Hooper Cemetery, Rapides Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Betty White ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** HOOPER CEMETERY The Hooper Cemetery is located in the Kolin community south of Pineville, Rapides Parish. This is a complete listing of all known burials as of Dec. 1991. Also included are various notes and additional information as known. EMMA HOOPER BARRON Birth: March 9, 1904 Death: March 23, 1924 Epitaph: Wife of H. J. Barron Father: Richard Newton Hooper Mother: Lenora Bradford Spouse: H. J. Barron Brother: Moab, Newton A., Jessie Sisters: Mary, Mattie Note: Emma's father did not want her to marry, so they ran away to marry. About two months before she was to have her first baby, she died after eating some mustard greens. The doctor said she had been poisoned by some insects on the greens. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON RICE HOOPER Birth: March 1827 Death: October 1911 Epitaph: age 84 years Brother: Henry I. Robertson Sister: Mary Lou Robertson Spouses: Rice, William Hooper Children: Silas Rice, Josiah, Mary Elizabeth, Virginia, William A, James, Robert, Mary Margaret, Emma, Richard Newton. Notes: Vera Harvey Chelette remembered a story she heard many times about Elizabeth. At about sixteen years of age she was in a coma. The family believed she had died and layed her on a cooling board as preparation for the burial. Someone noticed her eyes flicker so she was returned to bed. Elizabeth said she had seen heaven while in the coma and drank from a stream. There were lots of people walking on a dark path. God told her she was not going to die then and told her how long she would live, but she was never to tell anyone. She said years later that she couldn't understand why God would let her live to see so many of her children dead. The only hint she ever gave about how long she would live was when she fell and broke her hip. She said she would have to live twenty years with a broken hip and she did. Elizabeth also had said that God told her she would not be sick when she died. She died unexpectedly when the family left to attend a funeral. She had stayed home with a child too young to go. Elizabeth's parents were from South Carolina. Jane White Craig said they were Irish. Her brother and sister were both younger than she and were born in Arkansas. Jane White said she was told the sister became a ship stewardess and was called Lou. Their brother, Henry, was a giant and weighed over five hundred pounds. They were all raised on a plantation near a salt dome in Arkansas. Jane White wrote, "Grandmother was so sweet. She was crippled twenty years before she died. She fell and broke her hip. She sould sing to us and teach us to play games and to be a Christian. She lived with Uncle Newton and Aunt Nola. Grandpa went in and out as he felt he had to work. Grandma made her garden up till a little while before her death" Elizabeth and William had eleven children. Only the names of nine are known. Only four grew to adults and married. ELLEN MCCANN HOOPER Birth: Aug. 21, 1910 Death: Living Epitaph: McCann Father: John Levi McCann Mother: Francis Delilah Hayes Spouse: Newton Alexander Hooper Children: Newton C., Archie, Noland, Jean, Cecil, Thomas, Francis Lenora, Sandra Ann LENARD MOAB HOOPER Birth: Dec. 27, 1900 Death: Aug. 24, 1911 Epitaph: son of R.N. and L.E. Hooper Father: Richard Newton Hooper Mother: Lenora Eleanor Bradford Brother: Jeff, Peerless, Jessie Sisters: May, Mattie Note: Lenard was shot by his brother, Jesse. LENORA ELEANOR BRADFORD HOOPER Birth: June 22, 1864 Death: July 7, 1935 Spouses: William A. Hooper, Richard Newton Hooper Married: 13 Oct 1887 Children: William Howard, Jefferson, Richard Peerless, Mattie, Mary, Jesse Joseph, Newton Alexander, Lenard Moab, Emma. NEWTON ALEXANDER HOOPER Birth: Jan. 12, 1899 Death: