I represent William Hooker. I was a captain in His Majesty’s 31st Regiment of Foot. The 31st was an infantry regiment stationed at the garrison of Pensacola. We arrived in 1765, and the rest of the regiment stayed – with a brief transfer to St. Augustine in 1769 – until 1772. I was one of the many who died within the first couple of years of the illnesses that swept through the garrison. I died on July 28, 1765, of bilious fever (which was an 18th century term for any disease that caused nausea and vomiting and yellowing of the skin or eyes – in this case, yellow fever). My British probate record says I was a widower at the time of my death. It is very likely that the Mistress Hooker on the list of 31st Regiment Officers’ Ladies who died between 1765 and 1767 was my wife, and that she predeceased me.
Sources: 8, 25, 67