From Proud Heritage, Volume III by DCPA. This 352 page hardcover book is available online.
John Cooper Cook was born about 1806 in North Carolina, probably Surry County. His father was Wendel Cook and his mother’s family name was Cooper. According to the Cook family Bible, the father of Wendel was Welh Cook. Wendel was born about 1770, and is first found in Surry County in 1800, where he was living with his wife and young daughter, about 2 years old.
In 1820, the Wendel Cook family is found in Hardin County, Kentucky, where a daughter, Elizabeth, married William Faith. The family of Wendel is next found in 1830, in Vermillion County, Illinois. Wendel has not been located after 1830. There is no record of his owning land in any of these counties. Using the various census reports, Wendel’s children included four boys (born 1801-1817) and six girls (born 1798-1823).
On December 7, 1829, John Cooper Cook married Jane Howell in Vermillion County. Two of their children are known to have been born in Illinois; they are James (born 1835) and John (born 1837). John and Jane moved to Missouri, as their children, Silas (born 1840) and Yemantha or Samantha (born 1844) were born in that state. Their exact location in Missouri has not been determined. The last child of John and Jane was Martha Cook, who was born in 1846 in Dallas County.
The Cook family was in the Dallas area in the fall of 1845. At that time this was Nacogdoches County in the Republic of Texas. John C. Cook is shown on the 1846 Poll Tax list for the new State of Texas and new County of Dallas. He had come to Dallas to obtain a land grant in the area called Peters Colony. John C. was entitled to 640 acres. His grant is now located in Dallas north of Lovers Lane, east of Central Expressway, west of Abrams Road, and south of Northwest Highway. Because of previous land grants, the entire 640 acres was not available here, and some acres were located in another part of the County. Peters Colony records show that he came from Kentucky. He considered that his home state, as he was there from about 1810 to after 1825.
Jane Howell Cook died in Dallas County during 1846. John C. Cook married on September 30, 1847 in Dallas County Elvira Leake Mayes, the widow of Thomas B. Mayes of Ellis County, Texas. Elvira was the daughter of Anthony M. and Frances Bookman Leake of Dallas County. An article for this Leake family can be found in this volume.
John C. died about 1858 in Dallas County, as is shown by various instruments in the Probate and Deed Records of Dallas County. His heirs sold most of the real estate to the Caruth family before 1870. Elvira Leake Cook lived the rest of her life with her children. Family history states that she was buried near Arlington, Texas.
The children of John and Elvira Cook were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Ann L., George Washington, and Marion Jasper.
Thomas Jefferson Cook was born about 1849 in Dallas County. Benjamin Franklin was born about the same year and was probably in Navarro County in 1880. Ann L. Cook was born about 1852 in Dallas County. She married J.K.P. Hammonds of Tarrant County, Texas. George Washington was born in August 1855, and his wife was Lois.
Marion Jasper Cook was born December 22, 1856 in Dallas County. He married Bertie Simmons of Wortham, Texas on October 25, 1881 in Limestone County. Bertie was the daughter of George W. and Elizabeth Crockett Polk Simmons. The mother of Elizabeth was Elizabeth Harriett Crockett Polk, the sister of Texas Lt. Governor John McClannahan Crockett, whose biographical sketch can be found in the Handbook of Texas. Marion Jasper was a farmer, grocery store owner and hotel operator. He farmed in Navarro County, owned a grocery store and meat market in Wortham, and operated the Cook Hotel in Fairfield, Texas. Marion Jasper died in Dallas on December 13, 1923, and Bertie died in Fairfield in 1927. They are buried in the Wortham Cemetery.
The children of Marion Jasper and Bertie Cook were Lila, Clyde, Georgia, Ethel, and Edgar Earl.
Lila Cook was born March 2, 1887, in Wortham Texas. On September 3, 1905, in Freestone County she married Ansel Enoch Gaddy (1883-1959), the son of Samuel Enoch Gaddy (1858-1895) and Emma Jane Coleman Gaddy (1866-1885). Ansel Enoch had many occupations, including: farmer/rancher, insurance sales, postmaster, newspaper publisher, and owner of the Dinner Bell Café in Streetman, Texas. Lila Cook Gaddy died December 24, 1959. Lila, Ansel and Emma Jane are buried in the Cade Cemetery, Streetman, Texas. Ansel and Lila had one son, Archie Eugene Gaddy, Sr., who was born in 1906 in Streetman and died in 1972 in Waxahachie. In 1926 he married Mary Virginia Hanna (1907-1990), the daughter of Samuel McAfee Hanna, Jr., and Maria Pearl DeBow.
Clyde Cook (1888-1966) married Martha Matt. He was a farmer in Navarro County. Georgia Cook married Joe T. Green. In Fairfield, Georgia and Joe helped operate the Cook Hotel and Cook’s Café from about 1920 to 1946. Edgar Earl Cook (1895-1968) married Pyorha Ellison and had a tailor shop in Fairfield. Ethel, born 1898, married Joe Robert Compton.
Although all the descendants of John Cooper Cook had left Dallas County by 1880, some have returned through the years and many now live in the Dallas and North Texas area.
John Cooper Cook with his family was a typical example of the pioneer with the hardships and the sorrows, following the migration from east to west, always seeking a better life. His path took him from North Carolina, to Kentucky, to Illinois, to Missouri and to Texas in less than forty years.
By Gene Gaddy
