This is the online version of the information and genealogical research I compiled on the descendants of Elias Cook,
For the most part, I have enjoyed researching the
Cook family, although there were times when I was
ready to give up in frustration, especially when
wading through overgrown cemeteries and inhaling
mosquitoes, or burning my eyes out over poor microfilm
records. The thrill of connecting the various
pieces of the Cook family puzzle, when they fit
together, kept me going and made me hungry for
more.
I was very surprised to learn through the
research, that with very few exceptions, all the
Cooks in the County of Guysborough, N.S. are
related. Most of the older family names of the
Guysborough area will also have Cook family
connections.
Many of the Cookes with roots in the Isaac's
Harbour area spell the name with the added "e".
Sometimes, on very old documents in the U.S., the
name was also spelled with the added "e", however,
the name is most commonly found spelled Cook.
One problem that I encountered often was the
discrepancies in dates from one source to another.
Sometimes the dates inscribed on cemetery headstones
will differ from the church birth or death record.
I also found a great difference in the census
records from one ten year period to another. I
have used whatever date I felt to be most logical
in those cases.
Please update and add to this work where you can.
Any errors are unintentional on my part, but I
am sure there must be some. If mistakes are found,
please let me know, so that I can correct the
information for future editions.
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An explanation of the numbering system of the
genealogy charts is as in the following examples:
1.418411) Wayne Cooke, who is
������������1) The first child of
����������1) Hugh Cooke, who
was the first child of
������� 4) Leander Cooke,
who was the fourth child of
����� 8) Charles Cook, who was the eighth child of
��� 1) Edmund Cook, who was the first child of
� 4) Wintrop Cook , who was the fourth child of
1.) Elias Cook, who was a son of Elias Cook,
who was our earliest known Cook ancestor to come to Nova Scotia.
Each person's descendants are followed as far as is reasonable, before proceeding
with the next sibling.
Where there are ten or more children in the family,
the tenth and subsequent children are so designated by underlining ,
as in: 1.4199110) Ileen Cooke, the tenth child
in the family of Edison and Bertha Cooke.
Early legal documents from Massachusetts place our
Cook forefathers around the Salem, Marblehead,
Gloucester and Beverly areas. It is probable that
our Cook lineage stems from England. Many hundreds
of Cooks migrated from various parts of England to
the colonies of North America. Our earliest known
ancestor was Elias Cook, and he lived in the
Massachusetts area of New England in the late 1600's.
Elias Cook (1st) was born around the year 1675.
His marriage to Joanna Pederick on March 27/1698
took place at Marblehead, Mass. Joanna was the
daughter of John and Miriam Pederick. The name
is sometimes found spelled Petherick. In the book
New England Marriages Prior to 1700, it is written
that Joannah Pederick married Caleb Cook, on March
27, 1698. This is most assuredly an error in
transcribing from the original records. A search
done by the New England Historic Genealogical Society
has determined through checking the original records
that it was Elias Cook, not Caleb, who married Joanna
Pederick at Marblehead, on March 27, 1698. There
are records of the births of three children (and there
were probably more). Their first son was Elias
Cook (2nd), born April 30/1699. Miriam Cook,
born 1701 and Elizabeth Cook, born 1703, are the
two other children recorded as born to Elias and
Joanna. Miriam married William Tucker on June
4/1722, and Elizabeth married Richard Blanch.
Elias Cook (2nd) married Sarah Haynes on Feb. 24/1726,
at Marblehead, Mass. Their oldest and three youngest
sons were born at Marblehead. The five middle children
were born at Gloucester, Mass. In 1738, Elias
(2nd) lived in Sandy Bay, near Gloucester. He died
at Marblehead in 1753. There are records available
of the lives of some of the children, who mostly all
probably stayed in the Massachusetts area. The son
Elias (3rd) was the progenitor who brought our line
of Cooks to Nova Scotia.
Elias Cook (3rd) was the first child born to Elias
(2nd) and Sarah Cook, on June 11/1726. At the age
of 21, he married Lydia Searle, a daughter of John
Searle, Jr., and Abigail (Dod) Searle.
