Samuel Cook

(12 September 1774  – 13 July 1828)

 

Samuel Cook was probably born in Charlotte County, Virginia prior to his parents’ move to Surry County, North Carolina. He appears for the first time in Surry’s records on 7 February 1795, buying 100 acres on Double Creek in Surry County with his father and eldest sister as witnesses.[1]   He appears in the 1800 tax list with 100 acres, one poll and one slave.  He was not listed as a head of household in the 1800 census, suggesting that he still lived with his parents.  He next appears, as “Samuel Cook of Surry County”, selling a slave girl named Mitelle in neighboring Wilkes County on 7 February 1801.[2]  He appears initially in the Surry court records as a juror, on 13 May 1801.[3]  Samuel Cook, along with his mother and brother William, were executors of his father’s estate, though it was Samuel who filed estate accountings in March 1803 and November 1806.[4]  The final settlement of the estate was recorded on the oath of Daniel DeJarnette on 29 October 1806 and jointly signed by the three executors Samuel, William, and Keziah Cook.[5]  Samuel Cook owed the estate a net of £10 after “giving him credit for $600 that he was bound to pay to said estate by an article made & entered into between him & his father.”  He is mentioned as a juror, grand juror, or witness numerous times in the court records through November 1807, after which he disappears from the Surry records.  

 

As noted in the paper on William Cook, the 26-year old Samuel had executed an agreement with his father a few months before William’s death.  The agreement provided that Samuel would support his parents, in exchange for which William Cook would immediately deed him half his plantation and would leave him the other half in his will.  As part of the agreement Samuel also received slaves and agreed to make specific provisions for his two youngest sisters. [For more detail, see William Cook paper.]

 

Two days later, on 27 April 1801, William Cook made his will and, as promised, left the remaining half of the plantation to Samuel as well as additional slaves named George and Tom.  When his father died a few months later, both the will and the agreement were recorded together.[6]  Samuel thus inherited half the 450 acre home place (subject to his mother’s death) and received the agreed-to half outright.  He sold this unrestricted half of the land in an undated deed which was recorded on 15 August 1816 and featured his mother-in-law, Polly Hendrick, as a witness.[7]  This sale must have taken place in 1807 or 1808, since Samuel was not in the 1810 census or 1812 tax list of Surry County and was in Georgia by mid-1808.  He apparently reached some agreement with his mother, who subsequently appeared in tax lists as the taxpayer for  the other 225 acres.  I found no record of the other half of the plantation actually being distributed to Samuel.  In one of the letters from his brother David Cook (see separate page) he tells brother-in-law Daniel DeJarnette that he should not move away while his mother (Keziah Cook) is alive because “I think it would not be against your interest to stay as long as she lives, as you have an interest in the estate.”  This seems to indicate that Samuel may have struck some deal with his brother-in-law to care for his mother in exchange for an interest in the estate left to Samuel.

 

The proof that Samuel Cook was the same person as the one who showed up in 1808 in Baldwin County, Georgia rests mainly on a Bible record.  A family Bible belonging to Samuel Cook’s daughter Caroline Cook Weaver, found in the possession of Mary B. Williams of Thomaston, Georgia, makes the case nicely.[8]  The Bible provides the maiden name of Samuel’s wife, Elizabeth Hendrick, and their marriage date, which matches a Surry County marriage bond for Samuel Cook and Elizabeth Hendrick dated six days earlier.  The Bible also lists the birth dates of Samuel, his wife Elizabeth Hendrick, their children, and identifies Elizabeth’s parents. A few dates of death are listed as well.  An Upson County, Georgia history which states that his daughter Caroline Cook Weaver’s family was from Surry County, Virginia (sic) provides another valuable clue, though the state was incorrect. [9]

 

