Sarah Whitman Hooker (February 27, 1747 — January 5, 1837)
Sarah Whitman Hooker was the daughter of Deacon John and Abigail Pantry Whitman, born in the West Division of Hartford on February 27, 1747. Through her mother, she was a descendant of William Pantry, one of the founders of Hartford. She was also a great-granddaughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, the first librarian of Harvard College. At the age of 22, she married Thomas Hart Hooker of Farmington. He was fourth in direct line of descent from the Rev. Thomas Hooker, the first settled clergyman in Hartford, and a framer of the Connecticut Constitution, on which the Constitution of the United States was modeled.
Thomas Hart Hooker and his wife, Sarah Whitman Hooker, moved to the house and extensive farm at the corner of South Main Street and New Britain Avenue in West Hartford as newlyweds in about 1770. Mr. Hooker later purchased the property in 1773. Between 1770 and 1775, the Hookers had two children, Thomas Hart Hooker Jr. and Abigail Pantry Hooker (later Abigail Pantry Talcott). In April 1775, Mr. Hooker signed a Deed of Manumission respecting his then-slave Bristow, which entered into force in early May of that year. This deed set Bristow at liberty as a free man, "to come and go wherever he pleases without any maleference from me or my heirs or any one claiming to represent me or my heirs." In June of 1775, Mr. Hooker joined the Connecticut militia and went to the defense of Boston. He died of pleurisy in November of that year. Mrs. Hooker continued to manage the farm and house (a homestead in the original meaning of the word) with the assistance of Bristow who was an agriculturist of some local renown. Bristow had earned the 60 pounds to purchase his freedom by selling his labor when his daily work for the Hookers had been completed.
In the late summer/early fall of 1775, with her husband away at the War of Independence, Governor Trumbull of Connecticut asked Mrs. Hooker to accept as boarders British Governor and Colonel Phillip Skene and his son Captain Andrew Skene. They had been in England petitioning the Crown for funds to reinforce Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the two strategic forts (in what is now upper New York State) on Lake Champlain that protected the Colonies from invasion from Canada. King George III had refused additional funding requested by the Skenes and instead sent them to Philadelphia as envoys to the Continental Congress. They were asked to join the patriot side of the conflict. They refused. They were given safe passage to New Haven, where they were met by the Committee of Public Safety, which refused further safe passage for their return home and took responsibility for them. The General Assembly approved housing the Skenes with Mrs. Hooker. Both Colonel Skene and his son gave their "parole" (word of honor not to try to escape) and accepted accommodation with Mrs. Hooker as an alternative to a local jail. Mrs. Hooker in her turn accepted responsibility for their safekeeping.
During the winter of 1776, some persons in the West Division of Hartford had the idea to tar and feather Colonel and Captain Skene. Mrs. Hooker was decisive in persuading the crowd to disperse and in doing so, this American patriot probably saved the lives of father and son. The Skenes stayed with Mrs. Hooker until April 1776. Colonel Phillip Skene returned to Great Britain to plead for compensation for his lost lands. Captain Andrew Skene broke his word of honor and joined the British forces under General Howe then besieging New York City.
Mrs. Hooker continued to live in the homestead until 1794, when she sold it to her two children for "love, affection and one dollar." She remained a widow for three years and then married Captain Seth Collins, who died in 1793. Her children sold the house to their uncle Charles Seymour, youngest son of Ensign Timothy Seymour, the builder of the homestead. Charles Seymour was also the husband of Sarah's sister, Lucy. In his letters to his wife, written from his post during the Battle of Long Island in the summer of 1776, Charles Seymour concluded every letter with the following words: "give my best wishes to Mrs. Hooker." Sarah Whitman Hooker continued to live in the West Division until about 1830, when she went to Pennsylvania to live with a great-niece. She died January 5, 1837, a few weeks short of her ninetieth birthday. She was buried in West Hartford, and her will was probated in Connecticut.
