The Hoover Fa
The original ancestor in this
country of the former President
of the United States is huried in
Randolph County, where he and
many members of his family
resided.
By HARRY
WHEN the ship Two Sillers
nailed from Rotterdam on
September 28, 1738, it carried
110 passenger*. Among the numlter on
route to Amerien was Andreas Huber,
a boy of fifteen years, who sought what
fortune the future held in trust for his
adventurous spirit and dauntless heart.
As the last dim landscape faded for¬
ever from his sight, the youth waved
farewell to the receding shore and
vowed to build for himself in the New
World a career based upon energy and
independence alone. Though the test
proved searching, the mettle proved
true.
When Andreas Huber arrived in
Philadelphia, ho was awed to behold
the great land lying before him with
all it- latent possibilities. Finding
work his capable hands could do, ho
settled down in Pennsylvania and be-
gnn the career about which he had
often dreamed while eking out a scanty
existence in Germany, France, and
Holland.
True to his vow, within a few years
the immigrant lad had carved his way
to success, married, and had become
the founder of a family of his own.
Moved to Maryland
It was in 17415 that the young couple
removed from Pennsylvania to Pipe’s
Creek, Maryland, where they raised a
family of thirteen children, eight hoys
and five girls. Rut when it became
known that Andreas Huber and bis
wife had east their lot with the Quak¬
ers of meek and unpretentious mien,
they were no longer popular in Mary¬
land, a colony composed chiefly of
Roman Catholics and adherents to
the Church of England.
Andreas Huber felt the stigma more
than his neighbors ever knew, for in
1763 lie hud his name anglicized.
From henceforth he was Andrew
Hoover. Rut even under the English
appellative, the Hoovers realized that
they were misfits in the aristocratic
colony of Maryland, and that they
I. TUC KER
should follow their people, the fleeing
Quakers, southward. Threading their
way across Virginia, they sought new
homes in North Carolina, a colony
in which the Quakers had lived and
worshipped with little molestation for
more than a century. Here they found
contentment and happiness, for they
were free to commune and fellowship
as their hearts dictated.
Although the name of Andrew
Hoover appears on the records of
Frederick County. Maryland, as late
as 1772, it is a well authenticated fact
that he was living in North Carolina
in 1774. However, his name does not
appear on the North Carolina records
until 1779, when he purchased 200
acres of land on the east side of
llw'hnrrio River in Randolph County.
Andrew Hoover’s sons sold their lands
in Maryland and removed here along
with their parents, taking up planta¬
tions in the vicinity of Rack Creek
Church, a stronghold for those of the
Quaker faith in Piedmont North Car¬
olina.
Family Burial Ground
Twelve miles east of Asheboro, on
a bill overlooking the river, is the
Hoover burying ground. Here is the
tomb of the founder of the family,
Andrew Hoover, who died in 1791.
Ry his side is the tomb of Adam
Hoover, a son, who died in 1822 at t he
ago of eighty years. Many descendants
of the immigrant sleep here. Some
of the graves are marked, some are not.
It is a quiet place deep in the forest,
but it is tended by a watchful eye;
for descendants are loth to have the
forest encroach, nor are they willing
for weeds and briars to possess the
sacred plat.
Like most early families in Amer¬
ica, the Hoovers seem to have inher¬
ited the migratory spirit of their im¬
migrant ancestor, an attribute declared
especially characteristic of tho early
Quakers. Rut it is also true that many
of the Hoovers have steadfastly main¬
tained their residence in Randolph
President Hoover himself was re¬
sponsible for having placed this
monument over the grave of Andrew
Hoover, first member of the family
to settle in North Carolina.
and adjoining counties. They arc a
people who love the earth and cling to
country life with both rest and appre¬
ciation.
It was in 1S02 that the Hoovers left
Randolph County for the west. All
of the large family did not go; but it
is a matter of record that two or three
of tho sons removed to Ohio in a cov¬
ered wagon on September 19, taking
their families with them. Tho follow¬
ing year they moved on to Indiana,
making a new settlement at what is
now Richmond. After n stay of fifty
Sears at Richmond, they removed to
owa. where ex-President Herbert
Hoover was born; and later to Ore¬
gon and California where Herbert
Hoover was educated.
Staunch Quakers
Herbert Hoover’s father and mother
were sturdy followers of the Quaker
faith. His mother was Huldah Min-
thornc, a Quaker minister at West
Branch, Iowa, during the Civil War.
She and her sister, Ellen, came to
Westfield, North Carolina, in ISC.”) in
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