Aug. 3, 1960 Father: Richard Newton Hooper Mother: Lenora Eleanor Bradford Spouse: Ellen McCann Married: 7 Oct 1933 Brothers: Jefferson, Peerless Sisters: Mattie, Mary, Jessie, Newton WILLIAM HOOPER Birth: April 1825 in Mississippi Death: 1909 Epitaph: Age 84 years Spouse: Elizabeth Robertson Rice Children: Josiah, Mary Elizabeth, William A., Robert, Emma + Notes: William's father was born in Georgia and his mother in Mississippi. Jane White Craig said she was told that his mother was an English woman. She also told that when he was about sixteen he went to a spring to get water. He met a neighbor who had been scalped by wild Indians. He came to the house, got his gun and went to join in with the white men that were fighting the Indians. Aunt Jane's story continued that he was a school teacher and taught until he was too old. Theyi had no retirement then. He could write the beautiful hand, the ole time big slinging letters that he used to write with goose quills. He was smart and very dressy for his time. After he quit school teaching he would order books and medicine, because the people in the country would use pattened medicine as doctors were few and scattered. He would put all this in saddle packets and carry it across his shoulders and walk six to eight miles a day. old like he was, and sell it. He sold enough to keep himself good clothes to wear. HE would come to our house down on Red River on the farm and stay a few days with us. He would help us work potatoes or peanuts and tell us stories that we really enjoyed. His by-word if he got worried was "My stars alive". At night he would sit on the proch and sing religious songs to us. "Ah, we loved him". In the 1850 census he was living in the home of Francis Little, a tanner and shoe merchant. In 1860 he is listed as a farmer and is living next to Joseph and Ann Craig. Joseph was a shoemaker who had just arrived from Scotland. There jwould be several marriages between these two families in following generations. About 1854 William married Elizabeth Robertson Rice, a widow. WILLIAM A. HOOPER Birth: 1862 Death: 1886 Epitaph: age 24 years Spouse: Lenora Eleanor Bradford Brother: James, Robert, Richard Sisters: Elizabeth, Mary, Emma Child: William Howard Hooper WILMA HOOPER Birth: Feb. 3, 1923 Death: Oct. 22, 1925 Father: Jessie Hooper Mother: Alvenia Kitty Burnaman Sisters: Doris, Ruby, Cletta FRANKLIN POSTON Birth: Feb 20, 1878 Death: March 23, 1923 Father: James Henderson Poston JAMES HENDERSON POSTON Birth: 1822 Death: 1890 Epitaph: age 68 Father: Jeremiah Poston (born in Maryland,worked as a surveyor) Mother: Selena Brothers: William, Thomas H. Benton Poston, Jeremiah Washington Poston Sister: Caroline Selma Spouse: Mary Ann Lane Married: 21 Feb 1848 in Rusk County, Texas Children: Marion C., Franklin, Anna, Robert, James Notes: James Poston was a medical doctor. It is told that he treated an an escaped prisoner. The folks in the community were so opposed to this that a group was coming to tar and feather Dr. Poston. He fled in the night with his family. Pete Knapick reported another version; that the "enemy" that he treated was John Wesley Hardin who got into a shooting altercation with two black Union soldiers, killing one of them. The Union soldiers were coming for him. He came to Philidelphia community near Pineville, Louisiana reported to his cousin, Elizabeth Robertson Hooper. No relationship has been found thus far. It is likely true because Elizabeth and her brother and sister came from a plantation in Arkansas near a salt mound. The Postons were also from a plantation, Long Prairie, in Lafayette County,Arkansas. The Postons also had a history of dealing in salt. There were some Robertsons in the same county. It will take further research to determine the connection. EZEKEIL H. POWELL Birth: Jan. 1854 in Mississippi Death: Nov 7, 1920 Father: Howell Powell born in New Jersey Mother: Caroline Lockheart Spouse: Francis Tarver Brother: James, Willia, Isaac Sisters: Lydia, Mary Children: Laura, Sarah, Preston, Martha, Hester, Mendy LUCY SMITH Birth: May 7, 1887 Death: Aug. 27, 1973 Father: William Henry Smith Mother: Mary Wells Smith MARY WELLS SMITH Birth: 1846 Death: 1909 Spouse: William Henry Smith Children: George, William, Lucy WILLIAM HENRY SMITH Birth: 1844 Death: 1912 Spouse: Mary Wells Children: George, William, Lucy CHARLES OTIS WHITE Birth: March 30. 