Frank G. Hooper has lived in Pottawatomie County since 1885. He had shown exceptional ability in accumulating those things which mean a high degree of material prosperity, and for many years was identified with farming and had one of the largest single estates in Pottawatomie County. He is now living zetized at Belvue and is vice president of the Belvue State Bank.
Mr. Hooper was born at Palmyra in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, February 16, 1860. His grandparents were George and Elizabeth Hooper, both natives of England. George Hooper was born in 1799 and in 1845 brought his family to the United States and established a pioneer home in the wilds of Wisconain, then a territory. He developed a farm there and died at Palmyra in 1863. Of his children only one is now living, John, who was born in Cornwall, England, in 1830 and is still living as a farmer in Palmyra, Wisconsin.
George Hooper, father of Frank G., was born in Cornwall, England, May 8, 1834, and was eleven years of age when brought to America. He grew up in the wild country around Palmyra, Wisconsin, and turned his early training as a farmer to good account after he started an independent career. His life was largely spent in the Township of Palmyra, but for the last twenty years he lived retired in the village of that name and died there August 28, 1916. He was a republican and honored with various township offices, and was a trustee and steward of the local Methodist Episcopal Church. George Hooper married Jane Strike, who was born February 23, 1834, and died at Palmyra, Wisconsin, October 2, 1901. Daniel, the oldest of their children, is a farmer in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. The second in age is Mr. Frank G. Hooper. Luther was a farmer and died at Palmyra, Wisconsin, at the age of forty-nine. William is a farmer in Palmyra Township. Mary married Henry Bowen, a farmer and stock buyer, their home being in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Clara is unmarried and still lives at Palmyra.
Frank Hooper spent his early life on his father’s Wisconsin farm, and at the same time attended the rural schools of Palmyra Township and for three years the Palmyra High School. He left school in 1880 and for several years worked at farming in Wisconsin.
Arriving in Kansas in March, 1885, he proceeded to Belvue Township of Pottawatomie County and bought a farm of 180 acres. This property enhanced in value and grew in extent under his capable management and before he retired he was the owner of about 1,500 acres. Mr. Hooper sold his farm in 1916.
In the meantime, in 1908, he bought a residence in the Village of Belvue. Surrounding his home he had four acres of laud and had improved it into a most beautiful property. In fact it is one of the best residences of the town, located on Sixth Street and Broadway. His home had water, gas and all modern conveniences.
Mr. Hooper served three terms as township trustee and two terms as township treasurer of Belvue Township. He is now a member of the District Drainage Board of Kansas. Politically he is a republican and a member and trustee of the Baptist Church and is affiliated with Belvue Lodge No. 363 of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
On October 22, 1884, the year before he came to Kansas, he married at Palmyra, Wisconsin, Miss Caroline Dawe, daughter of John and Caroline Dawe, both deceased. Her father was a farmer in Sullivan Township of Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Hooper have four children. Goldie is a graduate of the public schools of Belvue and married David Johnson, a farmer in Belvue Township. Their one child, Ruth, was born April 16, 1913. Fleda, the second daughter, is a graduate of the Topeka High School. She is now the wife of Ray Worthing, a farmer in Belvue Township. Their one child is named Dee and was born February 16, 1915. Gordon finished his education with two years in the Topeka High School and is now looking after some farming interests for his father. Marion, the youngest child, was born June 23, 1902, and is a sophomore in the Belvue High School.