Compiled Lineage for Hosea Cook Sr.

Compiled Lineage for Hosea Cook Sr.

The Compiled Lineage of Hosea Cook Sr.

1. Hosea Cook Sr.ˡ was born to William Cook Jr.2 and Margaret Jones circa 1762 in Halifax County, Virginia, British Colonial America. He married Elizabeth “Betsey” Edrington on 3 December 1791 in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. Hosea Cook Sr. died on 28 April 1792 in Innes Bottom, Woodford County, Kentucky. Elizabeth Edrington remarried a second time to William White on 8 April 1794 in Woodford County, Kentucky.

Hosea Cook Sr. lived in four different counties in Virginia as he was growing up: Halifax, Pittsylvania, and Henry. In 1791, after Hosea married his wife Elizabeth “Betsey” Edrington in Woodford County, Kentucky, they moved to Innes Bottom, Woodford County, Kentucky along with a small group of his brothers and in-laws. He was taxed in Woodford County, Kentucky from 1791 until he was killed on 28 April 1792 at Innes Bottom, Woodford County, Kentucky by Native Americans. Also killed was a brother Jesse; two nephews, Samuel and Robert Dunn; and Lewis Mastin, his brother-in-law. The two widows of Hosea and Jesse Cook, Elizabeth Edrington and Elizabeth Bohannon, were said to have held off the Native Americans with ashes thrown into the fireplace to keep their cabin from burning. Because both fathers died so young, neither had made any wills, but estate inventories were evaluated for Hosea and Jesse. These probate records provide exquisite details into how colonial Americans farmed during the late 18th century in Kentucky and Virginia.

On 22 May 1790, Hosea Cook Sr. was taxed for himself as one white male over 21 and owned one horse in Woodford County, Kentucky along with his widowed mother, Margaret Jones Cook, and three brothers: William, Seth, and Jesse Cook; as well as a brother-in-law: John Bohannon. In 1790, Jesse Cook paid tax for himself as an adult male over 21 and an adult white male 16-21. Margaret Cook was taxed for two horses. Seth Cook was taxed for himself and one horse. William Cook paid taxes for himself and one horse as well. In addition, John Bohannon paid taxes for himself, a teenaged black male slave under 16 years of age, and one horse. On 25 September 1791, Hosea Cook Sr. was taxed as an adult male over 21 along with two horses. After he died, his widow, Elizabeth “Betsy” Edrington Cook paid a tax for 2 horses; 13 cattle; and also owning as 30 acres of land. These tax records reveal how colonial Americans were taxed based on the legal age of 21, the amount of slaves and livestock they owned, and also the amount of land they owned.

In the book Old Kentucky by Dr. Joshua F. Cook, he describes the typical lifestyle of a Kentucky frontier farmer. Wives of Kentuckian farmers like Margaret Jones Cook would be very busy with quilt-making, housekeeping, minding the family livestock, soapmaking, and making sausages from pigs. The typical Kentucky farmer also owned just one or two horses, some horned cattle, and pigs. Pig killing was greatly looked forward to by Kentuckian families as it meant food for the lean times ahead. Some farmers also owned sheep, such as Jesse Cook, for example.

Hosea Cook Sr. was a young, newly married farmer of modest means. This can be seen in the tax lists for 1790 and 1791 in Woodford County, Kentucky. For example, Hosea Cook was taxed for himself as a male over 21 years of age and one horse on 22 May 1790. He was also taxed in Woodford County, Kentucky for himself and two horses. After he died on 2 April 1792, Hosea’s property was inventoried and valued at £92, three shillings, and six pence. Hosea’s life spanned a critical point in both Kentuckian and Virginia history in which Kentucky was separate as a state from Virginia during the 1790s. Hosea’s life showcases how typical 18th-century American colonial farmers competed for land in both Kentucky and Virginia during the 1790s.

Hosea Cook Sr. and Elizabeth “Betsey” Edrington had only one child:

i. Hosea Cook Jr., a son, was born 20 January 1793 in Woodford County, Kentucky. He married first Elizabeth Livingston on 23 October 1815 in Woodford County, Kentucky. There were no children from this first marriage. But Elizabeth Livingston died before 1823. Hosea then married a second time to Rhoda Bohannon on 14 July 1823 in Shelby County, Kentucky. Hosea and Rhoda had eight children: Mary J., James Madison, Abram B., Emily, Lemuel Thomas, John, Maria Frances, and Andrew J. Like his father, Hosea Cook Jr. was also a farmer in Decatur, Indiana.

Hosea Cook Sr. was a son of William Cook Jr. and Margaret Jones.

