William Edward Hook

William Edward Hook (1833-1908) was born in Litchfield, England. His family immigrated briefly to the United States in 1834, but returned to England by 1851. In 1857, he married Eleanor Jane Dore (circa 1833-1914) and they had six children.

In 1867, Hook returned to the United States without his family. Two years later he established a photography studio in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. In February 1875, two of his sons joined him in the United States: Theodore Hook (circa 1859-circa 1875) and William Edward Hook, Jr. (circa 1864-1907).

In 1877, Hook closed his photography studio in Wisconsin, and he and his surviving son, William, worked as traveling photographers from a home base in Missoula, Montana. Over the next four years, they travelled and captured images throughout Montana and Wyoming, including Yellowstone National Park, Alberta, Northwest Territory, and the Canadian Northwest Rockies. By 1881, Hook established a photography studio in Marquette, Michigan, from which he marketed his images of the American West.

In April 1885, Hook established a photography studio in Manitou Springs, Colorado. In September 1885, he filed a homestead claim on the nearby Ruxton Creek near Pikes Peak, which he named "Artist's Glen." Over the years, Hook specialized in marketing landscape views of Colorado to tourists.

In 1887, Hook traveled to England. He returned to Colorado with his wife and their daughters, Eleanor "Nellie" Hook (born circa 1858) and Alice M. Hook (born circa 1864, later Mrs. Edward M. De La Vergne); their son, William also rejoined the family. Over the years, the Hook family filed additional homestead claims around Ruxton Creek. They also operated a boarding house for tourists until 1890, when the construction and operations associated with the Manitou and Pike’s Peak Railway – a steep grade railway from Manitou Springs to the summit of Pikes Peak – prompted the family to relocate to Colorado Springs. Hook then operated a photography studio in Colorado Springs until his death from heart failure.

https://archives.yale.edu/agents/people/59739