1900 Death: April 18, 1926 Father: Louis Taylor White Mother: Mary Elizabeth Hooper Spouse: none Brothers: Irving T."Bob", James Henderson Poston, Douglas F. "Dave, George Walter, William Richard, Truly Truman Sisters: Kate Hester, Ida, Elizabeth Jane, Mary Emma, Notes: Charles Otis was born with deformed legs. It was told that his brother, William Richard, had a bad temper that went unchecked. When angered he would run and hit his head into a wall. One day his sisters teased him and his mother also said something to him. He ran and butted his head into his mother. She was then pregnant with Charles Otis. Otis, as he was called, learned to walk on his hands. He could whistle beautifully and initate all the birds in the woods. He sold the Alexandria newspaper, The Town Talk, from his wheelchair in Alexandria. MARY ELIZABETH HOOPER WHITE Birth: Nov. 2, 1858 Death: Oct. 30, 1924 Epitaph: Wife of Louis T. White Father: William Hooper Mother: Elizabeth Robertson Rice Spouse: Louis Taylor White Brothers: Josiah, William A., James, Robert, Richard Newton Sisters: Virginia, Mary Margaret, M. Emma Children: Kate Hester, Irving T., James Henderson "Poston", Douglas F. Dave, Ida, George Walter, Elizabeth Jane, Mary Emma, William Richard, Truly Truman, Charles Otis Notes: Jane White Craig said she was a dear old mother who worked so hard. She raised eleven of twelve children. Elizabeth took in boarders to help support the family. Her borders were cutting logs for a logging company. One of them, Charley Harvey, later married Elizabeth's daughter, Emma. Elizabeth was known as a good midwife. She delivered all of George and Truly White's children and one son of Laura Little's. She also took care of sick people. Elizabeth stopped running the boarding house because of her nerves. She read and knew the Bible well. GEORGE WALTER WHITE Birth: Oct. 26, 1887 Death: March 25, 1925 Father: Louis Taylor White Mother: Elizabeth Hooper White Spouse: Carrie Richardson Brothers: Irving T. "Bob", James Henderson Poston, Douglas F. "Dave", William Richard, Truly Truman, Charles Otis Sisters: Kate Hester, Ida, Elizabeth Jane, Mary Emma Children: Mildred, Bertie, Noble, Nancy IRVIN T. WHITE Birth: Dec. 31, 1879 Death: Dec. 1, 1957 Father: Louis Taylor White Mother: Elizabeth Hooper White Spouse: Mary Jane Reeves Brothers: James Henderson Poston, Douglas F. "Dave", George Walter, William Richard, Truly Truman, Charles Otis Sisters: Kate Hester, Ida, Elizabeth Jane, Mary Emma Children: none MARTHA WHITE Birth: about 1906 Death: about 1908 Epitaph: Martha is in an unmarked grave Father: Poston White Mother: Sarah Powell White Brother: Ed, Monroe, Woodrow, + Sister: Pinkie, Mary, Oveda, + Notes: Martha was born with her head bent to her shoulder. She developed croup and the doctor was summoned. The doctor forced an instrument down her throat and broke her neck. MARY JANE REEVES WHITE Birth: June 7, 1877 Death: July 27, 1953 Father: Asa Reeves Mother: Rubie Spouse: Irvin T. "Bob" White Sister: Alma E. Reeves White Children: none WOODROW WHITE Birth: about 1912 Death: about 1912 Epitaph: Woodrow is in an unmarked grave Father: Poston White Mother: Sarah Powell White Brothers: Eddie Lee, Monroe Albert, Elton Essex "Jack", Poston, Jr., Marvin Alvis Sisters: Martha, Pinkie, Mary, Oveda Iona, Destie Jane