Richard Hooper and Ann Dorrington are attached as his parents. Richard was born in Scotland in 1670 and was 50 when Obediah was born and died in Maryland 1 year before Obediah's estimated birth; Ann died in 1717, 3 years before Obediah's estimated birth!
There is a better candidate for Obediah's father, although his mother is still unidentified. There was a James Hooper in Hanover County, Virginia, 1723 to 1756, and possibly as early as 1719 (there's a land patent of 1719 that lists only the last name Hooper). "In Obediance to an Order of Court, dated the, 1st, day of Feb'ry, 1723, Appointing John Tinsley to be Surveyor of a Road, to be clear'd from Crumps Creek, by Richard Corley to the road by Edw'd Chambers Sen'r, and that he have to assist him, Geo Davis, Edw'd Chambers Sen'r James Hooper, Colo, Birds Middle Quarter, with all their male tithables to assist him, to Clear & maintain the said road."
Source: The vestry book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia, 1706-1786 (The Library Board, Richmond, Virginia, 1940; Ancestry.com, online database and digital images, 2005), p. 103, entry for James Hooper. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/28794/images/dvm_L....
There's a historical marker at the Garthright Home Cemetery, Mechanicsville, Hanover County, Virginia, that says that James Hooper is buried there (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8197856/james-hooper).
The Garthright Home still stands next to the cemetery, and about it the Rev. Thomas Williamson Hooper wrote, "Near Cold Harbor stands the house where my father was born and not far from the house there is graveyard, surrounded by a brick wall, with a half circle-brick along the top. There sleep the generations of my forefathers. In that enclosure is buried Mr. James Hooper and at his funeral Rev. Samuel Darius officiated and the date was August 21, 1756 and preached a most powerful sermon on the text selected by the good man before his death 1 Peter IV:18." "About Beaver Dam - Interesting Recollections and Notable Natives of the Place, Memories of Dr. Thomas W. Hooper," Richmond Dispatch, February 3, 1895, reprinted in Hanover County Historical Society Bulletin, May 1976.
Thomas Williamson Hooper was the son of Joseph Hooper, who was the son of Edmond Hooper, who was the son of Thomas Hooper, who was almost certainly the son of James Hooper. James is buried next to the house in which Edmond Hooper was born. Thomas Williamson certainly believed that James was one of his ancestors.
The clincher is that Y-DNA tests of 7 descendants of Obediah Hooper match that of 1 descendant of Thomas Hooper on 24/25 markers (http://www.hooperconnections.com/dnatable%20-%202.html). Obediah and Thomas are already attached as brothers; I just believe they're attached to the wrong parents.
Also, the name of Obediah's eldest son was James, while Richard was his 5th-born son. The son James could have been named after his grandfather.
Finally, Richard Hooper was born in Scotland, but family tradition as recorded at Find a Grave states that Obediah's ancestors came from Linkinhorne, Cornwall. There is a record for a James Hooper, son of John Hooper, baptised at Bodmin, Cornwall, on 13 Jun 1694 (http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NBZY-72F). Bodmin is 20 miles from Linkinhorne. James was 26 at the time of Obediah's birth, far more realistic than 50, and he didn't die until 1756.
I propose detaching Richard Hooper and Ann Dorrington as his parents and attaching him to James Hooper, a profile for which I created here: James Hooper
I believe only a curator can do this.
Sincerely,
Matthew Riggle
