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Size | 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 800 items) |
Abstract | John DeBerniere Hooper was a student, tutor, and professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., and a teacher in schools in several other North Carolina locations, including Raleigh, Littleton, Fayetteville, and Wilson. His daughter was Frances DeBerniere Hooper Whitaker, wife of Spier Whitaker. The papers of John DeBerniere Hooper consist of correspondence with his father-in-law, William Hooper, professor at the University of North Carolina, Furman University, South Carolina College, and president of Wake Forest University, and with other Hooper, Jones, and DeBerniere family members in North Carolina and South Carolina. Topics include politics, teaching, the University of North Carolina, and family news. Early papers, 1778-1798, provide information on the Forceput Plantation, located on the Cape Fear River outside of Wilmington, N.C. There are also letters, 1829-1830, from students at a female academy in Chatham County, N.C. Civil War era materials are sparse, but there are some documents that critique Civil War politics and an 1861 letter from a slave named Jerry, who had been hired out to serve students at the University of North Carolina. Later materials relate primarily to Hooper family history compiled by Frances DeBerniere Hooper Whitaker. |
Creator | Hooper, John DeBerniere, 1811-1886. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Library Staff, 1963
Encoded by: Bari Helms, March 2005
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, March 2021
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Born at Smithville (now Southport), N.C., John DeBerniere Hooper was a tutor and professor at the University of North Carolina and a teacher in several North Carolina towns. He was the second son of Archibald Maclaine Hooper and Charlotte DeBerniere Hooper. Hooper's paternal ancestors were prominent citizens of North Carolina, and his mother's father, John DeBerniere, was a British army officer of Huguenot ancestry who brought his family to North Carolina.
Hooper grew up in Wilmington, N.C., with well-educated parents who managed to send their children to good schools despite the family's financial troubles. With the support of a prosperous widowed cousin, Hooper entered the University of North Carolina as a freshman in the middle of the 1827-1828 academic year. He quickly rose to the top of his class, and, in 1831, he graduated as the only member of his class to achieve the highest grades in every field of study. While excelling in the usual classical studies, Hooper also gained proficiency in French language and literature.
After graduation, Hooper remained in Chapel Hill as a tutor in languages. He remained there until 1833, when he left to take a position at the new Episcopal School for Boys in Raleigh. In July 1836, Hooper was appointed professor of modern languages at the University of North Carolina and, in 1838, was promoted to professor of Latin. In 1843, he resumed teaching French in addition to his work in Latin.
On 20 December 1837, Hooper married Mary Elizabeth Hooper, who was doubly related to him as the daughter of Professor William Hooper, his father's cousin, and of Frances Jones Hooper, his mother's cousin. The couple had four children: Helen Wills, Fanny Whitaker, Henry DeBerniere, and Julia Graves. In 1848, Hooper and his wife left Chapel Hill to join her father in farming and conducting a school for boys near Littleton in Warren County, N.C. Hooper remained there until 1860, when he joined his brother-in-law, Thomas C. Hooper, in conducting the Fayetteville Female Institute. He left the Fayetteville Female Institute to join the faculty of the Wilson Female Institute. When the University of North Carolina reopened in 1875, Hooper was appointed professor of Greek and French. He remained at the University until his death in 1886.
Back to TopThe papers of professor and teacher John DeBerniere Hooper consist of correspondence with his father-in-law, William Hooper, professor at the University of North Carolina, Furman University, South Carolina College, and president of Wake Forest University, and with other Hooper, Jones, and DeBerniere family members in North Carolina and South Carolina. Topics include politics, teaching, the University of North Carolina, and family news. Early papers, 1778-1798, provide information on the Forceput Plantation, located on the Cape Fear River outside of Wilmington, N.C. There are also letters, 1829-1830, from students at a female academy in Chatham County, N.C. Civil War era materials are sparse, but there are some documents that critique Civil War politics and an 1861 slave letter from a slave named Jerry, who had been hired out to serve students at the University of North Carolina. Later materials relate primarily to Hooper family history compiled by Frances DeBerniere Hooper Whitaker.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Correspondence is composed chiefly of family letters that document teaching, politics, family activities, marriages, deaths, and other topics. Scattered throughout are letters concerning the University of North Carolina. In addition, materials about other schools with which the family was affiliated are also included: Episcopal School for Boys in Raleigh, Wake Forest College, South Carolina College, and a girl's school in Chatham County, N.C. Early papers, 1778-1798, provide information on the Forceput Plantation on the Cape Fear River outside of Wilmington. The Civil War era material is sparse, but there are some documents that critique Civil War politics. Also included is an 1861 slave letter from a slave named Jerry, who had been hired out to serve students at the University of North Carolina. The material dated 1870-1879 documents Hooper's return to Chapel Hill and includes an 1879 letter in which he compares the duties of professors in the antebellum and post-bellum periods. The later correspondence, 1900-1911, consists primarily of material relating to Hooper family history compiled by Frances DeBerniere Hooper Whitaker.
