Ancestral Context

Birth of Rev. Thomas Hooker — Mary's Paternal Grandfather

Description: Thomas Hooker was born in Leicestershire, England, circa July 5, 1586. He trained as a Puritan minister, studied at Cambridge, and became known as one of the most powerful preachers in England before clerical pressure forced his emigration to New England. His theological and political legacy would define the colony Mary was born into.
Source: Edward Hooker, The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker, Hartford, Connecticut, 1586–1908 (Rochester, NY: E. Hooker, 1909) — Internet Archive full text: https://archive.org/stream/descendantsofrev00hook/descendantsofrev00hook_djvu.txt
Quote: "Called today 'the Father of Connecticut,' Thomas Hooker was a towering figure in the early development of colonial New England." — Old Connecticut Path Heritage Site, citing Hooker genealogical record: https://sites.google.com/a/oldconnecticutpath.com/oldconnecticutpath/4-0-finding-our-family-heritage-on-the-old-connecticut-path/3-rev-thomas-hooker

Thomas Hooker Founds Hartford, Connecticut Colony

Description: Dissatisfied with voting restrictions and clerical hierarchy in Massachusetts Bay, Rev. Thomas Hooker led a party of approximately 100 settlers through the Connecticut wilderness and founded the settlement of Hartford. He became the first minister of Hartford's First Church and the dominant theological voice behind the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut — described by contemporaries as the first written democratic constitution establishing representative government. Mary would be born into this founding legacy forty years later.
Source: Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, Hooker entry — Schenectady Digital History Archive: https://schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/hooker.html
Quote: "In June, 1636, with a majority of his parishoners, he traversed the wilderness to Connecticut, where they founded the city of Hartford." — Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, Hooker entry

Birth of Rev. Samuel Hooker — Mary's Father

Description: Samuel Hooker, son of Thomas and Susanna Hooker, was born circa 1633, most likely at Newtowne (Cambridge), Massachusetts — the year the Hooker family emigrated to New England. He would go on to graduate Harvard College in 1653 and carry his father's clerical legacy into a new generation at Farmington, Connecticut.
Source: Edward Hooker, The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker (1909), Internet Archive: https://archive.org/stream/descendantsofrev00hook/descendantsofrev00hook_djvu.txt
Quote: "Samuel Hooker was aged 64 at the time of his death in 1697, from which it appears that he was born in 1633, but whether before the family left England, or after their arrival in New England is not known, though it is generally supposed that he was born at Newtowne (Cambridge), Mass." — Edward Hooker, The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker (1909), Archive.org full text

Death of Rev. Thomas Hooker

Description: Thomas Hooker died on July 7, 1647, during an epidemic illness, at approximately sixty-one years of age. He was buried in Hartford, though the precise location of his grave is unknown. His death left his son Samuel as the primary carrier of the Hooker clerical name into the next generation — a role Samuel would fulfill at Farmington for the following three decades.
Source: Edward Hooker, The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker (1909), Internet Archive: https://archive.org/stream/descendantsofrev00hook/descendantsofrev00hook_djvu.txt
Quote: "The Rev. Hooker died during an 'epidemical sickness' in 1647, at the age of 61." — Old Connecticut Path Heritage Site: https://sites.google.com/a/oldconnecticutpath.com/oldconnecticutpath/4-0-finding-our-family-heritage-on-the-old-connecticut-path/3-rev-thomas-hooker

Rev. Samuel Hooker Marries Mary Willet

Description: Samuel Hooker married Mary Willet on September 22, 1658. Mary Willet was the daughter of Captain Thomas Willet of Plymouth Colony — a prominent merchant and later the first mayor of New York City — making Samuel the progenitor of all Hookers who claim descent from Rev. Thomas Hooker. The Willet family preserved a vivid account of the wedding celebration. Mary Hooker (the subject of this timeline) was their eleventh child.
Source: Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, Hooker entry — Schenectady Digital History Archive: https://schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/hooker.html
Quote: "The marriage of Rev. Samuel and Mary Willet was no doubt celebrated in a proper manner, for an account of it is handed down in the Willet family, thus: 'And Samuel and Mary did there brew a great bowl of punch.'" — Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, Hooker entry

Rev. Samuel Hooker Settles at Farmington, Connecticut

Description: Samuel Hooker moved to Farmington, Connecticut in 1661, succeeding his brother-in-law Rev. Roger Newton and becoming the second minister of the Farmington congregation. He remained there until his death in 1697 — a tenure of thirty-six years. This was the community into which his daughter Mary would be born twelve years later.
Source: Edward Hooker, The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker (1909), Internet Archive: https://archive.org/stream/descendantsofrev00hook/descendantsofrev00hook_djvu.txt
Quote: "He remained at Plymouth until he removed to Farmington, Conn., in 1661, where he succeeded his brother-in-law Rev. Roger Newton and became the second minister of the place and remained there until his death in 1697." — Edward Hooker, The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker (1909)