Elizabeth Roadman Hoke, c. 1790/1800–1870

Elizabeth Roadman Hoke was born between 1790 to 1800 in Pennsylvania to Johann and Eve (Byerly) Roadman of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth’s marriage to Thomas Hoke and the birth of their oldest children were likely in Westmoreland County. They owned property in Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County, in 1836, and Thomas had property conveyed to him there in 1817. They moved from Mt. Pleasant to Pittsburgh and then west to Marion City, Marion County, Missouri, by 1837 with their sons, William, John, Samuel, and George. Their youngest son, Benjamin Franklin Hoke, was born on 2 November 1838, in Missouri.

In 1840, they lived in Liberty Township, Marion County, before moving to St. Charles Rock Road, St. Louis County in 1845. They built a new 29’2” x 28’8” framed two-story, eight-room home on their 171.80-acre farm at this property. The farm had an abundance of crops of corn, oats, potatoes, and sweet potatoes along with sheep, swine, and “milch” cows.

Elizabeth belonged to the Methodist Episcopal faith originally dating back to 1846 when the church met in a rural school on St. Charles Rock Road. She and Thomas donated or sold some of their property to the church in 1852. Not long after, on 8 October 1854, Thomas Hoke died leaving Elizabeth a widow.

In 1857, “H Hocke and Mrs Hocke and Store” was located at the site of the Hoke farm. Thereafter, Samuel Hoke testified against someone who was suing the Thomas Hoke estate for bushels of corn. Then in September 1858, The St. Louis Daily Missouri Republican newspaper listed the celebrated “Hoke Farm” for auction. The property was to be subdivided into “Beautiful Building Sites.”

Elizabeth then traveled by wagon train with her sons, John and Benjamin, to California’s Sacramento Valley where her son William lived. By July 1860, Elizabeth and Benjamin were living and farming in Consumnes, Lee Township, Sacramento County, next to her son John. William’s death in Sacramento, on 26 December 1862, likely determined her and Benjamin’s decision to return to the St. Louis vicinity by July 1863. In the July 1863 Civil War draft registration records, Benjamin and Samuel were listed as residents of St. Charles Rock Road. John Hoke and his family had also returned to the St. Louis area where his daughter Lillie was born in August 1863. Elizabeth’s brother, George Roadman, lived in St. Louis County where he passed away in 1865.

By 1870, Elizabeth was living near St. Louis with her son, Samuel, in Monroe Township, Lincoln County, near her son George in the adjoining Bedford Township. Her sons, John and Benjamin, and their families had also moved to Monroe Township by 1870. Elizabeth passed away in March 1870 in Bedford County.

Written by Lena Yates Seng
December 2022

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Last Modified: 07-Mar-2023 12:52