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The Burr | ![]() |
| History and Genealogy Site |
Click here for some cook memorabilia and photos
Burr Cook at work and play
This family history is respectfully dedicated to the memory
of these our forebearers who endured much in establishing the
Cook Family in America. They have bequeathed to us a heritage
of which we are justly proud and which should be an
inspiration in the coming years to our descendants.
The Cook Coat of Arms
This is the most widely used of all Cook Coats of Arms and
has been in existence for many centuries. It is described in
Burkes General Armory, Burkes Landed Gentry, Burkes Peerage
and Baronetage and other reliable works of heraldry, in some
cases accompanied by illustrations. It has been used by many
American Branches of the Cook Family. A Coat of Arms is an
emblem or a device which is displayed by titled persons,
persons of royal blood, and their descendants. Coats of Arms
were originally used for purposes of identification and
recognition on the field of battle as well as in civil life.
There are records of Coats of Arms, in one crude form or
another, at different times of ancient history. Heraldry, as
we know it today did not become of importance until after the
invasion of England by William the Conqueror, A.D. 1066. It
became of general interest at about the time of the Crusades.
ARMS Or, a chevron gules between two lions passant,
reguardant, sable.
A golden shield bearing two black lions, walking
and looking back, separated by a red chevron.
CREST Out of a mural coronet argent, a demi-lion rampant
sable, gorged with a ducal coronet or.
A black half-lion, collared with a golden ducal
coronet, rising from a mural coronet of silver.
MOTTO Tutum monstrat iter
or Tutem monstrat iter
He showeth a safe road
or
He leads the way
The English Cooks
The Cook family has been
prominent in the British Empire and
the United States, its members having played important roles
in war and in peace. Family pride is a commendable trait and
should be cultivated. All Cooks have just cause to be proud
of the family history and traditions.
The name of Cook was first used by those whose occupation
corresponded with the name. In such days as those, with the
number of personal retainers and the excess of hospitality
expected of the feudal chief, the culinary department was a
very significant part of the baronial establishment.
Our Cooks are relics of the old "le Cook", "le Coke" or
"Cokeman". The Anglo-Saxon form is "Cuc" or "Cucca". Coke is
one of the earliest forms and in the Doomsday Book there are
several tenants styled "Cocus" and one "quida Coquus Regis".
Among the earliest records of the Family Cook or Cooke in
England is that of Gilbert Cocus or Cook, of the time of
William the Conqueror. Families of the name were to be found
at early dates in counties of Norfolk, York, Cambridge,
Bedford, Northumberland, Worcester, Kent, Cornwall, Devon,
Essex, Sussex, Lancaster, Hants, Middlesex, Suffolk, Surrey,
Oxfordshire, Warwick, and London and were for the most part,
of the landed gentry and yeomanry of Great Britain.
It is not definitely known from which of the many
illustrious lines of the family in England the first
emigrants of the name to come to America were descended, but
all of the families bearing the name are said to be of
ancient origin and many of them were of common ancestry. It
is thought our people were from Kent or Yorkshire and were
descendants of Sir Henry Cooke, a son of Bryan Cook of
Yorkshire in the early seventeenth century.
The Cook Family is among the forty-nine "Best Families"
selected by the American Historical-Genealogical Society. And
our family is among the largest and oldest of the colonial
families still in existence in the United States today with a
heritage of which we are justly proud.
"History with it's flickering lamp stumbles along the trail
of the past, trying to reconstruct it's themes, to revive
it's echoes and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former
days." --Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
Biography
HENRY COOK There are four generations in our family where our direct ancestor had the same name. Our first American forefather was Henry Senior who was at Salem Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638, it is believed that he came from England shortly before that date since there is no record of him prior to that time. It has been recorded that Henry was born in County Kent in England, but this is not definitely known. The name of Henry's father has not been established it is known that there were several distinct branches of the family Cook or Cooke in England in the 1600's all of whom could trace the family lineage to the earliest ancestor, Gilbert Cocus or Cook or Cooke who lived during the time of William the Conqueror in the eleventh century The name Sir Henry and Sir George Cooke of Yorkshire appear in the seventeenth century, they were sons of Bryan Cooke of that county, and is the first appearance of the given name Henry. It is not definitely known from which of the many illustrious lines of the family in England the first immigrants of the name to come to America were descended, but all of the families bearing the name are said to have been of common origin and of ancient ancestry. It has also been stated that Henry was a descendant of the Cooks of Hertfordshire.