That many of our Cook ancestors followed the sea
is undoubtable. Many New England fishermen worked
the Nova Scotian fishing grounds on a seasonal basis,
catching, curing or drying their fish there, and
returning with their goods ready for sale, to their
New England homes for the winter months. By the
terms of the Treaty of Paris, U.S. fishermen were
permitted to dry their catch on "any of the unsettled
bays, harbors and creeks of N.S., Magdalen Islands
and Labrador." No doubt Elias (3rd) was familiar
with the rich fishing grounds offered by the
Chedabucto Bay area, which, in the early years,
was as fine and as productive as any in the world.
From the trade base at Canso, fresh and dried fish
were shipped to New England and European ports.
In a document registered at Halifax on April 20/1761,
approval was given for "Elias Cooke, John Heines,
Isiah Nicklesons and Francis Grant", fishermen,
for a grant of Tangier Island (off present Halifax
County on the Eastern Shore), consisting of 40 acres.
"They proposed immediately to settle a fishery.
The Council did advise, that the said Island should
be given to them upon conditions that they should
constantly improve the same in the fishery and that
they should not carry on any Trade with the Indians".
There is evidence that Elias (3rd) spent some time
at Halifax. The baptism of Benjamin Cook is recorded
at St. Paul's Church, Halifax, on March 6/1766.
(From the record of Benjamin's birth, his parents
were listed as Elias and Sarah Cook. Perhaps this
is an error in the mother's name, for Lydia was still
living in the early 1800's. Also, The 1817 census
shows Benjamin as having been born in the U.S.) In
February, 1770, a Sherrif's Deed was executed against
Elias Cook, fisherman, to settle an account of John
Kerby, merchant. The deed was for a "lott of land
with all the Buildings and Improvements thereon
situate in the north part of the Town of Halifax
in Argyle Street near the Court House". Elias had
probably moved out of Halifax by this time.
By 1768, Elias (3rd) and his family had migrated to
lands at the head of Chedabucto Bay, where, with a
handful of other settlers, a small community was
started and thrived. For at least fifteen years
prior to the influx of persons arriving at the end
of the Revolutionary War as Loyalists, the small
settlement around "Chedabuctou" contained the only
English site of habitation all along the shores of
Chedabucto Bay from Canso to Louisbourg.
Elias (3rd) chose for himself and his family a
homestead site that is surely one of the most
picturesque in Nova Scotia. On the hillside
overlooking the cove, and beyond the waters of
Chedabucto Bay, the view today, as it was back
then, is unsurpassed. The land is presently
owned by Murray Cook, who is the sixth generation
of Cooks (Murray/ Albert/ John Henry/ William Cameron/
Benjamin/ Elias) to be raised on the original
homestead lot. Although there is no house there
today, there were two houses built on the property
over the years.
View a picture of Cook's Cove long ago.
The original house was 28' x 24', built nearly at
the top of the hillside. In recent years, Murray
moved a cabin on the site, right on top of the old
cellar hole. According to family tradition, the first
house caught fire one night. There were three black
brothers who lived nearby, and saw the brightness
in the sky. They quickly ran across the hill and
put the fire out with some buckets of pig slop that
were outside the house. The family, asleep inside,
were saved by the fast action of the black brothers.
The reason the second house was built was
because the public road shifted from the top
of the hill, to down nearer the water, where a
wharf was built. The second house was built by
William Cameron Cook in 1846, using some of the
boards from the old house. Over time, a large
barn (which is still standing) and several
smaller outbuildings were built. That house
lasted 147 years, and was demolished in 1993.
(While helping tear apart the interior of the
house, Chris Cook saw the singed boards that had
come from the old house, and saved several of
them.)
When the Revolutionary War ended, hundreds of
Loyalists were transported to Chedabucto in 1783,
and grants of land given to them. The old settlers
also applied for legal title to the lands they
claimed as their own. In a memorial dated 1787,
of Elias Cook and others, it states, "Had been
settled - most of them since 1768 - on land formerly
granted to Rev. Mr. Byron at Chedabucto, by leave
and desire of Mr. Jonathan Binney.* They had built
houses and made considerable improvements on the
same. They ask for grants......The land has been
assigned to the 60th Regiment, but these people
should be provided for: Charles Morris, surveyor."