2. William Cook Jr, son of William Cook Sr. and Anne Griffith, was born about 1725 in the Colony of Virginia, British Colonial America. He married Margaret Jones in 1750. Their marriage place is unknown. William Cook Jr. died sometime before 1784., but the death place is unknown.

As husband and wife, both of Hosea Cook Sr.’s parents, William Cook Jr. and Margaret Jones, engaged in frequent land transactions with their neighbors during the mid-to-late 1700’s in both Virginia and Kentucky. This practice of land speculation by the Cooks would in turn influence their children to engage in the business boom of buying and selling land in both Virginia and Kentucky.

Land speculation in both states during the late 1700s was common. Three land patents with William Cook Jr. as a grantee was found. The first was Cook’s purchase of a 1 March 1773 land grant for 67 acres situated in Hatchet Run, a part of the Pigg River positioned in Henry County, Virginia from grantor Lt. Governor-General John Earl Dunmore. On the date of 1 June 1782 in Henry County, Virginia, William Cook Jr. also bought two additional separate parcels of land at the same time in Henry County, Virginia. One was 187 acres and 107 acres, totaling 294 acres. The 187 acres was sold by Virginia Governor Benjamin Harrison while the 107 acres was sold by James Rentfroe. Furthermore, the 1782 patents show indirect evidence of William Cook as formerly of Pittsylvania County in the land indenture between Cook and James Rentfroe. These three land purchases give good historical context of the land speculation by colonial Americans from the state of Virginia both before and after the Revolutionary War in the 1770s and 1780s. The state of Virginia claimed the entire area of now present-day Kentucky as their territory. The records also show that he probably was a land speculator as he repeatedly bought and sold land throughout the 1760s to 1780s in not only Henry County, but also Franklin, Pittsylvania, and Halifax Counties in Virginia. Land speculation as an investment made William Cook Jr. a rich land owner and a prosperous farmer.

William Cook Jr. and Margaret Jones had the following eleven children:

i. Rachel Cook, a daughter, was born 17 May 1753 in the Colony of Virginia, British Colonial America. She married John Murphy on 8 February 1774 in Pittsylvania County, Colony of Virginia. Together they had eleven children: Hosea, William, Hannah, Seth, Isaac T., John, Margaret T., Rachel, an unnamed stillborn boy, Joseph, and Keziah. Rachel Cook became a member of the Forks of Elkhorn Baptist Church in October 1794. She died in 1832 in Warren County, Kentucky.

ii. Bathsheba Cook, the Cooks’ second daughter, was born in 1755 in Halifax County, Colony of Virginia, British Colonial America. She married William Dunn, although their exact marriage date and place is unknown. Her death date is also unknown. She and her husband William Dunn are mentioned in Margaret Jones Cook’s will. In the will, William is bequeathed only one shilling. This may have been to his mother-in-law’s disapproval in his not being able to save their boys from the Native American massacre that took the lives of Jesse and Hosea Cook Sr.

iii. Helen Cook, a daughter, was born about 1756 in Halifax County, Colony of Virginia. She married John Bohannon on 7 January 1774 in Pittsylvania County, Colony of Virginia. They had eleven children: Joanna, Rachel, Margaret, John Jr., William, Nancy Elizabeth Bettie, Frances, Rhoda, Abraham, Elizabeth, and Henry T. Helen and her husband owned a few slaves, horses, and cattle while they lived in 1791 and 1792 in Woodford County, Kentucky. This shows that they did not have a problem owning slaves. Helen also applied for a pension since John Bohannon had served during the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, her pension was rejected since her husband had not served full time in the army. She died on 28 June 1837 in Shelby County, Kentucky.

iv. Rhoda Cook, a daughter, was born about 1760 in Halifax County, Colony of Virginia. She married three times in her lifetime. She was first married to Joshua Bohannon on 7 January 1774 in Pittsylvania County, Colony of Virginia. However, he died sometime before 1781, leaving Rhoda a widow. Rhoda Cook then married John Jamison on 10 October 1781 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. She had six children with John Jamison: Robert, Allen, Samuel, Margaret, James, and Hosea. John Jamison left a will in which he gives his wife Rhoda and their children money, cattle, land, and horses as well as material possessions. John Jamison also died in 1811 at Livingstone, Kentucky. Rhoda married yet a third time to John Kelly on 30 August 1810 in Madison County, Kentucky. She died on 23 September 1829 in Bagdad, Shelby County, Kentucky.

