San Joaquin County
Biographies
THOMAS KENT HOOK
THOMAS KENT HOOK, deceased.
The subject of this sketch was born in Green County, Pennsylvania, November 11,
1816. Reared on a farm he received a limited education in the log school-house
of the district, but afterward supplied the deficiency in a great measure by
reading and studying in later life. When only two years old he lost his father
and went to live with his grandfather, who died in 1832. He was then
apprenticed to a cabinet-maker at Waynesburg, and learned the trade. In 1836 he
went to Indiana, and settling in Terre Haute there worked as a carpenter and
builder for thirteen years. He left that city March 4, 1849, for California,
coming across the plains and reaching this State September 9, 1849. Three days
later he arrived in Sacramento, and after working at his trade about one week
proceeded to Winter’s Bar. There he tried his luck and
afterward at Angel’s creek, but without marked success, and in December, 1849,
came to Stockton and helped to build the first store at the corner of Main and
Center streets, and soon afterward the building on the southwest corner of
Center and Market streets. In the spring of 1850 he again tried mining for a
few weeks with unsatisfactory results at Horseshoe Bend on the Merced river, and returned to house-building in Stockton, in which
he continued some six months. His next venture was as one of the twenty-seven
who went in search of the alleged silver mines in Death valley,
which they never found. Again in Stockton he went to farming on the Calaveras,
two and one half miles from the city, and continued in that pursuit until 1857,
when he sold out and went into the livery-stable
business. In 1860 he was elected Sheriff of this county on the Republican
ticket, and by re-election held the office from 1861 to 1865,
and in 1866 was elected Mayor of this city. He was Alderman for three terms and
President of the council one year. In 1868 he erected Hook’s building, on the
northeast corner of Main and San Joaquin streets, at a cost of $40,000. Mr.
Hook was twice married, surviving his first wife and only child for many years.
He was married in September, 1860, to Mrs. Anna (Conklin) Greenfield, the widow
of Elijah Greenfield, a pioneer of 1849, by whom she had one child, now
deceased. Mr. Hook died of apoplexy, October 11, 1888.
Mrs. Anna (Conklin) Hook, the widow of Thomas Kent Hook, was born February 8, 1814, in Jefferson County, New York, a daughter of David and Anna (Gilbert) Conklin. The father by occupation a farmer, was born November 15, 1773, and died October 23, 1866. The mother, born in Westchester County, New York, March 22, 1781, and there married early in 1796, died January 4, 1832. They had seventeen children: Richard, born December 20, 1797, died October 3, 1877; Loretta, born February 23, 1800, died May 20, 1882; Belinda, born October 27, 1801, died August 3, 1881; Gilbert, born October 11, 1803, died about 1873; Stephen, born July 18, 1805, died April 25, 1835; James, born February 18, 1807, died September 19, 1887; David P., born December 30, 1808, died July 29, 1822; Thomas, born January 2, 1811, died January 29, 1888; Sally, born June 26, 1812, died June 1, 1842; Anna, the subject of this sketch, February 8, 1814, is still living in this city in 1890; Ephraim, born March 15, 1816, died January 19, 1842; Ruth Emma, born April 12, 1818, died July 6, 1880; Jesse B., born May 13, 1820; David Platt, born May 12, 1822; Alvin, born April 9, 1824; these three are living in 1890; Edwin and Edward, twins, born December 27, 1825, died about March 18, 1836, a few days apart.
The subject of this sketch
was first married in Jefferson County, New York, to Elijah Greenfield, a
carpenter who came out to California in 1849, and mined a few months, afterward
settling in Stockton, where he worked at his trade until his death in 1859. His
wife came by the Nicaragua route, leaving New York in December, 1853, and
arriving in Stockton January 17, 1854, where she has since resided with the
exception of four visits East. The first of these
trips was made in 1865 by water, and the others in
1871, 1878 and 1882. All her journeys by water were accomplished unaccompanied
by friends. Her marriage to Mr. Hook has already been mentioned. Of her
brothers and sisters, Richard died in Harford, Michigan, at the age of eighty,
by falling through an open cellar-door; he had ten children, of whom six are
living in 1890; in the civil war four of his sons enlisted in the army and one
in the navy, this one serving on the Monitor when she sunk the Merrimac.
Loretta Conklin, by marriage Mrs. Alexander Warner, of Rutland, Jefferson
County, New York, died there aged eighty-two years and three months. Belinda
Conklin was married in Jefferson County, New York, at the age of nineteen to Salma Blanchard. They moved early in the ‘50s to Jefferson
County, Wisconsin. They had thirteen children, of whom eight are living in
1890. Gilbert Conklin died in Van Buren County, Michigan, the father of nine or
ten children. James Conklin died in Bedford, near Battle Creek, Michigan, and
four of his children are living. Thomas Conklin was four times married and had
a number of children, of whom several died young, and four are living. Ruth
Emma Conklin, by marriage Mrs. Charles E. Keeney, of Oswego County, New York,
died in Albion, same county, leaving one daughter, who is living. Jesse B.
Conklin, now of Stockton, came to California in 1860, mined six weeks and made
his first piece of gold into a collar button, which he still wears. He had
spent seven years clerking in Michigan, three in Watervliet
and four in Decatur. After his brief mining experience he clerked in this city
for some time and afterward served as an attendant in the State Insane Asylum.
He learned the trade of tailor in young manhood and worked in that line eleven
years before moving to Michigan. He is still unmarried in 1890. David P.
Conklin is living in Illinois, married, but without children. Alvin Conklin,
living on the old homestead in Jefferson County, New York, married and has had
children, all of whom are dead.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 408-410. Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
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