(*Jonathan Binney was the Superintendant of the
Fishery at Canso from 1764 until his house and
property were destroyed by New England privateers
in 1772. He was granted 1000 acres at the head
of Chedabucto Bay, and settled fishermen and their
families on some of it.)
A total of 1807 acres at the head of Chedabucto Bay
was surveyed and laid off for the old settlers,
with Elias (3rd) receiving 200 acres and his son
John, who was married with children by this time,
receiving 300 acres.
The others named in the same grant included John
Ingersol (150 acres), Godfrey Peart (250 acres),
Diana Callahan (150 acres), the heirs of John
Godfrey (150 acres), Robert Callahan (200 acres),
Nathaniel Tobin (Tobey), (200 acres), and Josiah
(Isaiah) Horton (207 acres).
As would be expected, in such an isolated setting,
the Cooks married into the families of the other
few settlers in the area, forming intricate
genealogical connections, some of which are
impossible to decipher.
Within three years after the date of the grant,
for every 50 acres of plantable land, the
settlers had to clear and work 3 acres at least,
or else clear and drain 3 acres of swampy or
sunken ground. Three neat cattle were to be
kept on every 50 acres. One good dwelling house
was to be erected, to be at least 20 feet in
length and 16 feet in breadth. No doubt all the
old settlers had already fulfilled the requirements
of the grants prior to them being issued.
In a few very early deeds, the settlement was
referred to as Herring Cove, then as Cook's Cove.
In other later deeds, it is sometimes called just
"The Cove".
Along with the grants of land, the Cook men
bought other lands as opportunity arose, for use
as woodlots, and to eventually divide and share
with grown children.
Along with the benefits of a new township and
the large increase in population, there arose
the necessity of taxation. The first assessment
rolls were made in 1791. Elias Cook (3rd) was
assessed 9 pounds 5 shillings 6 pence; Benjamin
Cook 9 pounds 1 shilling 6 pence; John Cook,
shopkeeper, 9 pounds 10 shillings 6 pence. An
appeal by Elias Cook on the grounds that "he had
not so many as six head of neat cattle" reduced
his tax amount by 4 shillings.
By 1793, the next assessment year, there were
listed 6 adult Cook men who were heads of households:
Elias Cook, Senior, (3rd), Elias Cook, Junior,
(4th), Elias Cook 3rd, (5th), James Cook,
John Cook and Benjamin Cook.
John Cook was a shopkeeper, and kept a store at
Cook's Cove. He was appointed "Culler and Surveyor
of Fish" in 1785. He brought action against persons
caught stealing from his store to the Court of
General Sessions of the Peace, on several occasions.
One case, in 1791, involved the theft of "Sundry
Bushels of Potatoes, the value of 14 shillings".
Another, in the same year, was for the theft of
"moose meat and tobacco - value of 9 shillings".
In both cases the guilty parties were whipped,
receiving "39 stripes on the naked back at the
Public Whipping Post in Manchester" (Guysborough
town), and made to either make restitution plus
costs to John Cook, or, if unable to pay, be
bound out for the payment of them. Justice was
harsh in those days.
In his book, Guysborough Sketches and Essays,
Dr. A.C. Jost has confused this John Cook with
his nephew, John, son of his brother Elias. On
legal documents, his nephew is referred to as
John Jr., even though he was not a son of John
Cook. Both John Cooks married women with the
name of Elizabeth: John Cook, Sr.'s wife was
Elizabeth Tobey, who was still living in 1824,
when she and John sold land that she had
inherited from her father Nathaniel Tobey.
They lived in the Cook's Cove area, whereas John
Cook, Jr., lived in the Bantry/Salmon River area.
John, Jr. married Elizabeth Callahan in 1801,
and he was a bachelor, not a widower, at the
time of their marriage. Their six children
married and settled in the communities from
Salmon River Lakes through to Roachvale.
Another early court case involved Elias Cook.
He was ordered to appear before the General Sessions
of the Peace to answer the charge of "speaking
disrespectfully of the Magistrates of the County
in the Execution of their Duty", taken July 7/1786.