Samuel Cook married 17-year old “Eliza Hendrick” on 23 January 1803 according to the Weaver Bible.  The Surry County, North Carolina marriage bond, which calls her “Betsa Hendrick”, is dated 17 January 1803, with his brother David Cook as bondsman.[10]  The Weaver Bible gives her date of birth as 8 September 1785 and implies she was the daughter of Ezekiel Hendrick (c1732 – 1817) and Mary Hendrick (c1751 – 1827).  [See separate Hendrick genealogy pages]

 

Samuel and Elizabeth, with at least four young children, moved to Georgia in early 1808.  He was still in Surry County as late as 12 November 1807 when he appeared in court.[11]  But he was in Georgia by 4 July 1808, when Samuel Cook “now of the county of Baldwin but late of North Carolina” purchased, for $810, 202 ½ acres in Jones County, Georgia described as lot #16 in the 9^th district of Baldwin County, on the waters of Wolf Creek. [12]   He purchased this lot from William Maugham, who had drawn the lot in the 1807 lottery.

 

This area was Indian land that had been distributed through the 1807 Cherokee Land Lottery, when it lay within the original Baldwin County.  Later in 1807, Jones County was formed and the county line ran through the 9^th district.  Samuel Cook’s lot was in the western part of the that district, which became Jones County, just outside the town of Clinton. 

 

Samuel Cook was taxed on this 202 acres in 1811, but acquired most of Lot 20 in two transactions in 1813 and 1825.[13]  He subsequently acquired additional acreage in nearby parts of the 9^th district, as well as several town lots in Clinton.[14]  He also drew land in the 1821 lottery.  By the time of his death in 1828 he had amassed a total of 1,160 acres in two plantations, and at least two lots in town.  It appears he initially lived in the town of Clinton, then probably about 1817 built a plantation house on 350 acres of lot 20 just east of town, on the crest of a hill called Mt. Ararat.[15]  His will refers to an additional “lower plantation”, meaning about 810 acres of land built around the original purchase in lot 16 to the southwest.

 

In his twenty years in Georgia Samuel Cook managed to become both wealthy and prominent.  In addition to building a large plantation, he was engaged in several business interests.  He announced in the Georgia Journal on 22 July 1812 that a boarding house he was building in Clinton was nearly complete and was ready to accommodate travelers. [16]  In the 27 March 1816 Georgia Journal, he and a partner announced the opening of an educational academy in Clinton, probably the school which later became the Clinton Academy.  We can assume he had his own children educated there.  In the 3 May 1817 issue of the Georgia Journal, Samuel Cook advertised his house in Clinton for sale and announced he would no longer entertain boarders.  He probably moved into his new plantation house at about this time.

 

In 1817 he gave one acre of land to the Clinton Methodist Episcopal Church, a church which still exists today on the same ground, though with a different building.[17]  He was also member of a fund-raising committee to raise money to house the Clinton Academy in a new brick building.  In 1818, he and four partners opened the Clinton branch of the Darien Bank of Macon.  By 1820, Samuel Cook was an active and prominent member of the Clinton community.

 

His involvement in education apparently extended to his slaves.  We have two pieces of evidence that he taught his slaves to read and write.  In 1825, a notice in the Georgia Journal by one of Samuel Cook’s partners in the Darien Bank said one of Cook’s slaves had run away and described him as a carpenter named Jesse who could “write a very legible hand”.  [The notice offered a reward, not for return of the slave, but for the return of the horse he used to make the escape.  Apparently Jesse was not caught since he is not among the slaves listed by Samuel Cook in his will three years later.]   One of the slaves he left to his daughter Caroline Cook Weaver in his will was named Frank.  When Frank ran away in 1840, the Weavers took out a notice in the Columbus Enquirer stating that the 35-year old Frank could “read well” and might be found around Clinton where he had been raised by Samuel Cook. 

 

There is no 1810 census for Georgia, but the 1820 census for Jones County shows Samuel Cook with his four young sons and four daughters, wife Elizabeth, and one unidentified female over 45.[18]  There were 21 slaves belonging to the household.

