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BIOGRAPHIE: Jeffrey D. Cooke, Sr.: Our Vagabond Ancestor Great grandfather John Henry Cook was born in Germany on July 2nd, 1843. According to his Civil War Pension records, on file at the National Archives, John worked as a hired farm hand during the summers at Leroy, Genesee Co., New York from 1858 up until the time of his enlistment in 1863. On December 15, 1863, John enlisted as a private in Company I, Eighth Regiment of the New York Heavy Artillery at Leroy, New York for three years of service. In March of 1864, he was garrisoned at Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland. During the Richmond- Petersburg Campaign, great grandfather was taken prisoner at the Battle of Ream's Station, Dinwiddie Co., Virginia on August 25th 1864. Ream's station is twelve miles south of Petersburg. On August 24th, Union forces were moving south along the Weldon Railroad, tearing up track, preceded by Gregg's Cavalry division. This railroad was an important supply line for General Lee's half surrounded army at Richmond and Petersburg. On the 25th, Confederate Major General Henry Heth attacked and overran the faulty Union position at Ream's Station, capturing 9 guns, 12 colors, and taking 1,600 prisoners. The Union force was shattered and Major General Winfield Hancock withdrew to the main Union line near Globe Tavern, bemoaning the declining combat effectiveness of his troops. Although it was a Confederate victory, they never regained control of the track between Ream's Station and Petersburg. On August 25th, John was taken to Libby Prison, a converted ship chandlery on the bank of the James River, and then transferred to Belle Island Prison where he was held for five weeks. He then was sent to Salisbury prison in North Carolina. On his way to Salisbury, he wrote that he "was kept about five days and nights, during a severe rain storm, in an open field, where he was taken with (pneumonia) the lung fever." During the time he left Belle Island and until the time he left Salisbury prison four and a half months later, "he was kept on the shortest possible allowance of food (just enough to prevent death from the lack of food), and was exposed to every inclimancy of weather and was not provided with either clothing or bedding". He was hospitalzed November 24, 1864 at Salisbury for pneumonia and twice again before he was paroled and exchanged at North East Ferry, North Carolina on February 27, 1865. He reported at Camp Parole, Maryland on March 14th, 1865. On March 21, 1865, he was furloughed and came home to Town Line where he was treated for dysentary. He returned to Camp Parole on May 14th and was discharged from the service on June 23, 1865. In July of 1865, John returned home to Town Line, Erie County, New York and according to his younger brother Henry, "...his general health was so poor that he could not work but a little. "Physically he was pale looking, feeble and emaciated." After his father died in August of 1866, John went to Cailifornia to improve his health. He was taken sick onboard the ship taking him to San Francisco and was treated by the ship's doctor. In the spring of 1867 he worked on the Thomas and Charles Esti dairy ranches at Black Point, Sonoma Co., California, where he was in charge of milking and dairy operations and because of his war related infirmities, he was not involved in haying or the more strenuous parts of the operation. He worked there until 1871 and then labored for a short while, probably at Duncan's Mill, in the lumbering trade, where his lungs gave him considerable difficulty. He was then hospitalized in San Francisco, and was treated for about five weeks. He then returned to Duncan's Mills in Sonoma County until he returned home to Town Line in September of 1873 to stay with his mother and brother Henry. Because of his poor health he worked very little for a year and eight months. John spent a great deal of time out west with his brother Charley. On November 17, 1874, John married Mary A. Goodman at Wilson, Niagara Co., New York. Mary was the Daughter of Frederick and Dora Schumacher Goodman. Some time later, Mary's family moved to South Arm Township, Charlevoix County, Michigan. They are buried, along with Dora's parents at Sunset Hill Cemetery, East Jordan, Charlevoix County, Michigan. On December 10th, 1874, less than a month after their marriage, great grandfather Cook bought a 75 acre farm in Alden, New York. In the following April, John and Mary moved onto the farm. The farm is located on what is presently Exchange Street across the road and north of where Henske Road intersects. On the 12th of September 1875, a daughter Harriet M. was born. Because of John's continuing health problems, the farm was rented and the Cook's moved to Frisco, Beaver Co., Utahin 1978. There he worked five years for the firm of Godbe and Hampton and Co., whose business was refining ore from the Horn silver mine. John worked as a smelter, shoveling charcoal to feed the smelting furnaces and also as a watchman until the fall of 1882, when the family moved back to Alden. The following