Are Samuel L. Hook and Samuel F. Hook the same person, or not?

Question

The comments for Hook-846 explain most of the story. Basically, there appears to be a Samuel Hook who was born in Indiana as his family moved from Virginia to Iowa. During the 1850 census, he had left his family in Iowa to work in Bois Brule, Missouri. There he met Minerva McBee and by her had three children. However, one year before Minerva's death and in 1860, it appears Samuel had a child with Sarah Coleman, but he didn't marry Sarah until six months after Minerva had died in 1861. Samuel then went to war in the Civil War, and it appears that Sarah and the baby died in 1864. Samuel L. married Mary in 1865 and they both left Randolph County, and that is when we see Samuel F. Hook and Mary Hook in Iowa. It would seem as though Samuel took his deceased 4 yr old son (George E. Hook) to be buried at the family cemetery in Iowa.

Most of the details of this saga are consistent. Samuel L. and Samuel F. have the same birth year and death year (neither have a month and day). Samuel was said to have been born in Iowa according to his daughter's census survey in 1900. Both of Samuel L. Hook's census surveys give his birth location as Indiana (actually, the 1850 census says Illinois and there are two 1860 census that say Indiana). The patriarch (Elisha Hook) of the Mallory Cemetery Hooks came from Virginia, as did several of his older children.

The details that don't work out are the middle initials of Samuel L. and Samuel F. and also, if Samuel was born between George W. Hook and Martha J. Hook (according to the 1850 census in Jefferson, Louisa, Iowa), both of whom were born in Virginia, then either the family went back to Virginia after giving birth to Samuel in Indiana, or there was a recording error for Martha J. Hook's birth location. (Or Samuel L. Hook and Samuel F. Hook are different persons.)

What do the super sleuths of genealogy think is happening here?

Comments

I believe we we have two different Samuel's. Those being Samuel L. Hook and Samuel F. Hook. I base this statement on information indicated below:

According to writings in the family Bible by my grandfather, Emery Andrew Hook, whose father was John Gilbert Hook, whose father was Samuel L. Hook.

"History of Samuel L. Hook was that his father died in the Carolina's and his mother remarried. Samuel could not get along with his step-father. He left the Carolinas on a wagon train and headed West. Upon arriving at the Mississippi River, he left the wagon train and headed North. Probably homesteading around the area of Perryville, Missouri. His only possession upon leaving the wagon train was an axe over his shoulder. He met and married Minerva McBee. It is know(n) that he served 4 years in the Civil War with the Missouri Calvary. Several checks was made to find further information about the origin of the Hook Clan but, Samuel Hook would never talk about where he came from or who was left behind in the Carolinas. It is thought the family originally came from Scotland but several Germans are found in the family."

The two were both in the Civil War, my grandfather said Samuel L. Hook was in the Missouri Calvary whereas your Samuel L. Hook was said to be in the Illinois Calvary. I am still researching my great-great  grandfather. I don't know which one or both may be correct???

I arrived at your Wikitree in an effort to research this information and to follow it further. This is what I am want to do now.

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Family stories are very helpful. In this case, the story of the wagon train could help explain how Samuel arrived in Bois Brule, Perry, Missouri as recorded in the 1850 census. Looking at the birthplaces and ages of each does not support a wagon train from the Carolinas. Samuel, Illinois (20) was living with Bernard Horrell, Kentucky (50), Lucy Stone, Kentucky (25), Margaret Horrell, Illinois (18), William Horrell, Missouri (13), Mary Ann Stone, Missouri (5), Charity Stone, Missouri (3), William Stone, Missouri (1), and Columbus Luttrell, Missouri (20). So Samuel at the age of 20 arrived in Bois Brule on his own.

However, the 1850 census records Samuel's birthplace as Illinois. There are two 1860 census for Bois Brule that include Samuel Hook, his wife Minerva, and children Nancy and John. In both of the 1860 censuses, Samuel gives his birthplace as Indiana. In one of the 1860 censuses, there is a young man from New York living with them.

The Iowa connection comes from his daughter Nancy Ellen. In the 1900 census she is married to Dennis Pearson in Bois Brule, and she gives her father's birthplace as Iowa. In the 1910 census she is married to Oliver Ford and gives her father's birthplace as Iowa. For the record, Samuel's son, John Gilbert, gives his dad's birthplace as Missouri.

Apparently, Nancy, who was the oldest child, heard some family history that was different than what was passed along to John Gilbert, as John believed his father was born in Missouri.

About the time Minerva died, Samuel married Sarah in Randolph County, Illinois, according to the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index. In 1863, Samuel entered the Civil War by mustering in at Springfield, Illinois. He also mustered out at Springfield, Illinois in October 1865. He married his third wife, Mary, on 13 Nov 1865 in Randolph County, Illinois. After that, we no longer see Samuel or Mary. There are no graves for either of them in this area.

Now there is a grave in Toolesboro, Iowa for a Samuel F. Hook that has the exact birth and death years as Samuel L. Hook. Also, there is a Hook family buried in the same cemetery that was from Virginia. This Iowa Hook family has a patriarch by the name of Elisha Hook who was married to Jane Forsythe. Samuel was 18 during 1850 and was missing from the 1850 Iowa family census. Also, Elisha's wife, Jane, died of lung fever in May 1850. It would seem that Samuel left to go south before his mother's death. His father would die two years later. The basic elements of a disenfranchised son in our family story is reflected in the facts from the Iowa Hook family. What's more, the bodies of Samuel Hook and Mary (Cuterell or Crow) are in the same cemetery, and with the same relative ages as the Hook family that traveled across the country from Virginia (likely in a covered wagon.)

I say that the family story supports the idea that the two Samuel Hooks are, in fact, the same person.

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I made an inventory of Elisha Hook's family in the 1840 Louisa, Iowa census.

• 1836 (boy) William
• 1833 (girl) Martha J
• 1832 (boy) missing
• 1826 (boy) George
• 1822 (girl) Mary
• 1792 (wife) Jane
• 1792 (self) Elisha

I used the information from the 1850 census for the same family to fill in the names. There is a boy missing who could have been born in 1832. The boy left before the census was taken, and before the mother had died in May 1850. There are no records of the missing boy until the gravestone for Samuel F. Hook appears with the birth date of 1832. 

In the meantime, during the 1850 census in Bois Brule, Missouri, Samuel L. Hook suddenly pops up with a group of people and no parents in the area. He lives his full life in Perry County, Missouri and Randolph County, Illinois, and then suddenly disappears after his third marriage in 1865. There are no parents and no bodies for Samuel L. Hook. 

Samuel L. Hook's daughter says her father was born in Iowa during two different censuses. If Samuel Hook left with his third wife to return to Iowa to live out his remaining days, it seems reasonable he would tell this to his daughter. If that four year old boy buried with Samuel is Samuel's son with Sarah, it would be reasonable to expect his thoughts would turn to Iowa to bury his son and reconcile his inner feelings with the events that occurred in 1850, which caused him to leave home in the first place. 

This isn't the exact form of the family story you posted, but it does have the right elements, and it is easy to understand how a hand-me-down story can get its facts changed over time. 

With all this information, I would guess that Samuel was actually born in Virginia since his younger sister, Martha J, was also born in Virginia. The birthplaces of Illinois and Indiana were likely Samuel trying to hide from his past. The birthplace of Iowa was likely Nancy not having the full history of the family, and assuming her dad was born in Iowa since his family had lived there for so long.