 

The next decade was not kind to Samuel Cook.  Four of his young children died between 1824 and 1827, and his wife died a bizarre and tragic death in 1825.  According to two newspapers[19], Mrs. Elizabeth Cook died June 25, 1825 near Clinton when struck by lightning.  She was identified as the wife of Samuel Cook, a member of the Methodist Church.  The Weaver Bible gives her date of death as one week earlier, 18 June 1825, taken by a flash of lightning when 40 years of age.  The year before, two of their young children had died, and another would die young in 1826.  A fourth child would die when her dress caught on fire in 1827.  And later records suggest his eldest son William was crippled.

 

When Elizabeth died, Samuel Cook found himself with eight children, including a baby just a few months old.  He must have felt pressure to remarry, and did so just over a year later, to Sarah E. Jull on 24 October 1926.[20]  The Weaver Bible lists both the marriage date and her maiden name identically with the Jones County record.  Sarah E. Jull was apparently a recent immigrant from England, and probably just a teenager.[21]  Since Samuel Cook had four children older than his new wife, it would be surprising if there weren’t some amount of friction in the household.  The language in Samuel Cook’s will asking his family “keep as much together as possible” may be evidence of this.  The language of his will suggests the possibility that her role was to be a teacher of the small children.

 

Samuel Cook died less than two years after this marriage, on July 13, 1828, at his home “of a short but severe and distressing illness.”[22]  Interestingly, the Weaver Bible does not mention his death.  His very detailed and carefully constructed will, dated 21 May 1828 and recorded on 1 September 1828, names all his living children in order of birth. [23]  In the transcript below I have omitted the names of the slaves and some text I judged not significant, but retained the original spelling:

 

…My will is after my death my wife Sarah E. Cook shall have two negroes Anna and Ben, during her life and at her death to go to my youngest son George William Cook and that my wife continue to live where she now does and have charge of the place and Negroes belonging to the two youngest sons Sam’l T. Cook and George W. Cook…and she shall have all the profits arising from said land and Negroes during her natural life or widowhood and at her death or marriage she nor her future heirs shall have no claim to any thing of mine whatever, provided that my wife Sarah shall at the same time maintain clothe and educate my two youngest sons Sam’l and George and keep them at school or studying some profession until they are of age, and any profits arising above the maintenance is hers…

My will further is that my family keep as much together as possible…that she [his wife] is not admitted to teach a school here or keep a boarding house further than to teach and board my own children and when she marries again she ad no claims whatever…and at the time Samuel T. Cook becomes of age this said house and land where I now live shall be equally divided by lot sale or other ways between him and George W. Cook and that my wife Sarah E. Cook have no further claim on said part but look to George W.  for the balance of her maintenance

…I give to my son William W. Cook the profits of my Darian bank stock during his life for his support, stock of twenty-five shares and sixty-five dollars paid the share and at his death to b sold and equally divided between all my lawful heirs then living…I give to my daughter Caroline C. S.  Cook one square of land in the ninth district Jones County No. 16 near Elam meeting house…[and]) six negroes…[and] a bay horse Dave a feather bed and furniture…I give to my daughter Polly H. Harvey my house and lot and gin house in the town of Clinton where John Harvey now lives, known in said town by lot no. 20 and gin house opposite to Lowther Mansion…[and] six negroes…[and] two negroes Jack and Susan, horse and bed given heretofor…I give to my son Asa B. Cook one square of land in the ninth district Jones County near Elam meeting house no. 15 and…six negroes…two plough horses Charley and Ball, a feather bed and furniture.  I give to my daughter Martha H. Cook one square of land no. 34 in the ninth district Jones County whereon Elam meeting house now stands…[and] six negroes…a young sorrel mare, a feather bed and furniture.  I give to my son Andrew J. Cook one square of land no. 39 in the ninth district Jones County…[and] seven negroes…the gules mule, feather bed and furniture.  I give to my son Samuel T. Cook eight negroes…[and] half the land and plantation where I now live. When he becomes of age he is then to have a good horse, feather bed and furniture and half the household furniture then on hand... I give to my son George W. Cook four negroes…and at his mother’s death two more…and at his mother’s death he is to have half of the land and plantations where I now live, his mother having her lifetime on his part provided she don’t marry…he is also to have a horse and bed and furniture when of age and the balance of the household furniture after Samuel T. takes his part from it…

 

Now my will is at my death I want all the crop at the lower plantation and all the stock and surplus property of every kind that I am there possessed of to be sold at twelve months credit…and…equally divided among all my children…now should my wife Sarah E. Cook should not think proper to stay on this place then in that case the whole profits shall go to the two youngest sons Samuel T. and George William and should George William dye then the whole land shall go to Sam’l T. Cook the Negroes divided among the other heirs and if Sam’l T. dye his part be divided amongst the whole of the heirs…I do hereby appoint my wife Sarah E. Cook and Jonathan Parrish and Asa B. Cook and Andrew J. Cook when he can act as my lawful executors…

 

The appraisal of the estate and the initial sales take many pages to enumerate, for he was a reasonably wealthy man. [24]   The estate included 350 acres in the home place, 810 acres in the “lower plantation”, 46 slaves[25], and a significant quantity of livestock including cows, sheep, horses, oxen, bulls, and a mule.  There were also several tons of cotton, other crops, stock in the Darien Bank, two town lots in Clinton with buildings, and a lengthy list of household furniture, tools, and farm implements.  All the executors qualified.  Jonathan Parrish, one of them, was a business partner in the Darien Bank and perhaps in other ventures. 

 

When Samuel Cook died, there were six older children alive in addition to the two babies Samuel and George.  William, Caroline, Polly, and Asa were over 21, but Andrew and Martha were still teenagers.  William Stephens was appointed guardian of Martha Cook in November 1828, and (after marrying Caroline Cook) Travis Weaver was appointed guardian of Andrew Cook.[26]  Martha Cook married in 1829 at the age of 16.  Andrew evidently lived with the elderly Martha Cook (q.v.) until he reached majority in 1836.  Only Sarah E. Cook and the two babies stayed on in the plantation.

 

Most of the older children soon left the area.  Asa B. Cook sold his inherited land in lot 15 to his brother-in-law Travis Weaver in 1829 and removed to Houston County. [27]   Travis and Caroline Cook Weaver themselves left for Upson County in 1835.  Andrew Jackson Cook sold his portion of the lower plantation in lot 39 in 1836 as soon as he turned 21, and also left the area.[28]

 

Sarah E. Cook, the young widow, continued to live in the plantation house.  She either fell on hard times, or had difficulty managing the estate.  It seems likely that, as a teenager herself, she could not manage the plantation without the help of the older children who were leaving the area.  She was more or less constantly in debt during the 1830s and the Jones County court ordered parts of the estate to be sold to satisfy creditors on nine occasions between 1829 and 1841.  Crops, slaves, household goods, and even a small portion of the land were sold to pay these debts. [29]  Most of the sales were accompanied by newspaper notices signed by Asa B. Cook, who was by 1831 the sole executor.[30]

 

Jonathan Parrish was excused as an executor in 1830, leaving Asa B. Cook and Sarah E. Cook as joint executors (Andrew not yet being of age).  Asa Cook had moved to Houston County, and filed estate accountings there.  Perhaps to accommodate this, Samuel Cook’s will and inventory were copied into the Houston County record books.[31]

 

Samuel Cook’s plantation in Jones County was sold off in stages, beginning in 1845.[32]  It was entirely out of the family by 7 September 1848 when Samuel T. Cook sold the final portion, including the plantation house “where Samuel Cook died and Samuel T. Cook now lives.”[33]  By 1850 all but the widow and her own children had left Jones County and essentially nothing remained of the Cook interests in the county.

