What became of Henry Clay Hooter?

Henry Clay Hooter was born in Catahoula Parish between 1853 and 1856 to the marriage of John S. Hooter and Mahala Adelaide Guice.  The 1860 and 1870 census records show Henry Clay living with his family in the Harrisonburg area of Catahoula Parish.  What became of Henry Clay Hooter after 1870?

As I research the old families of Sicily Island and surrounding areas, I often run across family members who seem to have simply disappeared.  Census records and other documents are non-existent.  This can usually be remedied by using variations of given names and surnames when searching for information.  Some census takers had very poor penmanship and transcribers often misinterpreted what was written. 



Reviewing online family trees helps to some extent.  Unfortunately, incorrect information can be passed along when people copy from other trees without verifying the information for accuracy.  Many times the dates of death are incorrect or left in question.  This is also true with regards to the wonderful and resourceful website, FindAGrave.

New research resources are being offered online on a regular basis. One of the newer resources is Chronicling America, Historic American Newspapers.   Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.  Digital images of historic Louisiana newspapers are provided by Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.  You never know what little tidbit of information or clues you'll find when scanning these historic newspapers.

Such is the case with Henry Clay Hooter.

The recent announcement regarding the new digital collection mentioned above prompted me to search the Louisiana newspapers using "Sicily Island" as the search term.  In a 1914 edition of The Herald (New Orleans), I found the following:

After finding this newspaper article, I began researching the Hooter family of Catahoula Parish.  I soon realized that most online family trees and FindAGrave either listed Henry Clay Hooter's date of death as 1878 or the date of death was left in question.  Further research indicated that the Henry Clay Hooter born in Catahoula Parish was the same Henry Clay Hooter who lived in the New Orleans area as noted in the newspaper article above.

The 1910 Census shows Henry Clay Hooter as a roomer living in New Orleans, Ward 15. 

U.S. City Directories from 1908-1914 show him living on Opelousas Avenue in New Orleans.

U.S. City Directory, 1914

FindAGrave lists Henry Clay Hooter's burial place as Catahoula Baptist Church Cemetery (aka Old Catahoula Cemetery) near Harrisonburg.  This may be true and the newspaper article may be incorrect.  However, I believe his date of death was 1914 vs. 1878 as stated on FindAGrave and in online family trees.  If information exists to prove otherwise, please leave a comment so that I can update this post for accuracy.  The same goes for any of my blog posts.  Any and all information is welcome.

I will be sharing more information on the Hooter family in a later post but I wanted to single out Henry Clay Hooter as a reminder to all fellow researchers.  Check out the new research resources being offered.  You never know what you will find!