v. William Cook, a son, was born before 1762 in Halifax County, Colony of Virginia. He married twice in his life. He first married Keturah Catherine Crutcher on 21 February 1798 in Franklin County, Kentucky. From this first marriage came nine children: Jesse, Isaac, Rachael W., Nancy M., William, Rhoda, Abraham C., Seth, and Hosea. William Cook was named as a second executor in his mother’s will. He and his brothers Abraham and Seth Cook helped sell their mother’s land and paid taxes on their mother’s estate on 9 November 1798. He died on 16 March 1816 in Shelby County, Kentucky. Before he died, William Cook named as executors Seth and Abraham Cook in distributing his will in the which he gave mostly everything to his wife Catherine except a male slave named Peter.

vi. Hosea Cook, a son, was born in 1762 in Halifax County, Colony of Virginia. He married Elizabeth Betsey Edrington on 3 December 1791 in Woodford County, Kentucky. They had one son: Hosea Cook Jr. He died on 28 April 1792 in Franklin County, Kentucky with his brother Jesse in a Native American attack on that day.

vii. Jesse Cook, a son, was born in 1765 in Halifax County, Colony of Virginia. He married Elizabeth Bohannon on 1 September 1785 at Woodford County, Kentucky. He had two children with her: William and Seth. He died on 28 April 1792 from a Native American ambush at Innes Bottom, Woodford County, Kentucky. Jesse and Hosea Cook, who were both killed on 28 April 1792 in their early twenties during a Native American attack at Innis Bottom, Woodford County, Kentucky. Because he died without making a will, his estate inventory were evaluated for him. The will of Margaret Cook proved that William and Seth Cook were the sons of Hosea Cook. Her will was proved on 11 March 1797 in Franklin County, Kentucky. Here, Margaret bequeaths fifteen pounds each to both of her grandsons.

viii. Seth Cook, a son, was born about 1766 in Halifax County, Colony of Virginia. Seth Cook lived in Woodford County, Kentucky before he got married for two years from 1790 to 1792. He owned some cattle and horses. He also married twice. He was first wedded to Lydia Ann Guthrie in 1792 in Kentucky. There were no children from this marriage. He married Frances Wilcoxson as his second wife on 27 February 1797 in Woodford County, Kentucky. From this union came thirteen children: Sarah, John, Nancy, William L., Mary, Ann, Malinda, Seth, Frances, Jesse, Jane, Daniel B., and Martha. Seth Cook was also the third executor for his mother’s will. He helped his brothers William and Abraham Cook to sell land formerly belonging to their mother on 16 November 1797 in Silver Creek, Madison, Kentucky. After 1800, Seth moved to Shelby County, Kentucky with his family. Seth Cook died in September 1841 at Shelby, Shelby County, Kentucky.

ix. Margaret Cook, a daughter, was born about 1767 in Pittsylvania County, Colony of Virginia. She first wedded Lewis Mastin in 1784 in the Colony of Virginia. She had no children from this marriage. She then married her second husband, James Hackett, on 18 January 1797 at Franklin County, Kentucky. She had six children from this marriage: Jesse C., Nancy, Lloyd, James, Elizabeth, and Cornelius K. Like her mother, Margaret was also a Baptist. She died on 23 September 1829 in Bagdad, Shelby County, Kentucky.

x. Abraham Cook, a son, was born 6 July 1774 in Pittsylvania County, Colony of Virginia. He married Sarah Jones on 7 September 1795 in Franklin County, Virginia. Together they had twelve children: Eunice Nica, Elizabeth, Andrew Lewis, William F., Prudence, Hosea, Jesse, Wesley B., Sarah Catherine, Amelia Ursula, Hannah, and Wesley W. Abraham Cook was a Baptist preacher. He was well known for his teaching ability, that :“… [h]e was now thirty-five years of age. He was over six feet high, very straight, rather square, dark, swarth complexion, large dark brown eyes, and black hair. He possessed a strong constitution, and was very energetic. His bearing was dignified and commanding, and his manners, gentle, affectionate, and persuasive. His voice was clear, strong, and musical.” Perhaps because of this, he was named one of the executors along with his brothers William and Seth Cook in their mother’s will. After his mother died, Abraham helped sell off the remainder of his mother’s land with his two brothers in Franklin County, Kentucky. Abraham Cook died on 10 February 1854 at Miller Township, Gentry, Missouri.

xi. Eunice Cook, a daughter, was born circa 1775 in Franklin, Albemarle, Colony of Virginia. She married Samuel Miles on 24 February 1797 in Franklin County, Kentucky. No children came from their marriage. Eunice was also a Baptist. Eunice died on 8 April 1802 in Bagdad, Shelby, Kentucky.