Lilian James Studebaker was born in Ohio, USA, on 10th October 1862, the only daughter of Rudy Studebaker and his wife, Sarah Abigail (née Tally).
At the age of just 17, Lilian married an Englishman, Frederick Ingledew Hooper, on 27th November 1879 in Las Vegas. Frederick had moved to the USA in 1875. In 1880, at the time of the Federal census, Frederick and Lilian lived next-door to Lilian’s parents in Las Vegas. In 1881, the Hoopers were living at East Las Vegas, San Miguel, New Mexico, Frederick working as a Cattle Raiser; they had a daughter, Margaret Muriel (1880-1959), born at Las Vegas in 1880. Another daughter, Winifred Catherine Winsmere (1883-1892), was born in New Mexico State in 1883.
It would appear that Frederick ran into financial problems. Some time between 1883 and 1886, the Hooper family returned to England to stay with Frederick’s parents in Claines, Worcestershire. A daughter, Dorothy Stella (1886-1964), was born in 1886 at Claines. Their fourth child, Gilbert Edward Cashenaye (1887-1958), was born at Claines in 1887. The announcement of his birth appeared in The Worcester Journal of 30th July 1887: “HOOPER – July 22, at Tapenhall, Claines, the wife of Frederick Ingledew Hooper, of a son.”
Frederick and Lilian, together with Margaret, Dorothy and Gilbert returned to America around 1889-1890, living in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, their daughter, Winifred, remained with her paternal grandparents at Claines. Winifred died of diphtheria in December 1892 at 43 Foregate Street, Worcester. Frederick was granted American citizenship in 1890.
By 1901, the family had returned to England and were renting Elm Farm at Wickhamford. In 1906, they moved to Bohemia Gardens on Willersey Road, Badsey, a bungalow built on land that Frederick had bought. They were living there at the time of the 1911 census.
On 7th May 1915, Frederick and Lilian, under the name Hooper-Ingledew, sailed from Liverpool bound for Montreal, Canada. They were going to live with Gilbert who was farming on Lulu Island, British Columbia. At the time of the 1921 census, Frederick was still living with Gilbert, and his new wife, whilst Lillian had gone to her native country of America in 1920; Frederick joined Lilian in the States in October 1926 (information from a 1935 border crossing document when the couple crossed back into Canada).
At the time of the 1930 US Federal census, Frederick and Lilian were living at 102 Eighth Lincoln, Las Vegas. In April 1935, they left the States and crossed the border into Canada to go and live with Gilbert and his wife at Marpole, a neighbourhood on the southern edge of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Frederick died suddenly at his home, 803 West Seventieth Avenue, Vancouver on New Year’s Day 1939. Lilian died a month and a half later on 13th February 1939. They were both buried at Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver.