James HOOPER

[garlands]

James HOOPER m Mary LANGDON on 03 Oct 1701 in Barnstaple. One would expect him to have been born ca 1680, but I have been unable to find any suitable record. The best I can manage is

22 Aug 1640 James to William HOOPER in Barnstaple

26 Oct 1663 James HOOPER m Margaret SLOLY in Heanton Puncharden

21 Feb 1680 Margaret HOOPER buried in Horwood

If, and it's a big 'IF', there is only one James HOOPER in all of this, it means he would have been 61 when he married Mary LANGDON who appears to have been bap on 29 May 1676 in Northam.

Is there another, more likely, James HOOPER?

[Ayashi]

That far back it is entirely possible that you can't find him because the christening record no longer exists. That said, one of my ancestors married a woman 30 years younger than him when he was knocking 70, so sometimes it happened!

1701 probably doesn't show much (likely just the names) but have you seen the original record to confirm? If you are especially lucky it might give some other info such as occupation or native parish.

FindMyPast is showing a will entry for:
Hooper
James
—
—
1680
Devon Wills Index, 1163-1999
Heanton Punchardon, Devon, England

This could be related to James / Margaret SLOLY. Since I don't have a sub I can't look at it, but it might help rule that in or out.

~

Edit-
Answered my own question-
James HOOPER, mariner, native of Northam
Mary LANGDON, native of Heaunton

[rosie99]

The will mentioned on FindMyPast is only an index, there is no further information on that site

[rosie99]

Edit-
Answered my own question-
James HOOPER, mariner, native of Northam
Mary LANGDON, native of Heaunton

There is a baptism at Heanton Punchardon for a Mary Langdon 16 Jul 1662 - father George 

The wills index on F M P mentions an administration for a Margaret HOOPER 1681 -  Horwood

[garlands]

Thanks, both.

I think I shall have to get a copy of that will and the Administration.

The parents of Mary LANGDON (1661) are George & Sarah
The parents of Mary LANGDON (1676) are George & Elizabeth

My guess is that George married twice, and the 1676 baptism is of the lady who married in 1701; it needs more work.

Are we any clearer at this stage on how many James HOOPERs there are?

[Ayashi]

Nuts, Rosie! I was hoping that will would be helpful, especially if it named names!

I couldn't find the Margaret SLOLY marriage on FreeREG (which was where I found the contents of the other one). If that can be found, if we are lucky it may have the occupation for that James. Another mariner wouldn't necessarily mean they are the same man of course, but if he has a wildly different occupation that would suggest two men.

A few questions:
1) Can children of James and Margaret be found? If no, it might be that they didn't have children, or the christening records no longer exist (or exist online). If the latter, James who married in 1701 could potentially have been a son of James and Margaret (or another couple whose records were also lost)
2) Can you find a death for the earlier Mary before the 'second' Mary was named? Can you find a death for the 'first' wife before the 'second' marriage? I don't think the mother was named on any of these records unfortunately but I'd also look to see if there are date collisions between children of George to suggest two different couples having children at the same time (if some are Northam and some are Heanton this may be more obvious). Comparison of the marriages may show occupations for each George. This is off on a tangent from the original query, of course.

[DRH123]

The Devon Wills Project can be freely accessed at https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEV/DevonWillsProject, you don't need to go through FindMyPast.

Unfortunately, as Rosie says, the 1680 James Hooper will only appears as a "list entry". It is in an index of wills proved at Barnstable, compiled before they were destroyed in the war, as is the Margaret Hooper administration. Sometimes copies survived elsewhere, in which case there will usually be a separate entry in the DWP index. No such luck this time.

David

[garlands]

The only Will I can find is that of

James HOOPER, mariner, of Stepney, Middlesex

so pretty definitely not our man

[garlands]

It looks to me that the James HOOPER of 1644 is the one who married Margaret SLOLY in 1663 at Heanton Puncharden.  I assume that this is the James mentioned in the Wills Index in 1680, but I can find no record of his burial, although we appear to have a record of the burial of his wife in 1680.

We have to go as far as Exeter to find another contemporaneous James which, I think, is too far. I conclude, therefore, that the James of 1640 in Barnstaple didn't marry until 1701, so is 'my' man.

Please correct me if you have any other information.