BIO: Gibbony F. HOOP, Centre County, Pennsylvania

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the 
Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing Biographical 
Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, pages 132-133

GIBBONY F. HOOP, M. D., consulting and prescribing physician, residing in 
Philipsburg, Centre county, was born December 6, 1827, on the line between 
Washington county, Md., and Bedford county, Penn., a son of Jacob and Sarah A. 
(Gibbony) Hoop, who were married at Greencastle, Franklin Co., Penn., April 6, 
1813, by Rev. William Rothrough.  The father was born in Chester county, Penn., 
September 22, 1788, was a farmer in his younger years, but was later interested 
in a nail factory and in merchandising.  He served as a volunteer soldier under 
Col. (later Gen.) Scott in the war of 1812-14, and marched from near Baltimore 
to Lake Erie.  In religious belief he was a Lutheran, while in politics he was 
a Jackson Democrat.  His death occurred, in Kylertown, Clearfield Co., Penn., 
June 22, 1856, and his wife, whose birth occurred in Lancaster county, Penn., 
November 6, 1790. also died in Kylertown, August 15, 1858.
  In their family were seven children, as follows:  Sarah A., born in January, 
1814, married Joshua Carr, a ship carpenter, who was killed in the Mexican war, 
in 1846, and in 1852 she wedded Adam Jury, of Clearfield county, who, as a 
prisoner of war, was starved to death in Salisbury prison during the Civil war.  
Willis Davis, born November 13, 1816, died in 1834.  Mary Star, born June 10, 
1820, married David Cole, of Lancaster county, Penn., but both are now 
deceased; no children living.  Elizabeth, born February 18, 1824, is the 
deceased wife of George Dunkle, of Franklin county, who is now living with his 
children in Philipsburg.  The Doctor is next in order of birth.  Rebecca, born 
March 17, 1831, married Samuel Hile, who is now residing with a son near 
Reedsville, Mifflin Co., Penn.; Mrs. Hile died in Huntingdon county, in 1893.
  The Hoop family is of English origin, and the name was originally spelled 
Hooper.  From Somersetshire, England, the founders of the family have been 
traced back to Rev. John Hoop, rector of Gloucester, and later bishop of 
Worcester.  He was a man of great learning, and had a large following; but 
having imbibed the religious opinions of other reformers in those days, he was 
called a dissenter from the old Roman Catholic faith, and about 1553 was 
arrested and imprisoned as a heretic, and finally condemned to death at the 
stake, and executed in February, 1555, by order of Her Majesty "Bloody Mary."  
Queen of England.  This sad event so terrorized all the brothers and sons of 
the families that they fled from England, leaving a large estate unsettled, and 
then changed their names to avoid the vindictive searches of the English 
Government upon the high seas, and into every country where they could press 
the power of reclaiming English subjects.  Ever since that time the name has 
been variously spelled by dropping or adding letters for causes unknown to the 
writer hereof.  But since the American Revolutionary war it is well known by 
the numerous families of America that the Hoop, Hoopers, and Hoopes families 
all spring from the same paternal trees in Somersetshire, England.  William 
Hooper, of Boston, Mass., and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was 
of the same original English family according to the information obtained at 
this writing.
  John Hoop, the paternal grandfather of the Doctor, was a native of Delaware.  
The maternal grandparents were Willis D. and Sarah (Frelingheisen) Gibbons.  
The Gibbons family were of Scotch-Irish descent, and the name was changed from 
Gibbons to Gibbony. 

  The boyhood and youth of Dr. Hoop were principally passed on a farm in 
Duncanville, Blair Co., Penn., where for three years he served as 
apprenticeship to the tailor's trade, and subsequently worked for James 
Morehouse, in Hollidaysburg, until June, 1846, when he started westward.  On 
reaching the Ohio line he changed his mind, and came to Centre county, Penn., 
and traveling by the way of Half Moon Valley and Bellefonte, came to 
Phillipsburg, March 4, 1847.  After conducting a tailor shop for a year, he 
began reading medicine with Dr. William P. Hill and Dr. Henry Lorain, of 
Clearfield, with whom he  

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 133

remained for several months, and then engaged in teaching school in Morris 
township, Clearfield county, for three months, after which he returned to 
Philipsburg and continued his reading under the direction of Dr. Charles R. 
Foster, until September, 1849, when he entered the City and Marine Hospital in 
Baltimore, Md., where he continued his medical studies until March 4, 1851, 
when he was granted a diploma; then returned to Philipsburg and engaged in 
practice with Dr. Foster for a few months.  He was next located at Frenchville, 
Clearfield county, where he engaged in practice until 1854, at which time he 
sold out to Dr. F. Antes Canfield (who now resides in Necedah, Wis., the most 
prominent medical man in the State), and moved to Kylertown.  In 1860 we again 
find Dr. Hoop in Philipsburg, but on the outbreak of the Civil war he was 
commissioned, by Gov. Curtin, surgeon of the 84th P. V. I., and remained in the 
service until September 13, 1864.  He was twice wounded, the first time at 
Winchester, in the spring of 1862, this being a slight flesh wound in the hip.  
In 1863, in Loudoun county, Va., during a running cavalry fight, he was struck 
in the right leg, and on the 31st of August in the same year he was overcome by 
sunstroke near Beverly Ford, Va., which caused him to resign in September. 
  After a short time spent in Philipsburg, Dr. Hoop went to the oil fields and 
carried on operations as a member of the Norwich Oil Co., clearing a large sum 
of money in a short time.  He soon, however, returned to Philipsburg and became 
interested in the lumber business, organizing the companies of Hoop, Jones & 
Co., and Munson, Jones & Co., and erecting the first planing-mill in the town 
of Philipsburg; but in 1876 he sold out, though he continued a resident as 
druggist until 1880, when he removed to Idaho Springs, Colo.  There he engaged 
in gold and silver mining with good success for a time, but later, through the 
decline in silver ore, he found the business unprofitable, and returned to 
Philipsburg in 1891, where he has since made his home.
  Dr. Hoop was married May 11, 1851, in Philipsburg, by Rev. Daniel Ayers, to 
Miss Anna Test, of Philipsburg, who died December 7, 1873.  To them were born 
five children, namely:  Laura B., born in Frenchville, Clearfield county, May 
12, 1852, was married December 31, 1868, to William H. McCausland, a jeweler, 
of Philipsburg; Henrietta F., born June 26, 1854, died in 1855; Lizzie, born 
February 27, 1857, died in childhood; James W., born January 39, 1859, married 
Ida Barrick, of Huntingdon county, and died April 19, 1896; and Ellen M., born 
January 24, 1861, is the wife of A. E. Lingenfeltor, an express agent of 
Tyrone, Penn.  The Doctor was again married, this time, April 24, 1879, to Miss 
Josephine Flegal, the wedding ceremony being performed by Rev. William H. Dill, 
of Clearfield.  Her father, Rev. John Flegal, was a native of Maryland, and a 
licensed minister of the Methodist Protestant Church.  Two children grace the 
second union:  Rex Carroll, born November 12, 1880; and Lenore, born at Idaho 
Springs, Colo., November 8, 1886.
  Socially, Dr. Hoop is a Knight Templar, and is a member of the Blue Lodge, 
Chapter and Commandery at Philipsburg, while in religious belief he is a 
Baptist.  His political support is always given the Democratic party, and he is 
an earnest advocate of the free coinage of silver, having large interests in 
Colorado.  He is widely and favorable known throughout this section of the 
State, and his genial and affable manner has gained him the friendship of a 
wide circle of acquaintances, who esteem him highly for his sterling worth and 
many excellent traits of character.