 

The 1830 Jones County census shows Sarah E. Cook, the widow, with a household of two females (one aged 10-15, the other 30-40), the young boys George and Samuel, and 18 slaves.  I suspect the female 10-15 was Sarah, although she should have been checked in the 15-20 column.  The older female was probably someone hired to help with the children.  The 1840 census showed Sarah E. Cook (aged 20-30) with George and Samuel still in the household, as well as two young girls aged 5-10, and 21 slaves.  From their placement in the censuses, they were clearly living on the Cook plantation in both 1830 and 1840.

 

Under the terms of Samuel Cook’s will, the widow lost her interest in the estate if she remarried.  Sarah E. Cook was therefore motivated to avoid a remarriage until Samuel Cook came of age, when the plantation was to be sold and split between him and George Cook.  She actually did remarry, after thirteen years of widowhood, on 4 July 1841 to John W. Shropshire as “Mrs. Sarah E. Cook”.[34]  Perhaps she tired of losing money, and wanted to preserve something for her son George and her own future.  Samuel T. Cook, who would have been 17 at the time of this marriage, chose a guardian at this time.  George Cook, who would have been 13, apparently lived with his mother in the Shropshire household until shortly before 1850 when he turned 21.   In the 1850 census of Jones County, John Shropshire was shown as age 32, a carriage workman.  Sarah’s age was 40 and her birthplace was given as England. 

 

There were two children in that 1850 household named Cook:  “Adalade” (age 18) and Melvina (age 16).  Note that their ages fit those of the two girls in the 1840 census household of Sarah E. Cook.  They seem to be children of Sarah E. Cook by some unknown father, born about 1832 and 1834.   It seems reasonable to conclude that the children were born out of wedlock, for though Sarah was a young widow, she was strongly motivated to avoid a marriage.  If there was already some friction between Sarah and the older Cook children, this must have aggravated it.  The daughter Adelaide E. Cook married Wade B. Goolsby in Jones County on 18 December 1851.[35]  Goolsby later married her sister Melvina R. Cook in 1876 after Adelaide’s death.  The History of Jasper County, using information obviously provided by a descendant of these daughters, states that Adelaide and Melvina’s parents were “John Cook” and “Sarah Dykes”, and that Sarah remarried John Shropshire after John Cook’s death.  It seems a near certainty that this is a concocted story (perhaps stemming from Adelaide or Melvina) to avoid publicizing their illegitimacy.

 

Sarah and John Shropshire had moved to Forsyth County by 1860, where they appear in the census with Melvina still in the household.  Wade Goolsby was in the 1860 Jasper County census with Adelaide and four children.  In 1870 John and Sarah Shropshire were not found, but Wade and Adelaide Goolsby were still in Jasper County, now with nine children.  By the 1880 census, Adelaide had died after bearing another three children and Wade Goolsby had remarried to Melvina Cook. 

 

The identity of Sarah Jull is an interesting question.  The marriage record in Jones County does not show a parental consent, despite the fact that she was apparently a minor.  Nor is there any Jull family in the 1820 or 1830 census of Jones or the surrounding counties (nor a Dykes family for that matter).  As mentioned above, her husband’s will hints that she may have arrived in Jones County as a schoolteacher or governess.  Her age is a mystery, for the censuses are quite inconsistent.  The 1830 census shows her as 15-20 (or as 30-40 depending on which female is her), while the 1840 census shows her as 20-30.  In 1850 she is 40 and in 1860 she is still 40.  Her birthplace appears to have been England.  In 1850 she gives her birthplace as England, but in 1860 gives it as Georgia.  Both of her living children in the 1880 census gave their mother’s birthplace as England.

 

Samuel Cook had thirteen children listed in the Weaver Bible, the first twelve by his wife Elizabeth Hendrick and the last one by Sarah Jull.  Only eight survived him. The birth dates below all come from the Weaver Bible unless otherwise noted.

