William Howard Hoople (August 6, 1868 – September 29, 1922) was an American businessman and religious figure. He was a prominent leader of the American Holiness movement; the co-founder of the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, one of the antecedent groups that merged to create the Church of the Nazarene; rescue mission organizer; an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, and first superintendent of the New York District of the Church of the Nazarene; YMCA worker; baritone gospel singer; successful businessman and investor; and inventor.
Early years
Family background Hoople was born in Herkimer, New York, on August 6, 1868,Hoople's gravestone says he was born in 1867. the oldest child and only son of Canadian immigrants William Gordon Hoople (born April 3, 1841, in Dickinson's Landing, Eastern District, Upper Canada; died December 28, 1908, of "acute indigestion" in New York), an Episcopalian clerk employed by his uncle,For a photo of William Gordon Hoople, see Moses King, Notable New Yorkers of 1896–1899: A Companion Volume to King's Handbook of New York City (New York: M. King, 1899):462. Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Passport Applications, 1795–1905; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1372, 694 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C., July 15, 1902; "Obituary Notes", The New York Times (December 30, 1908):9, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/12/30/104776927.pdf; The Pharmaceutical Era 41 (D. O. Haynes & Co., 1909):24. and Agnes T. Blackburn (born March 1844 in Osnabruck Township, Eastern District, Upper Canada; died 1915),Her gravestone says she was born in 1843. an Episcopalian school teacher. William and Agnes, were childhood sweethearts who grew up in Osnabruck in Stormont County, Ontario, near the Long Sault just across the Saint Lawrence River from Upstate New York,Howard, 2:881; Elizabeth L. Hoople, The Hooples of Hoople's Creek (Printed by the Ryerson Press, 1967):167. an area had been settled originally by the 1st Battalion of Sir John Johnson's King's Royal Regiment of New York (also known informally as the Royal New Yorkers and the Royal Greens) after the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783. WG Hoople had been born on a farm on the banks of Hoople's Creek granted about 1797 to his grandfather Henry Hoople (born 1760 in Cherry Valley, New York; died 1838 in Stormont, Ontario, Canada) on the Second Concession by the British government as reward for fighting for the Loyalist cause."Willie" Gordon Hoople was born after the death of his grandfather, however the farm was supervised by his grandmother, Henry's widow, Mary Whitmore "Granny" Hoople (born in New Jersey in 1767; died 1858), who, after the massacre of her parents and two siblings on Easter Day, March 26, 1780, had been abducted from the family farm at Mud Creek (now Jerseytown, Pennsylvania) by the Delaware Indians and lived among them for seven years.Also known as Mary Whitmoyer, see W. M. Baillie, "The Whitmoyer Saga", http://www.colcohist-gensoc.org/Essays/whitmoyer_saga.pdf; Elizabeth L. Hoople, Medicine Maid: The Life Story of a Canadian Pioneer (Mika Pub. Co., 1977); Elizabeth L. Hoople, The Hooples of Hoople's Creek (Ryerson Press, 1967); William Kirby, Makers of Canadian Literature, edited by William Renwick Riddell (The Ryerson Press, 1923); Mark Jodoin, "Mary Hoople", in Shadow Soldiers of the American Revolution: Loyalist Tales from New York to Canada (The History Press), http://markjodoin.com/page6/page6.html; Mark Jodoin, "Shadow Soldiers: Mary Hoople", Esprit de Corps (March 1, 2008), ; "Pioneer Memorial at Upper Canada Village", 1–2, http://www.stoneorchardsoftware.com/pdf/publications/pub_6.pdf After their marriage in 1788, Mary and Henry had twelve children: nine sons and three daughters, with Willie's father, Joseph Hoople (born 1809 in Newington, Ontario; died 1892 in Newington). being the eleventh child and youngest son.Ancestry.com: http://records.ancestry.com/Mary%20Whitmore_records.ashx?pid=45013410
In April 1862 William G. Hoople migrated to New York City,Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Passport Applications, 1795–1905; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1372, 694 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C. in the same month as the second marriage of his father. After three years of advanced education in a New York academy financed by his uncle,Hoople Creek, 118. in 1865 W.G. entered the firm of his uncle, William Henry Hoople (born 1805 in Ontario, Canada; died June 17, 1895, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, age 89),"Died", The New York Times (June 18, 1895):5; "Died", The New York Times (June 19, 1895):5; "The News of Queens", The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY (June 21, 1895):8; North Eastern Reporter 72 (1905):229; "ROW OVER WOMAN'S MILLIONS; Heirs Contend That Mrs. Brinckerhoff's Will Is Not Valid", Special to The New York Times (July 26, 1910):14. a widower who was also a prosperous businessman,By 1845 he was valued at $200,000, and considered: "One of the most wealthy and enterprising citizens in the leather trade". See Moses Yale Beach, Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of New York City, 6th ed. (The Sun Office, 1845):16. whose son, William H. Hoople, Jr., had refused to enter the family business.Hoople Creek, 118. WH Hoople had founded Van Nostrand & Hoople in 1832 with John Van NostrandBeach, Wealth and Biography, 32. at 38 Ferry Street,Ferry Street no longer exists. It was a street formerly running from Gold Street, between Beekman and Frankfort Streets, eastward to Peck Slip at Water Street. The block between Pearl and Water Streets became part of Peck Slip in the 19th century. The part between