William Hooker was at one point Florida's second-largest cattle owner and sent them to market through his port.
By MICHAEL CANNING
Published April 2, 2004
Don't let your imagination wander too far. Despite its name and location at the port, Hooker's Point, the peninsula between McKay Bay and Davis Islands, is actually named for an industrious Florida pioneer who was driven by ambition and the winds of fortune.
William Hooker was born May 3, 1800, in Tattnall County, Ga. At 19, he served in the Georgia militia, where he earned his lifelong title of captain. Three years later, he was appointed Tattnall County's coroner.
In 1824, he moved with his family to Ware County, Ga., where he served as sheriff. Later, in 1830, he and his family settled along the Suwannee River in Florida's Hamilton County.
Not before long, he was appointed justice of the peace and held 489 acres, including a plantation along the Suwannee called Hooker's Ferry, and numerous cattle. From 1835 to 1838, Hooker served in the Florida militia and won distinction while fighting in the Indian wars.
A territorywide depression forced Hooker to sell his land and move south in January 1843. He ended up in Hillsborough County, where he acquired 160 acres in present-day Seffner under the Armed Occupation Act.
Within a year, Hooker was elected justice of the peace and set about re-establishing himself in the cattle, agricultural, real estate and political arenas. He was elected to the county commission in 1847, two years after Florida gained statehood.
In the early 1850s, Hooker purchased several lots in Tampa and joined the Hillsborough Masonic Lodge and Tampa Methodist Church.
By the mid 1850s, Hooker was the second-largest cattle owner in the state. Cattle bearing his Heart H brand roamed throughout what is now Hillsborough, Manatee, Polk, Highlands, Glades, Hendry and Charlotte counties. He shipped them off to market from port facilities on what was named Hooker's Point.
In 1858, Hooker was elected to the Tampa City Council. Hooker was an active secessionist at the dawn of the Civil War and moved his family to Hernando County after minor Union bombardments of Tampa in 1862.
The Hookers returned to Tampa in 1866 and converted their mansion, built in 1859 at the northwest corner of Madison and East streets, into the Orange Grove Hotel.
By 1870, Hooker had fallen on hard times. He sold off vast tracts of land throughout the region to keep creditors at bay. He was in poor health and drinking heavily. He died June 11, 1871, at age 71.
Two other geographical features still bear his name: Lake Hooker, near his first Hillsborough homestead in Seffner, and the lesser-known Hooker's Point on the lower Manatee River.
- Sources: Tampa Bay History Center, Tampa Historical Society and Kyle VanLandingham.