Elias appeared on Oct. 22/1786, and "acknowledged
that he believed he had said some disrespectful
words, when in Liquor, that he had no ill meaning,
begged the pardon of the Court and promised not
to do the like again. He was dismissed."
There were at least twelve children of Elias
and Lydia Cook, and could have been more. In a
deed made in 1805, Benjamin Cook gave land in
the Bantry/Salmon river area to his nephew
Daniel Gerry, however, I have not yet determined
who his mother was. (Daniel Gerry married in
1805, had had children with the names of
Benjamin, Catherine, Sarah, and Lydia.)
Elias (3rd) died on March 16, 1809, and is buried
in the Anglican Cemetery in Guysborough. His
son, Elias (4th) died before him, in 1797.
Elias Cook (4th) returned to live for at least
a time in the U.S., for he married at Beverly,
Mass., in 1769. The information given on the
grant of land applied for by his children states,
"Petitioners came to this province in 1789 from the
U.S.A., where they were born, are all residents
of Sydney County (now Guysborough County), and
have received no lands. They request them on
Salmon River, in the same county. Voted 1350
acres in 1808": Elias Cook (5th) with a wife
and 6 children was granted 400 acres. Stephen
Cook with a wife and 1 child was granted 150 acres.
Ambrose Cook with a wife and 3 children was granted
250 acres. John Cook with a wife and 3 children
was granted 250 acres. Edmund Cook with a wife
only was granted 100 acres.Winthrop Cook with a
wife and 2 children was granted 200 acres. The
area where they settled came to be known as
Bantry, a community also settled by many Irish
immigrants, near Erinville. The names of some
of the other settlers who received grants in that
area, and who had connections with the Cook
family include: Matthew Hutcheson, Daniel Gerry,
John Collier, John Bigsby, John Walsh, James
O'Gorman, William McAllister. By 1865, Bantry
was no more, its former residents moving out and
settling in more populated areas.
Benjamin Cook married twice, fathering a total
of thirteen children from the two marriages.
In 1826, he had children, as well as grandchildren
attending school at Cook's Cove. Of the 44
children registered to attend school that year,
20 of them had the last name of Cook. In 1828,
Moses and Elias Cook (Benjamin's sons) and Charles
Horton were school trustees.
The land for the Wesleyan chapel that was built
in 1862 was given by Elias and his wife Anna.
The Cooks were connected through marriage to most of
the other nine pre-loyalist settlers, most
particularly with the Horton family, who settled
around the part of Cook's Cove that became known
as Horton's Cove.
Through the years, especially in the mid to late
1800's, there was a tendency for Nova Scotians
to migrate to the United States, or to other
parts of Canada, in search of better working
opportunities. Many family lines are missing
continuity because of this. Today, Cook
descendants can be found living in every
province of Canada, many of the United States,
and in other countries of the world.
Of the above children, Miriam Cook married William Tucker on June 4/1722, Elizabeth Cook married Richard Blanch (date unknown), and Elias Cook married Sarah Haynes (b: May 14, 1710), daughter of Francis and Elizabeth (Hooper) Haynes of Marblehead, Mass., on Feb. 24/1725, at Marblehead.
Elias Cook (2nd) b: Apr. 30/1699
d: May 14/1753
Marblehead
Miriam Cook b: Sept. 22/1701
Elizabeth Cook b: Aug. 22/1703
| Elias Cook (3rd) | b: June 11/1721 | d: Mar. 16/1809 |
| Sarah Cook | b: June 7/1731 | |
| Francis Cook | b: Aug. 10/1734 | |
| Benjamin Cook | b: Jan. 17/1736 | d: Jan. 30/1736 |
| Samuel Cook | b: July 22/1739 | |
| William Cook | b: Apr. 18/1742 | |
| Anna Cook | b: June 10/1744 | |
| Ebenezer Cook | b: Feb. 8/1747 | |
| John Cook | bap. June25/1749 |
Of the above children, Sarah, Francis, Benjamin and Samuel
were born at Gloucester, Mass. Anna , Ebenezer, John and
Elias (3rd) were born at Marblehead, Mass. The remainder of
this genealogy deals solely with the descendants of Elias
(3rd).