 

1.      William Wood Cook (3 November 1803 – c1837?)  The Weaver Bible mentions only his birth, not his death.  Note that Samuel Cook’s will strongly implies that his father did not expect him to produce heirs.  In fact the will gave him no property at all, rather provided that the profits of the Darien Bank stock be used to support him and then divided among all the heirs at his death.  A later record suggests he was handicapped in some way.  He was perhaps the William W. Cook who drew land as a veteran from Jones County in the lottery of 1827, though there is reason to doubt that was him.[36]  Later records show that he was still alive in 1836 and that Asa Cook was caring for him.  He is probably the male aged 20-30 in Asa Cook’s 1830 household, for a contract signed by Asa B. Cook and Benjamin White on 3 December 1835 includes the provision that “in consideration of B. White’s whole attention to the interest of the concern, and my brother W. W. Cook promising more trouble than profit, I Asa B. Cook agree to pay him annually the sum of one hundred dollars, my brother to be employed at easy and light work.” [37]   The contract further provided that White would “take W. W. Cook as a member of his family to be boarded.”   A letter dated 22 December 1836 from Asa B. Cook to Benjamin White implies that William Cook was still alive but in need of medical care, saying “...I send you a truss for Wood [presumably meaning his brother].  If you can contrive word to Dr. Kendall his services are engaged to put it on by the Agmt, but do not send for him for that alone...”[38]  [I interpret this to mean that the medical expenses for his brother are to be charged by White to Asa Cook’s share of the joint venture.]  There is no further mention of William Cook that I can uncover, nor is he mentioned in the lawsuit between Asa Cook and Benjamin White in 1837, suggesting that he may have died.[39]  Some researchers have theorized that William Cook was the person who married Ann Hammond in Augusta, Richmond County on 23 December 1824, but that was clearly a different person.

 

2.      Caroline Catherine Saviner Cook (2 April 1805 – 8 August 1868)  She married Colonel Travis Archibald Daniel Weaver (1802-1877) of Greene County in Clinton on 12 February 1829.[40]   They are in the 1830 Jones County census, but moved to Thomaston in Upson County about 1835, where they were prominent citizens.  The History of Upson County, among lengthy information on the family, says “…she was born in Surry County, Va.(sic) Her parents moved to Clinton, Jones County Ga. where later she was married to Judge Weaver…”[41]  The 1850 census shows four children, and her family Bible identifies them as:  Frances Ann Elizabeth (15 Oct 1832), Marianna Maria Weaver (22 Sep 1834-1927), William Travis Weaver (12 Dec 1840-1912), and George Alvah Weaver (12 Feb 1844-1915).  The children and their gravestones are mentioned in the History of Upson County.[42]  Travis Weaver is buried in the Thomaston City Cemetery.[43]  Caroline’s death was also reported in a newspaper article in 1868, which reads: “Mrs. Caroline C. S. Weaver, wife of Judge T. A. D. Weaver, was born April 2, 1805, and died in Thomaston, Ga., August 8, 1868. In 1829 she was married to her surviving husband. She is missed by two sons, a daughter and granddaughter. D. Kelsey. [44]  Travis Weaver survived her, dying on 26 March 1877 in Thomaston, Upson County.

 

3.      Mary H. Cook (26 December 1806 - )  The middle name “Hubert” is often attributed to her, apparently based on a published abstract of her father’s will.  However, the records of her father’s estate appear to give the name as “Hulit”.  She married a Clinton lawyer named Leroy Harvey on 25 March 1824.[45]  The marriage record in Jones County calls her “Mary Cook” and the Weaver Bible calls her “Polly A. Cook”.  Samuel Cook’s will calls her “Polly H. Harvey.”  Leroy Harvey died two years later, on 22 February 1826.[46]  Samuel Cook and Polly were co-administrators of Harvey’s estate.  She may have lived with her father-in-law John Harvey following her husband’s death, since Samuel Cook’s will gives her the house in Clinton that was occupied by John Harvey.  She had one daughter, Elizabeth Sarah Harvey, who received one of the slaves left to Polly in the distribution of Samuel Cook’s estate in 1828.  As Polly Harvey, widow, of Jones County she drew land in Lee County in the 1827 lottery.  There doesn’t seem to be any further record of Polly in Jones County.  She is not a head of household in 1830 or thereafter, and there is no record of a remarriage in Jones County.