Our Henry was a Puritan in his religious beliefs, this probably being the reason for his early immigration to New England, since there was a great deal of discrimination practiced in England at the time against those of the faith. He was obviously a successful farmer and active in the political atmosphere of the colony. His name is mentioned on several occasions in the records of the proceedings of the Common Council and the Salem Town Records. In these records the following reference is made; "Henry Cook and Samuel Ebourne appointed to be surveyors for the north neck and all fields about the Glass House, and for about Though. Goidwaight field and VP to Michele Slaffin." at a town meeting of the Selectmen 14 Jan 1659/60. And secondly, "At a General Town meeting held 3 March 1661; Granted that the lands lying along the highway against Though. Goidwaites andgiven to Hugh James and by him sold to William Robinson and the Widow Cooke (Judith) from the way to the brook as it was divided by Mayor Hathorne and William Bartholmew, shall all belong to the widow Cooke and William Robinson" Although the family of Frederick Cooke, of the Mayflower had resided at Salem none bore the given name Judith, this can only refer to our family. Judith was the daughter of Henry Burdsall or Birdsall who arrived in America in 1632 from Yorkshire County England. Henry Birdsall was a member of the First Church at Salem in 1636 and was registered a freeman May 2, 1638. Henry was a widower and he came to Salem with Judith age 13 and a son, Nathan age 21. Judith of course being the wife of our Henry Cook. Both Henry and Judith remained at Salem where they died, sons Henry Jr. and Samuel removed to Wallingford, Connecticut at an early date the other children all remained in Massachusetts.
Henry Junior emigrated to Wallingford in 1674, his brother Samuel having emigrated to the same Place in 1670, both were original proprietors of the town and First settlers of the village as well as of the Commonwealth. Samuel was one of the signers of the Fundamental Orders in 1670 which was one of the first forms of a constitutional government in America. Henry was a farmer like most of these rugged individuals and early settlers who were entirely self sufficient for their own needs. He was active in politics and was frequently elected to offices of trust and responsibility by the people of the town. Of him it is recorded in the early Wallingford town records under the date February 10, 1689 or 1690; "Hennery Cook, cast lotts (with others) for the Falls Plaine." These were the undivided lands set aside when the town was first settled to which Henry was entitled to share in under his proprietory and first settler rights. The town of Wallingford at that time included the present town of Meriden and the Falls Plaine was located at what is now Meriden and South Meriden, where Henry subsequently emigrated and where he lived the remaining years of his life.
HENRY III AND THE COOKS OF NORTHBURY -- by Frank W. Cook
The earliest list of inhabitants of Northbury parish, Litchfield County, Conri. is a roll of subscribers to the town for winter privileges bearing the date of September 29th 1736. Among the 16 names on the roll are the signatures of Henry Cook and his eldest son Johnathan. Yet it is known that Henry was living at Northbury nearly a decade before this date. The deeds reveal that he was living there in 1727 and further that he was probably there in 1725. Henry was the first settler of the town, of the area now within the bounds of Thomaston and Plymouth, Connecticut.
Henry was born at Wallingford and was only seven years old when his father took the family to live at Hanover, south of Wallingford in 1690. He married Experience Lyman, a daughter of Richard Lyman in 1705 the same year his father died. His father left an estate valued at 301.5.06 pounds. Experience died in 1709 having given him a daughter, Martha. He took as his second wife the following year, Mary, daughter of John and Mary Frost and widow of John Wheaton and went to Branford to live. Death again struck and Mary died after presenting Henry with two children, Jonathan and Pheobe. He married as his third wife Sarah, daughter of Richard Turner or Towner, widow of Samuel Frost, in 1719. We know little of Sarah only that she gave Henry four children, Sarah, Ebenezer, Henry and Thankful. The family resided at Wallingford for a time and later at Waterbury. In 1725 Henry was one of the seven men who went out from Branford and Waterbury under the command of a sergreant for the protection of Litchfield upon the threat of an Indian attack. Apparently Henry liked what he saw of Northbury for he soon returned with his family to Twitch Grass meadow where he lived the rest of his life.
The history of the region and the deed records reveal that Henry owned and held title to many hundreds of acres much of which he bought and sold to other settlers. He held title to a lead mine at one time which was an important commodity in those times. In May of 1738 he was one of the signers of a petition to the General Assembly requesting that the Commonwealth grant parish privileges to Northbury. Henry Was also one of the founders of the First Congregational Church in 1740, still active today at Plymouth. The story goes that on one occassion he was taken aback by the high tax levied upon him by the church, thinking that it was too high he refused to pay it and he changed his affiliation to the Church of England. In 1737 his property was entered on the Waterbury Grand List at a value of 66 pounds tax and stood 40th in the town and 7th of the early inhabitants of Northbury.
