View source for Weller van Hook

'''Weller van Hook''', (1862-1933) Chicago surgeon, author and official in the [[Theosophical Society]], whose son [[Hubert van Hook|Hubert]] was at one time viewed as the appropriate vehicle for the [[Lord Maitreya]].

Copyright 2007, Will Johnson, [mailto:wjhonson@aol.com wjhonson@aol.com], Professional Genealogist, All Rights Reserved.  This page is locked, if you'd like to add or correct anything, please email me.

==Biography==
Weller van Hook was born May 14, 1862 in Greenville, Indiana, son of William Russell van Hook (b 1837) and Phebe Matilda "Tillie" Weller (1839-1889).

He attended the University of Michigan, receiving his B.A. in 1884.  He then went to Chicago, where he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons (later the Division of Medicine at the University of Illinois) and graduated in 1885.  He interned at the Cook County Hospital from July 1885 to Jan 1887.  He began practice in 1887.  He married Anna C Whaley of Saint Louis, Missouri, also a physician, on Jun 16, 1892.[http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=vanhook99&id=I03933][http://www.chilit.org/Papers%20by%20author/Maher%20C%20--%20A%20Man%20of%20Good%20Will.pdf]

He was in 1897 appointed the third Chairman in Surgery at Northwestern Medical School.[http://www.medschool.northwestern.edu/depts/urology/history.html]  He became a very well-known surgeon and is called "one of the three top surgeons of this era".

The surgical procedure Ureteroureterostomy, which is end-to-end [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/anastomosis anastomosis] of the two portions of a transected [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ureter ureter]; is also ureteroureteral anastomosis or the [[Weller van Hook|van Hook]] operation, named after Weller van Hook.

Jinaradazi was in Chicago about 1904, as it was apparently through him that Dr. Van Hook was introduced to Theosophy.  Weller and his wife Anna both became very active members of the Theosophical Society.  Weller became the General Secretary of the Thesophical Society in the United States, and was one of the vocal supporters of Leadbeater during the scandal that eventually forced Leadbeater to temporarily resign. About that time, Leadbeater while on an American lecture tour, met their son Hubert and in the summer of 1907, Hubert and his mother stayed with Leadbeater in Germany where some of Hubert's past-lives were writen out.

Anna and Hubert moved in 1909 to Adyar, India where Anna taught Hubert, [[Krishnamurti]] and Nitya for some time.

Weller van Hook died Jul 1, 1933 in or near Chicago, Illinois where a brief death notice appeared in the ''Chicago Tribune'' (Jul 2, and Jul 5).

==Works==
*[http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1430700 Tuberculosis of the Sacro-Iliac Joint], ''Annals of Surgery'', Dec 1888

*[http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1424910 A New Operation for Hypospadias], read before the Chicago Medical Society, ''Annals of Surgery'', Feb 3, 1896

*[http://www.theosophical.ca/Correspondences.htm Correspondences Between the Planes and some Lessons to be drawn from Them], Adyar Phamplet No 28, June 1913. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, India

*[http://www.amazon.com/Theosophist-Magazine-April-1926-June-1926/dp/0766151859 ''Thesophist Magazine'', Apr-Jun 1926, "Ancient Egypt Reborn in America"]

==Primary documents==
*[http://www.chilit.org/Papers%20by%20author/Maher%20C%20--%20A%20Man%20of%20Good%20Will.pdf A Biography of Weller van Hook] by Chauncey C Maher
*[http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=6742&iid=ILT9_249-0070&fn=Weller&ln=Van+Hook&st=r&ssrc=&pid=30730974 1880 Census of Illiopolis, Sangamon County, Illinois] showing "William Van Hook, age 42, Physician, born Indiana (parents Kentucky/Virginia); P M, age 39, wife, born Kentucky [and several children including] Weller, age 18, son, born Indiana, At School"
*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=1920usfedcen%2c&rank=0&gsfn=Weller&gsln=vanHook&sx=&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&ufr=0&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&o_iid=21416&o_lid=21416&o_it=21416&fh=0&recid=16210572&recoff=1+2 1920 Census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois] showing "Weller Vanhook, age 57, born Indiana, Medical Physician; wife Anna 53"
*[http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=6224&iid=ILT626_425-0137&fn=Weller&ln=Van+Hook&st=r&ssrc=&pid=85534146 1930 Census of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois] showing "Weller Van Hook, age 68, born Indiana, Independent Surgeon; Anna W wife, age 66, born Missouri"

==Secondary sources==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weller_van_Hook Weller van Hook] on Wikipedia
*[http://content.ancestry.com/browse/bookview.aspx?dbid=24640&iid=dvm_LocHist009768-00190-0&desc=Weller+Van+Hook&rc= His picture] with some biographical details

*[http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=vanhook99&id=I03916 An Ancestry World Tree Project entry] citing 'The Van Hooks and Allied Families'', Bernice Keister

==Further reading==
*Dictionary of American Biography. Volumes 1-20. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928-1936. (DcAmB)
*A Dictionary of North American Authors Deceased before 1950. Compiled by W. Stewart Wallace. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1951. (DcNAA)
*Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1917-1966. A continuation of Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1816-1916, and containing additional names from the earlier period. Compiled by Donald E. Thompson. Crawfordsville, IN: Wabash College, 1974. (IndAu 1974)
*Who Was Who in America. A component volume of Who's Who in American History. Volume 1, 1897-1942. Chicago: A.N. Marquis Co., 1943. (WhAm 1)