See also Series 3. Volumes.
Folder 1 |
1778-1798 |
Folder 2 |
1800-1809 |
Folder 3 |
1810-1819 |
Folder 4 |
1820-1829 |
Folder 5 |
1830-1831 |
Folder 6 |
1832-1833 |
Folder 7 |
1834-1835 |
Folder 8 |
1836 |
Folder 9 |
1837 |
Folder 10 |
1838-1839 |
Folder 11 |
1840-1844 |
Folder 12 |
1845-1849 |
Folder 13 |
1850-1853 |
Folder 14 |
1854-1859 |
Folder 15 |
1860-1869 |
Folder 16 |
1870-1879 |
Folder 17 |
1881-1889 |
Folder 18 |
1890-1894 |
Folder 19 |
1895-1899 |
Folder 20 |
1900-1903 |
Folder 21 |
1904 |
Folder 22 |
1905 |
Folder 23 |
1906-1911 |
Folder 24 |
Archibald Maclaine Hooper and Charlotte DeBerniere Hooper, undated |
Folder 25 |
Mary Hooper, daughter of A. M. Hooper; Mary Elizabeth Hooper, daughter of William Hooper and wife of John DeBerniere Hooper; and Frances Jones Hooper, wife of William Hooper, undated |
Folder 26 |
William Hooper, Mary Elizabeth Mallett Jones, and Julia DeBerniere, undated |
Folder 27 |
Miscellaneous fragments, undated |
Arrangement: By family name.
Genealogical material documents the DeBerniere family, Crommelin family, Clark family, and Hooper family. Also included are biographical narratives of Peter Mallett and Eliza Comerford Lutterloh. The Daughters of the American Revolution papers, compiled by Frances DeBerniere Hooper Whitaker, include some material on the Edenton Tea Party, which occurred 25 October 1774, when 51 ladies of Edenton, N.C., met to reenact the Boston Tea Party.
See also Series 8. Volumes.
Folder 28 |
DeBerniere and Crommelin families |
Folder 29a-30 |
Hooper family |
Folder 31 |
Clark family |
Folder 32 |
Peter Mallett autobiography |
Folder 33 |
Eliza Comerford Lutterloh narrative |
Folder 34 |
Miscellaneous genealogy |
Folder 35 |
Daughters of the American Republic |
Folder 36 |
Printed items |
Arrangement: Roughly by type.
Volumes primarily document DeBerniere and Hooper family history. Several of the volumes are copies of letters sent from distant DeBerniere and Hooper relatives.
Folder 37 |
Volume 1Unbound volume contains copies of letters from relatives in England to members of the DeBerniere family in Charleston, S.C., that concern family news, comments on current affairs, and some family history. Correspondents include Elizabeth Longley (Mrs. Henry) DeBerniere, Mrs. C. Wray from Ireland, and Charlotte DeBerniere (Mrs. Newton) Smart. |
Folder 38 |
Volume 2Unbound volume contains disorganized material on the DeBerniere family, including copies of letters from Elizabeth Longley (Mrs. Henry) DeBerniere, Colonel Henry DeBerniere. Topics include literary notes, DeBerniere genealogy, and Ireland. |
Folder 39 |
Volume 3The volume documents Hooper family history and includes the beginning of an autobiography of Dr. William Hooper. |
Folder 40 |
Volume 4Contains miscellaneous notes by Frances DeBerniere Hooper Whitaker on Hooper family history, on her reading, and on some writings of A. M. Hooper. |
Folder 41 |
Volumes 5 and 6Volumes contain Daughters of the American Republic and Colonial Dames material. |
Folder 42 |
Volume 7A commonplace book, probably kept by Frances Pollock Jones (Mrs. William) Hooper, contains a few slight and scattered diary entries. |
Extra Oversize Paper Folder XOPF-835/1 |
Oversize papers |
Image Folder PF-835/1 |
William Hooper and the Hooper Penn Monument at Guilford Battleground |
Image Folder PF-835/2 |
William Hooper portraitSnapshot of an oil painting by Joe Wallace King of Winston-Salem, N.C. The original portrait is at Reynolds Hall at Wake Forest University. Also, a photocopy of a photograph of William Hooper and Frances Pollock Jones (1798-1863). |