William Hooper
"William Hooper was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1742. He graduated from Harvard College in 1760, continued his studies in the law, and settled in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1767. In 1773 he represented Wilmington in the General Assembly of North Carolina.
He attended the Continental Congress in 1774 and signed the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. As with other Declaration signers, the British sought to capture Hooper during the Revolutionary War. He evaded capture, but the British destroyed his property in Wilmington. He then moved to Hillsborough, where his family has fled earlier.
In 1789 he was appointed to the Federal Bench, but a year later he retired due to failing health. He died in October of 1790.
William Hooper was originally buried in a churchyard in Hillsborough. In 1894, the managers of the then private Guilford Courthouse battleground, seeking to make the site North Carolina's first Revolutionary War cemetery, arranged to have Hooper's remains disinterred and reburied at the Guilford Courthouse Battleground site. A Memorial, alternately called the Signers' Monument or the Hooper-Penn-Hewes Monument, marks the location of Hoopers's remains. His remains were reinterred with another signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Penn. The grave of the third signer, Joseph Hewes, was lost and the whereabouts of his remains is unknown."
John Penn
"John Penn was a prominent lawyer and politician and was one of three North Carolinians to sign the Declaration of Independence. John Penn was born in Caroline County, Virginia, to a family of means. His father died when he was eighteen years old, and though he had received only a rudimentary education at a country school, he had access to the library of his relative Edmund Pendleton. He was licensed to practice law in the state of Virginia at age twenty-two.
In 1774 he moved to Granville County, North Carolina, where he established a law practice and soon became a gentleman member of the political community. He was elected to attend the Provincial Congress in 1775 and elected to the Continental Congress that same year. He served there until 1777, participating in committee work. He was again elected in 1779, appointed to the Board of War, where he served until 1780.
He declined a judgeship in his native state around that time, due to failing health. In retirement, he engaged in his law practice. He died at the age of forty-eight.
John Penn was originally buried near the family home in Granville County. In 1894, the managers of the then private battleground, seeking to make the site North Carolina's first Revolutionary War cemetery, arranged to have Penn's remains disinterred and reburied at the Guilford Courthouse Battleground site."
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