 

4.      Asa Barrett Cook (28 January 1806 – ca December 1848)  He was born 28 Jan 1806 according to the Weaver bible. He died in late 1848.  He married Elizabeth Winifred Ivey and had eight known children.  [See separate page]

 

5.      John W. Cook (23 June 1810 - 24 April 1824)  He died at the age of fourteen according to the Weaver Bible.

 

6.      Martha H. Cook (21 March 1813 – 16 December 1873)  William Stevens was appointed her guardian after her father’s death.[47]  She married Josiah B. Beall on 22 December 1829 in Jones County.[48]  Several newspaper references to the marriage call her “the daughter of the late Samuel Cook.”[49]  I could not find them in the 1830 census, but by 1833 the Bealls were in Upson County, where Josiah owned a store.  On 6 April 1840, Josiah Beall “of the State of Alabama” sold land in Upson County.[50]  They had moved to Autauga County, Alabama where they appear in the 1840 census.[51]  They must have moved back to Georgia almost immediately, for they appear in the Pike County census in 1850 with nine children all born in Georgia.  In 1860 they are in Spalding County, again with the birthplaces of all the children as Georgia.  The 1850 and 1860 censuses list a total of ten children:  Ann E. (c1831), Carolina C. (c1833), Martha (c1835), Josiah (c1837), Julia Lular (c1839), Robert (c1841), Albert B. (c1845), Mary H. (c1847), William H. (1850), and Ida J. (c1852).  By 1870 several of their children are in Montgomery County, Alabama though I did not find Martha in the 1870 census.  According to a newspaper article, Martha H. Beall “the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Cook, and widow of J. B. Beall” died of yellow fever in Montgomery, Alabama on 16 December 1873.[52]   The same article says her husband had predeceased her, dying in 1863.

 

7.      Andrew Jackson Cook (22 November 1815 – 6 January 1876)  His father’s will calls him Andrew J. Cook, but one of Samuel Cook’s estate records refers to him as “Jackson Cook”.[53]  The Jones County court appointed Travis Weaver his guardian in 1829.[54]  He does nto seem to be in his stepmother’s 1830 household, and might have been the male 15-20 in the household of the mysterious Martha Cook (who also listed seven slaves, the number Andrew had inherited).  He graduated from the University of Georgia and moved to Burke County, where he appears as a single man in the 1840 census.  On 9 December 1841 he married Eliza Farnall in Richmond County, and the 1850 census of Burke County lists him and Eliza with two children, her mother Teresa Farnall, and a Farnall brother-in-law.[55]   They were still in Burke County for the 1860 census (still with her mother and a brother), but by 1870 were in  Jefferson County.  Andrew Cook died on 6 January 1876, according to a newspaper obituary.[56]  The 1850-70 censuses suggest six children:  Melvina R. (c1844), Edwin A. (1850), Anna E. (c1852), Walter F. (c1854), Baldwin F. (c1856), and Emma D. (c1863).

 

8.      Keziah B. Cook (10 November 1817 – 10 November 1817)  The Weaver Bible notes this daughter born and died on the same date.

 

9.      Ann Elizabeth Cook (30 March 1819 - 30 March 1824) She died on her fifth birthday, according to the Weaver Bible.

10.  Frances E. M. Cook (20 December 1820 - 26 June 1826) She died at 5½, according to the Weaver Bible.

 

11.  Elizabeth Sarah Cook (4 May 1822 - 27 November 1827)  A newspaper account of her death says she was the “youngest daughter of Samuel Cook died from injuries received when her dress caught fire in the fireplace.”[57]  The Weaver Bible entry reads: “died Nov. 27, 1827, by her clothes catching on fire and enveloped in flames without a groan or sigh.”

