Finding Frances: My Quest to Discover the True Frances Hook

It's hard to believe my book has been out for a year now.  And as with anyone who completes a major project, I came to realize regrets.  There was even a sense of helplessness.  I can't tell you how many times I and others read over my manuscript....only to miss a typo on the first page of Chapter 1.  We missed it......every....single....time during the editing process.  I thought we had caught everything, but of course when I took that nice, crisp, sweet-smelling brand new book out of the box for the very first time and opened it, there it was.  Indeed, I happened to open right to it, and there was that glaring typo, staring back at me with its mocking grin.  &*#%$#!!!!!

As for regrets, perhaps that is too strong of a word.  It's more like a desire to offer more detail and insight into my research process, whether in the main text itself or in the notes section.  I did indeed cite every account I shared.  They are in parenthetical form because I had to condense down my citations from over 500 to 250 in order to have hyperlinked notes in the ebook format.  But they are all there  And if a reader has a question, the individual can simply follow my sources.  However, upon further reflection, I wish I would have offered a more detailed explanation as to how I arrived at some of my conclusions.  One involved the discovery of Frances Hook's true identity, Elizabeth Quinn.


I can't tell you how long I scoured census data for individuals named Hook.  Eventually, I came to the conclusion that she slipped through the enumeration process somehow.  And then with an increasing number of newspaper websites adding more content, the solution presented itself when I stumbled upon a few articles published three decades after her death.  They contained the unmistakable details of her story shared during the war, such as her enlisting as "Frank Miller" with her brother who was eventually killed, and her subsequent wounding, capture, and exchange.   I was familiar with these pieces of information.  But what I found new and quite intriguing in these articles was a different name:

Heading of One of the Articles

Snippet of Another Article

Also included in one of the articles was a photograph of her taken shortly before her untimely death in her late 20's.  She has the same glaring countenance as she does in her soldier photo, and when I eventually learned of her traumatic childhood, I can certainly understand why she appeared so despondent and cross.  The effects of the challenges she faced in her past undoubtedly resonated with her until the end.  You can see all three photographs and read more about her in my book.

Not only did these articles reveal a name other than Hook, they also listed her place of birth.  This was also challenging because the name of the town was spelled differently.  In the article above, it is "Lemoine."  I also saw it spelled "Lemoyne."  Then I found LaMoille, Illinois.  And there in 1850 was one Elizabeth Quinn.   You can read more about my visit to LaMoille, the town she left behind by clicking [HERE].

Frances was likely her first name, but she went by Elizabeth or Eliza, her middle name, at least until 1862-1864.  It was in 1864 when newspapers reported her name as "Frances Hook."  She then used Frances or Fanny for the rest of her life, perhaps in an effort to distance herself from her childhood or to help cover up her true identity.  She did indeed relay inaccurate details, including her name and enlisting with her brother who was ultimately killed in battle.  The reason for the latter was likely an effort to garner sympathy from a society that would ostracize her for her decision to disguise herself as a man and enlist in the male-dominated military.  It was more romantic and more acceptable if she were following a male loved one to war.  She wasn't the only one to craft a fake identity and phony details in an effort to try to save face.

Speaking of her brother, I found him in the 1850 census living in a separate household.  He was Thomas Quinn, age 2.  Also in the 1850 census, I found Peter Quinn, age 42, who turned out to be Frances's uncle.  I connected them through court documents from Bureau County, Illinois that show that Peter became the caretaker of Frances and her brother, Thomas, after their father, Thomas Sr., Peter's brother, abandoned them.  You can read more about all the legal drama surrounding this situation in my book.  There's a lot.

And then there were Frances's children.  Mathew was listed as Frances's husband in the newspaper article above and in marriage records. The couple had a daughter, Maggie, who wrote to the War Department in 1909 seeking records of her mother's service.  Maggie was living in Huntington, West Virginia, which you will notice was the location of the article cited by the one above.  So either Maggie went to the newspapers with her quest to find details of her mother's service, or reporters learned of her mission and sought her out.   But it is apparent that the account of Frances Hook's adventures as a woman soldier was passed down in her family.

Record from the National Archives
of Maggie seeking information
regarding her mother's service

So Maggie is connected to Frances through newspaper articles, census records, birth records, and documents in the National Archives.

Mathew and Frances had another daughter named Laura, noted in Ohio birth records.  Much later in my research, I found a petition record on Ancestry by Thomas seeking guardianship of Laura, whose name he gave as Mary Laura Angel.  This was after both of her parents had passed away. Thomas, who moved to Iowa after the war, was granted guardianship.

There's one more bit of information to connect Frances Elizabeth Quinn to Thomas, Jr., but it can't be found on a piece of paper.  Rather, it's on Thomas's grave marker.  He dedicated one of the panels to his child who died very young, a child he named Francis E. Quinn, undoubtedly after his sister.  And on this panel is a relief of a Civil War soldier.   You can read more about it by clicking [HERE].

So Elizabeth Quinn in LaMoille, Illinois was Frances Hook.  It all started with a newspaper article that contained an unfamiliar name.  I then used a wide variety of records to connect the dots and find her.  You can see how extensive this project was and perhaps can understand why I chose not to include an explanation of how I arrived at my conclusions in my book.

And yet, her story is still incomplete and will probably remain so.

Why is this important?  Why go through the time and effort to discover who Frances Hook truly was — other than to just be pedantic.   The short answer is to just simply find the truth, and the truth in and of itself is always important and relevant.  But in this case, the truth gives us a more accurate glimpse into why she defied societal norms and served in the military at a time when women weren't supposed to do that.   

I would like to tip my hat to Melinda Cordell who beat me to the punch.  She also discovered that Frances Hook was Elizabeth Quinn and published her findings in her book before mine came out.  Her brilliant piece is Courageous Women of the Civil War.  Visit her website at https://melindacordell.com/

Until next formation....rest.