On the 1860 Weakley Co, TN, census a Resa Cook age 67 is indwelling w/ Jessee Harmon and his family. Resa was b. in NC. The Harmon and Cook families intermarried and I am related to them. Does anyone know anything else about Resa? Sisters, brothers, parents? I am related to the Cooks by way of Richard A. Cook and wife Ann D. Easley. Any knowledge of their family would be appreciated. Amelia

From: [email protected] 

My gggrandfather was J.W. Cook, B. abt 1816 in Tennessee as per census records. I do not know what the initials J.W. Stand for. J.W. Cook's wife's name was Susannah and she was still alive as late as 1880. J.W. Cook had four sons and a daughter. Their names were Henry, William, George Austin, Jacob Newton and Samantha. Oral family tradition has been passed down which state that the only children which lived past the Civil War era was George and Jacob Newton. J.W. Cook was also said to have been a Ferry Boat operator (I presume on the Tennessee River). George Austin Cook and Jacob Newton Cook both moved to Texas at some point after the Civil War.

I have found a J.W. Cook in the 1840 Weakley Co., Tn. Census who would have been abt the same age as my J.W. Cook. Other Cooks living near by werean N. Cook, Richard Cook, W.D. Cook, WInfrey Cook and then Willis Cook. Willis Cook is evidently the oldest of the Weakley Co., Tn. Cooks. It is my guess that he would be the father of my J.W. Cook. At this point, I am not saying that my J.W. Cook who lived in Jackson Co., Al in 1850 and 1860 is the same as the one in Weakley Co, Tn in 1840. I only suspect that they are the same person. Surely, some of you Cook Rsearchers have info on the Willis Cook of 1840 Weakley Co., Tn as well as his family. I really feel that he may well be the "Key" to my J.W. Cook's ancestorage. At this point, I have often felt that my J.W. Cook was from MARS. (Ha) Please, if you can help with the Weakley Co., Cook Family of Willis Cook, let me know. I am sure there are also other Cook researchers who also would like this info.

This posting may be a little long, but I certainy would like to know more about this COOK who was my great grandfather. He was born 1851 in Jackson County, Alabama to a J.W. and Susannah Cook. J.W. Cook was B. abt 1816 in Tennessee and was living in Alabama by 1850. I do not know what the initials stood for nor who his family was nor do I know where he lived in Tennessee.

I do hope someone can help me as a result of this posting. The following info was given to me by another Cook cousin. Just as a side note, the George Thomas who was the brother of Jacob Newton Cook was actually named George Austin Cook. The other people named were brothers and children, etc. of Jacob Newton Cook.

Please respond if you can help.

Gene Key

Dallas, Tx.

Gene, I have been pouring over my information on our family history. The last time I had this out was Christmas before last and everyone was going through it. I did not realize it became so unorganized. I will begin by telling you some of the things I think you will be interested in and they will probably be out of order but like I said interesting to say the least. First let me tell you that the stories I will tell you about Jacob have came from my grandmother and O.T. Jennie, Papaw's mother lived with them after Jacob N. died. She may have told Mamaw and Papaw some things, I don't know. She died while living with them. O.T. knew that Jacob was born in Alabama but, he said he couldn't remember where and said that maybe he was never told. He said his father never talked about his family very much at all. I only knew that he was married 3 times. The story O.T. told me was that he knew he married Sally Moxeley or Moseley (he wasn't sure). He divorced her and then she married his brother George Thomas. He then married Rachel Vessels and then Jennie Stuart.

He said his child by Sally was Lonnie and that he was born when they lived on what was called the 12 mile prairie. O.T. believed that this was in the Oklahoma panhandle area. (I heard a weather man on a local station talk about it on T.V. I only caught the name and did not see where he was pointing. This man died and I was unable to get an answer to my question about its location.) His children by Rachel were John, Henry, Minnie Samantha and one step-daughter named Laura. His children by Sarah Jane were George Thomas (named after his uncle supposedly), Sam, Artie Everett, Travis, O.T. and Lee Roy who died as an infant and Willey who died at the age of 11. Jacob was a farmer and a blacksmith. He was nearly run out of Josephine where his blacksmith shop was because he shod a preacher's horse on Sunday. He bought his land in Hunt County and it was divided after his death. I have a copy of the deed where he and Jennie purchased the land along with D.F. Bishop in October of 1921 The land was purchased from G.T. and Janie Cook.

I suppose you know where he is buried and how to find it but, we found it and measured it approximately. It is about 30 feet from the east fence and 15 feet from the south fence. He is of course buried by Rachel and a child.

O.T. told me that Jacob and George T. Cook's parents and brothers and sister died in Alabama. He believed Jacob's father's name was Jack or Jake. He said he never knew his grandmother's name. Their children's names were: George Thomas, Jacob Newton, Henry, John, William (Billy) and Samantha. They were living in Ala. during the Civil War but, Jacob was too young to fight and was left behind to care for his mother. He said he thought that he was 11 or 12 years old at the time. His father told him that they had very little to eat and that at one time he had to boil the dirt of the smokehouse floor to get the salt to cure their meat.

According to O.T. George and John both served in the Civil War and John was wounded. John had just married when the war began. His father (Jack or Jake) offered to take his place and serve for him so that he would be able to have a honeymoon or a short amount of time to spend with his new bride. When John returned they both had to stay and serve. Conditions were so bad that the age limit on soldiers was raised and their father was stuck in the war too. John was wounded in the war and died after returning home. (This is why I wondered if there were any descendents in Ala. that O.T. or any of the rest of them might not have known about.)

Another story told to me by O.T. was that Jacob's uncle (no name) also served in the war. He was reported dead to his wife. She remarried. When he returned home a silver dollar was flipped to see if the man she married or Jacob's uncle would stay with her. The other man lost so his uncle kept the silver dollar and saddled his horse and still left the woman behind. (Who knows who he was or where he went.)

Jacob and his brother George Thomas were the only family members living when they left Alabama (immediate family). Mamaw Cook told me that Papaw (Sam) told her a story he remembered. Samantha, Jacob's sister, was considered a fortune teller. Her family lost a pair of mules. They ran off.

They couldn't find them. She told them where they were and how the yoke was positioned and when they found them it was exactly as she said it would be.

O.T. told me that Jacob's father ran a ferry boat in Alabama. He originally came from Ireland. He like to hunt with dogs. He said that one of the stories Jacob loved to tell best was about his father hunting. He said his father went hunting with his hound dog and it ran something in a cave. 

When he heard the noise, he thought the dog was in trouble and pulled the dog out of the cave by its back legs. When he got the dog out it still had a panther by the throat. He said he believed this took place in North Carolina, he wasn't sure.

I am going to continue going through the letters I received and will send you more stories about the family from other family members. There are not a whole lot more but there are some. I just need to get them together. I ran into dead ends when I was searching the Cook family tree and stopped. I was also searching my mother's side of the family who were Mackey and Morris. This search went a lot faster and easier and further back. I spent a lot more time on it. Nearly all of my information on that was in Greenville.

I also wanted to tell you that George Thomas, Jacob's son, reported his death. According to the records in Greenville (which I'm sure you have), he also reported Jacob's father's name as Jack Cook. He didn't know the date of birth and guessed at his age. He had no idea about his grandmother's name either. I find that strange. It said he died of tuberculosis and that he was buried in Reed Chapel which is in Josephine, Texas. Then it gives the date of burial as Oct. 24, 1925.