 

12.  Samuel T. Cook (15 October 1824 – 1 November 1897) The last child of Elizabeth Cook, he stayed behind on the Cook plantation when his stepmother remarried.  Two months after he reached 21 in 1845, he put the plantation up for auction so it could be split between him and his half-brother George, although he ended up buying it himself.  He married Francis O. Phillips in Jones County on 22 January 1846.[58]   As mentioned above, Samuel sold off the remaining portions of his father’s plantation in 1848.  He seems to have removed to Henry County where he appears in the 1850 census as S. T. Cook with his wife F. O. and three small children identified only by initials: E. E., S. D., and E. J.  I did not find him in 1860.  Despite consistently appearing in Jones County records as “Samuel T. Cook”, he apparently later used the name Thomas.  A descendant provided a list of children that implies he was the Thomas Cook who appeared in the 1870 census of Taylor County and the 1880 census of Macon County with a wife Francis and children John, Sarah, Charles, George Alva, Clarence, and Adabell.  He appears to have run into hard times, for in 1850 he was listed as a farmer with $1500 in property, and in 1870 was listed as a farm laborer with only $100 in property.  It may be that the wife named Francis in 1870 and 1880 was not Francis Phillips but rather a second wife, for in 1900 she appears in Macon County as “Francis A. A. Cook”, widow, and is listed as the mother of only two children, both of whom were in the household: George A. L. Cook (aged 36, divorced) and Ada B. Wilson (aged 28, widowed).   This Thomas Cook died in Macon on 1 November 1897 according to the descendant.

 

13.  George William D. Cook (5 March 1828 – aft1880)  The child of Sarah E. Jull, he is called “George William Cook” in his father’s will, but later used the initials “G. W. D.”   As George W. D. Cook, he was listed as a 22-year old horse trader in the 1850 census of Jones County, living in a hotel.  He married Mary Winship in Jones County on 24 December 1850[59] and stayed there for a few years.  [Mary was the daughter of Joseph Winship of Clinton, according to a newspaper report of the marriage.[60]]  By 1860 he was in Atlanta, Fulton County, where he also appears in the 1870 and 1880 censuses.   In 1880 he appears next door to his son Ira.  These census records suggest children:  Ira W. (c1852), Joseph (c1856), Afton B. (c1861), Clara (c1864), and Mary (c1868).  [I note that the 1870 census lists “Clara” age 3 as a female but the 1880 census lists “C. B.” age 13 as a son.  I don’t know which census is incorrect.]  The 1880 census gives George Cook’s father’s birthplace as Virginia and his mother’s as England.

 

 

Who was Martha Cook?

 

In 1830, Sarah E. Cook’s household included only the two youngest Cook sons.  Andrew Jackson Cook, who would have been 15 that year, is neither in her household nor in the household of his guardian, Travis Weaver.  However, there is a household headed by a Martha Cook (aged 50-60) that includes a male 15-20 and seven slaves – exactly the number of slaves Andrew received from his father’s estate.  It is very tempting to conclude that the 15-year old Andrew was living with her.  From the position in the census, they appear to living near (or even in) the Clinton house Andrew inherited from his father. 

 

Samuel Cook’s 1820 household included a white woman aged over 45, whose identify is unknown.  It may be that Martha Cook was that woman. [It is certainly possible though that this was his mother-in-law Mary Hendrick who may have moved to Georgia after Ezekiel Hendrick’s death.]

 

This all raises the question of who Martha Cook was.  One very intriguing possibility is that she may have been Samuel Cook’s sister-in-law, the wife of David Cook.  Our last sighting of David Cook is in Franklin County, Alabama in 1820 when he and his wife are in a childless household.  Although she is the only relative of Samuel Cook who was named Martha, I don’t know how to explain a move to Georgia.