Photo measures 9 x 8 in. Hooper, who was of illegitimate birth, spent part of his childhood in an orphanage, was unofficially "adopted" by members of his rural Baptist church, and was belatedly acknowledged by his natural father, a prominent physician. He was a native of Newport in Cocke County, Tennessee. He was admitted to the bar in 1894, and served in the state legislature. He was a captain of the 6th U.S. Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish-American War of 1898, and nominated by the Republicans for governor in 1910 over Alfred A. Taylor. His initial Democratic opponent, incumbent Governor Malcolm R. Patterson, despite winning the nomination withdrew from race due to diffences among Democrats, which in turn led to the nomination of United States Senator and three-term former governor Robert Love Taylor, younger brother of Alf Taylor.
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