William Hook (Bonded 1773); East Hoathly, Sussex (Inquests)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, February 15, 2015, 19:26 (3577 days ago) @ MPGriffiths

Apologies Diane for being late with this, but in case it helps I think the aforementioned placename is East Hoathly, not far inland from the southcoast resorts of Brighton & Hastings.

Useful map and other links here, including one to a Diary dating from the mid 1700s which mentions a few local Hooks.
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SSX/EastHoathly/

Also see http://www.easthoathlyandhalland.co.uk/the-villages

By coincidence my own FH researches show more recent links to this part of Sussex and the Dean - I really need to revisit them and find out why !.

Here's another FH forum thread which may well link into the trees you've seen on Ancestry.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/hook/messages/1102.html
from this thread http://genforum.genealogy.com/hook/messages/1009.html

I strongly suspect MPG's earlier post re the river/sea ports and Bristol is relevant in your case, Diane. It seems a little odd nowadays, despite Gloucester dating back well before Norman times, until recently the County town of Gloucestershire was the much bigger city of Bristol; in the times of William Hook it was a major port for the whole of Britain, especially wrt Virginia - slaves & tobacco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bristol#Slave_trade

I've just found this tantalising hint that just maybe there was a Hook family who may have traded in or even from Bristol before 1830, but cannot find any more information at all... ???

Pigot's Directory of Gloucestershire, 1830, has this entry
"GIBBONS & GARRETT, Miller at Hook's Mills, Bristol"
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/Bristol/DUFETTtoJOSEPH.html

Finally, I presume you've seen this US site which includes a brief mention of William ?
http://www.historichampshire.org/revwar.htm