Farmer, husband, father

Born in rural Carroll County, Indiana, George moved to North Dakota with his parents and five younger siblings in the late 1890s. His three older sisters were married and did not make the move west. George was not listed with his parents and siblings on the 1900 census when they were in St. John, Rolette County, North Dakota. Where he was then is not known; he was 23 in 1900. George married Amanda McMASTER on August 17, 1904, in Turtle Mountain, Manitoba, Canada. How/why they happened to be in Manitoba is unknown; Amanda was with her family in Rolette County, North Dakota, in 1900. But in August 1904, 27-year-old George and 17-year-old Amanda were in Turtle Mountain, Manitoba, and they married. (Registration number 1904,002719.)

Like his brothers, George worked for a few years on the railroad. On April 15, 1910, he was farming in Rolette County, North Dakota. George and Amanda had two little ones (Robert, 5, and Dora, 2), and Amanda was early in the pregnancy with James, who was born five days before Christmas 1910 in Lafleche, Saskatchewan. George and Amanda moved to Canada on April 27, 1910, crossing into Manitoba by train at Bannerman, Manitoba. Amanda and the two children (Robert and Dora) rode in a passenger car. George was in one of the three train cars that held their possessions and livestock. When they moved from Manitoba to Saskatchewan is not known, but they were in Lafleche, Saskatchewan, when son James was born on December 20, 1910. George spent most of his adult life farming in Lafleche, Saskatchewan. He and Amanda spent the first few years living in a sod house. By 1918, George had moved his family into a large two-story house overlooking the Wood River.

He was insistent that his children be educated, and he was instrumental in there being a functioning school to educate the local children, always with a good teacher. George’s son #1 was awarded Canada’s George Medal for Bravery for his service in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW II. George’s daughter was both a school teacher and a registered nurse. George’s son #2 was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan and was on the town council for Lafleche and mayor of Lafleche for nine years. George’s son #3 followed in his father’s footsteps and farmed several hundred acres along the Wood River in the area of Lafleche. Son #4 served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW II.

George and Amanda’s five children:
Robert John Hooker (b. February 1905)
Dora Rosella Hooker (b. November 1908) (m. JACKSON)
James Benjamin Hooker (b. December 1910)
Douglas Berdet "Bud" Hooker (b. January 1914)
Herbert Henry Hooker (b. September 1920)

GENEALOGY NOTE: George’s wife Amanda and the wife of George’s brother James Burton (Adeline) were first cousins. The fathers of the two women were brothers; both of those brothers were in Rolette County, North Dakota, in 1900.

NOTE: George is pictured with his parents and siblings on page 81 of 1909 HUFFORD FAMILY HISTORY.

NOTE: Autosomal DNA proves George as the child of his known parents, proves his children Robert, Dora, and Douglas "Bud," and proves grandchildren William, Douglas, Helen, Bryan, and Judy.