶²

His obituary in the Florida Peninsular spoke of Hooker’s many accomplishments and praised his generosity:

In prosperity Capt. Hooker was a friend to the destitute, and in adversity he would divide the last dollar he had with those whom he thought needed it more than himself.⁶³

The Royal Arch Mason chapter of which Hooker was a member, published a lengthy memorial resolution:

Our companion, William B. Hooker, . . . was "marked" on the 23d, and "presided" on the 25th, February, and was "received and acknowledged" on the 5th, and "exalted" on the 9th of March, A. D. 1861; and he thus became a member of Tampa Royal Arch Chapter, No. 17, of Free and Accepted Masons of Florida.

His death, although he had arrived at the good age of three score years and ten, was not induced directly by the wear and tear of wasting years, but by a destructive disease, past the skill of medical science to arrest. . . .

Our departed companion was not unknown as a patriot, as a defender of civil and religious liberty, and as an influential citizen. Being the head of a numerous family of blood relations and collateral affinities by marriage, he was a power for good in the county of his residence. For the numerous dependents of his own household, he provided bountifully, and his home was ever open to the stranger and none, however poor, ever left it hungry or naked. He was in the main a good man, though by no means perfect. Let us remember and imitate his virtues and let his faults, whatever they were, be buried out of sight with his mortal remains in the grave. Let us, beloved companions, look back over the past of our own lives and see what little good we have to boast of, and be wise while we have the opportunity.⁶⁴

Tampa historian Charles E. Harrison, who first came to Tampa in 1867, described Hooker as "a man of much individuality and strong convictions, possessing in an eminent degree the power of initiative."⁶⁵ D. B. McKay echoed Harrison’s statements and lauded Hooker as an early advocate of good roads who laid out and cleared the first road from central Hillsborough County to the Manatee River.⁶⁶

Clearly, William Brinton Hooker was an impressive figure in the early growth and development of Florida. As a blazer of trails, citrus grower, soldier and framer of the state’s first constitution, he deserves to be remembered. But most of all, as a founder of Florida’s beef cattle industry, Hooker left his mark on the pioneer history of Florida.

Hooker's membership certificate in the Washington National Monument Society. Hooker's wife, Mary, was one of the "collecting agents" in Tampa for the Ladies Washington National Monument society.  Author's collection.

 

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