Gold and Pearl Streets retained the name Ferry Street until it was demapped about 1969 for the Southbridge Towers housing complex. See "F Streets of New York", http://www.oldstreets.com/index.asp?letter=F; "The Street Necrologys of Lower Manhattan", http://www.forgotten-ny.com/streetnecrology/lowermanhattannecrology/necro1.html (accessed November 28, 2009). According to the latter source: "Ferry Street was probably named for the nearby Fulton Ferry which connected the Fulton Streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn from the late 1700s to the 1920s". near the corner with Cliff Street,Cliff Street was previously known as Skinner Street or Lane between Ferry Street and Hague Street. It became part of Cliff Street in 1827. Now demapped". See http://www.oldstreets.com/index.asp?letter=S ; and Scoville, Old Merchants, 262. A short stretch of Cliff Street survives between John and Fulton Streets. See http://www.forgotten-ny.com/streetnecrology/lowermanhattannecrology/necro1.html in an area of lower Manhattan known as "The Swamp",Originally known as Beekman's Swamp after Wilhelmus (William) Beekman (born about 1622; died 1707). See John Leander Bishop, Edwin Troxell Freedley, and Edward Young, A History of American Manufactures, From 1608 to 1860, Vol. 1 (Edward Young & Co., 1864):254. the fetid southeastern blocks of the city centred on Jacob and Ferry Streets just east of City Hall, that had been "the (stinking) locus of the tanning and leather currying industry" since the late 1690s.D. Graham Burnett, Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case that Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature (Princeton University Press, 2007):154; Frank Wayland Norcross, A History of the New York Swamp (Chiswick Press, 1901):172–173.; "Old Merchants Of The Swamp" (1921), http://www.oldandsold.com/articles14/new-york-44.shtml; Joseph Alfred Scoville, The Old Merchants of New York City (Carleton, 1864):252; Federal Writers' Project (N.Y.), New York City Guide, 7th ed. (Random House, 1939):100. This firm sold tanning materials and dyes.Norcross, 172–173.
After two years working for his uncle in a clerical position, W.G. Hoople returned to Canada to marry Agnes at the Long Sault (now South Stormont), Ontario on June 26, 1867.Hoople, Hoople Creek, 118; Howard 2:881. Soon after William Howard Hoople's birth in August 1868, the family moved from Herkimer to New York city. W.G. Hoople acquired US citizenship on July 27, 1869, at which time the family resided at 117 2nd Avenue (at the corner with Seventh Street) in what was then in the Little Germany section of the Lower East Side of New York City.Today this location is the East Village area. In November 2009 the American Grill restaurant is located at this address, see http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/american-grill01/, and the Showroom NYC gallery is on the second floor at this address, see http://www.theshowroomnyc.com/theshowroomNYC/About.html.Ancestry.com. New York Petitions for Naturalization [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Soundex Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts located in New York City, 1792–1989. New York, NY, US: National Archives and Records Administration, Northeast Region. Title and Location of Court: Common Pleas Court, New York County Volume: 371 Record Number: 133; WG Hoople, US Passport Application, July 15, 1902. By 1870 the family had relocated to Jamaica, Queens, where WG Hoople lived with his wife; his widowed mother-in-law, Sarah Blackburn; and his son, William Howard Hoople; and a servant.1870 US Federal Census, Year: 1870; Census Place: Jamaica, Queens, New York; Roll M593_1078; Page: 651; Image: 543. Subsequently their family was enlarged through the births of his three daughters: Mary Edith Hoople Staebler (born 19 April 1870 in Jamaica, Long Island, New York; died 1955);In 1892 Mary married physician Dr. David M Staebler (born in Ontario, Canada, on 16 November 1857, the son of a German father from Hesse and a Swiss mother; died after 14 May 1943 and before 25 October 1944) See The Berkshire Evening Eagle, (Pittsfield, Berkshire, MA: 14 May 1943):8 and The Berkshire County Eagle (25 October 1944); Father: Jacob F STAEBLER b: 28 DEC 1817 in Bernhausen, Germany, Mother: Anna MUENER b: 19 AUG 1824 in Kein, C, Switzerland (see http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=sztanyo&id=I2064); who had graduated from Trinity Medical School in Toronto, Ontario, who had migrated to the United States in 1890, and they had one son, Karl Merner Staebler (born 14 May 1895 in Brooklyn, New York; died November 1975 in Hackensack, New Jersey). David Staebler became a naturalized US citizen on 8 June 1899. See Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 25, Kings, New York; Roll T623_1063; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 436; Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 25, Kings, New York; Roll T624_973; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 694; Image: 700; Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Brooklyn Assembly District 5, Kings, New York; Roll T625_1151; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 280; Image: 1073; Source Citation: Year: 1925; Microfilm serial: T715; Microfilm roll: T715_3624; Line: 7; Source Information: Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820–1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006; Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794–1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794–1995, Index to Naturalization Petitions of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865–1957, Series: M1164; Elizabeth L. Hoople, The Hooples of Hoople's Creek (Printed by the Ryerson Press, 1967):167. See http://users.ap.net/~lancelot/gen/h146.html