Henry's sons remained at Northbury. Henry Jr. like his father was also involved in any number of real estate transactions both with his father and in his own right. Like his father he also engaged in farming among other pursuits and was closely associated with his brothers Jonathan and Ebenezer. He bought his first farm in 1744, his name appears on the tax rolls that year when he was assessed the sum of 50 pounds. The following year he married Hannah, daughter of Nathan and Mary Benham also early settlers of Northbury. In 1762 he served in the French and Indian Wars, in the 2nd Conn. Regiment, the same unit his father served in and the same his sons Selah and Lemuel would serve in during the Revolution. The family seems to have resided at several locations after their arrival in 1725, within the vicinity of Thomaston. The home that saw the arrival of the fifth generation was located on the hill just above the village of Thomaston, it may have been erected by Henry 3rd it isn't known with certainty. Henry died a young man in 1771 and as is the case with his father no marker has been found indicating the resting place. Yet history records their names as first settlers of the region. In 1795 the village of Plymouth was incorporated the name being chosen in tribute to the 1st settler, it being supposed that the family originated at Plymouth Mass. Had they known the facts it might well be known as Salem today. In any event Lemuel was residing there at that time and was one of the incorporators and represented his grandfather and the family.
Above by - Frank W. Cook, 1978
Henry Cook III was born at Wallingford and was about seven years old when his father made the family home on the Falls Plain. He remained in this area for many years until after the death of his first wife in 1709, at which time he removed to Branford where he was a widower a second time and subsequently married a third time, all in the space of ten short years. In 1725 Henry went to Waterbury and from there to Northbury, where he was the first settler of the town. The first record of him there was in 1727/8 which was the deed to his farm. The earliest roll at Northbury is the list of subscribers to the town for winter privileges, which bears the date September 29, 1736, the first name being that of Henry Cook. His autograph is the most distinctive of all of the early inhabitants and denotes a strength and independence of character. This list also shows sixteen other names among is that of Jonathan Cook, who was Henry's eldest son. The Plymouth Congregational Church was founded May,17, 1740, Henry and his family being founding members of the church. The site of Henry's farm has been stated in the History of Plymouth as ; "Henry Cook built on the west bank of the river on what is known as the West Branch, called Wooster Swamp, Cur Northwest Inhabitants, Northbury and Plymouth Hollow and most recently incorporated as the village of Plymouth." More correctly Henry's farm and first homestead was located at what was them called ; Welton's Meadow, and is closer to the village of Thomaston than to Plymouth, all of this vicinity having been refered to as Northbury. The History of Waterbury written by Bronson in 1858, refers to the location of the farm; "He had a farm on which he lived on the west bank of the river (Naugatuck) not far from the Litchfield boundary." Although not specifically stating so this places the location of the farm in Welton's Meadow, where in fact it was located. In 1737 Henrys property was entered on the Waterbury Grand List at 66 Pounds, which stood the fortieth in amount in the town, and the seventh among the other early inhabitants and early settlers of Northbury. In May 1738 he was a signer of a petition requesting that the General Assembly of the Commonwealth grant parish privileges to Northbury, which was subsequently complied with. The exact date of Henrys' death has not been determined, it is known that it occurred at Northbury where he lived the remainder of his life. The last record of him is a deed transaction which he signed with Henry Jr in 1748. During the first years of settlement of the town Henry was very active in the purchase and sale of real estate in the town which will be seen, he was also engaged in the development of a lead mine which was found on his property that he had obtained title to in addition to the several successful farms he owned and operated over the course of his lifetime at Northbury.
Henry Cook the fourth was born at Branford and of course he came to Northbury with his father, where he lived thoughout his lifetime. It is not known what disposition was made of his fathers' estate since he died intestate and no other proceedings were had9 The holdings were evidently rather large consisting of at least 125 acres, Henry apparently receiving the larger portion since he was the only son who remained at Northbury. Henry served in the French and Indian War during the Campaign of 1762 in the Connecticut Militia his unit being the 2nd Conn. Regiment, the same unit his sons Selah and Lemuel were to serve in the Revolutionary War. The records show that Henry died in the township of Waterbury, actually it was in Northbury in the area where the farms of his father were situated subsequently changed by the movement of the town and village boundary lines. The four Henrys were certainly courageous individuals and always gave a good account of themselves, they lived the motto appearing on the family coat of arms 'They Lead the Way'.
Lemuel Cook Married Hannah Curtis
Timothy Coleman " Elizabeth DeWitt
Jacob DeWitt " Jenneke DePuy
Nathan Bixby " Martha twitchell
Joseph twitchell " Deborah Fairbanks
William Milliken " Esther Tagart
Aaron Burr " Martha Tobey
David Baldwin " Lois Churchill
Abijah Foster " Artemesia Blake
Dr. Obadiah Blake " Zipporah Harris
Selah Cook " Lucy ???
True Worthy Cook " Freelove Dodge
....Inventory Omitted....