is a brief summary of the history of Frisco,Utah and the Horn Silver Mine. Frisco was founded in the San Francisco Mountains in 1875 by two prospectors from Pioche, Nevada, who stopped at nearby Squaw Springs for water. James Ryan and Samuel Hawkes decided to check around a bit because a limestone ledge "looked kinda good".They discovered galena, a lead ore. Sinking a relatively short 25 foot shaft, they hit a rich vein. The pair sold the claim for $25,000.00 and disappeared. The new owners took out 25,000 tons ofore with a high silver content worth $100.00 a ton. This became known as the Horn Silver mine. The town of Frisco, built near the mine, was known as the wildest camp in Utah. One writer referred to it as "Dodge City, Tombstone, Sodom and Gomorrah all rolled into one". At one time it boasted a population of 6,000 made up of many different nationalities as is always the rule in a boom town. The homes and business section were built of brick, rock and lumber. There was a dance hall and, according to a letter written by Walter James of Black Rock to a friend in Salt Lake City, there were about 23 saloons, which apart from dealing in liquor, had every conceivable gambling device then known. These facts gave one an idea of what happened to the payroll every month. "Without exception," Mr. James wrote, "after every payday there were fresh graves to be dug. " Though the population was made up of the toughest, there were also some of the finest. The dances were conducted in an orderly manner. " A floor manager stood at the door and women of questionable character seldom ever tried to enter; they knew that they would be ignored by everyone present." Eventually Frisco's reputation had become so tarnished that U.S. Marshal Pearson from Pioche, Nevada was hired to clean up the town. He allegedly told the lawless elements that he did not intend to make arrests. Instead, he planned to shoot on sight anyone he saw breaking the law. He supposedly killed six outlaws on his first night in town. By 1879, the United States Annual Mining Review and Stock Ledger was calling the Horn "unquestionably the richest silver minein the world now being worked." Frisco fairly buzzed with activity. Two smelters (one being Godbe and Hampton and Co.) processed ore from the mine, and the company had developed a number of other needed facilities, including charcoal kilns, an iron reflux mine, a telegraph line to Beaver, and several stores in Frisco. Still smelting on site was difficult and expensive due to the scarcity of fuel, water and iron ore. With the completion of the Utah Southern Railroad Extension to Frisco on June 23, 1880, ore could be shipped to the Francklyn smelter near Murray, Utah for processing. At the time of John's leaving Godbe and Hampton and Co., Mr. Hampton had become well aquainted with great grandfather and advised him to see the Company's attorney in Beaver City, Utah, about fifty miles away, and inquire about seeking a veteran's pension, which he did and made application. In 1882 John moved back to Alden, but once again had to give farming his land up due to poor health. November of 1883 found him bed-ridden and forced to rent the farm. Again, for health reasons, he moved with his family to Jerome, Yavapai County, Arizona, where he worked as a smelter, feeding the furnaces of the United Level Copper Mining and Smelting Company. The company shut down their operations on the twentieth of December of that year. Great-grandfather's health prevented him from working through that winter. On April 13th, 1885, a son, Edmund Francis Cook was born at Prescott, Maricopa Co., Arizona Territory. Edmund was brought back to Alden at the age of three months. At the time of this writing it is understood that Edmund and Harriet was raised by an uncle on the farm in Alden (probably Henry D. Coook) and also by an aunt and uncle in Saginaw for a short while (probably Fraderick and Dorthea Cook Walter). Mary A. Goodman Cook died in 1886. It is unclear where she died. In 1886 John was working in Soccero, New Mexico. She is buried at Alden Evergreen Cemetery, Alden, Erie Co., New York. In 1887, John was back on the farm in Alden, his brother Henry selling his produce at Buffalo. A reference in his Civil War Pension File refers to 200 bushels of potatoes and the putting up of 16 cords of soft elm for stove wood. A publication of the Gooding County, Idaho Historical Society mentions that John and Henry are living at Owens Valley California around 1900 and were joined by brother William and his two children Elmer and Eugenia. After a short while they decided to return to Idaho, but at Raft River Idaho, John and Henry decided to head north to the Alaskan Gold Rush. In 1900, an old photo in my posession, places John and Henry in Tacoma, Pierce Co., Washington. The inscription on the back reads: "uncle John and uncle Henry and niece Bertha Walter in yard of our home 1901 So. "I" Street, Tacoma. "Uncles were on their way to Alaska in the Gold Rush." They were at the home of Frederick and Dorthea Cook Walter. At first glance one might wonder why these brothers were headed for Alaska so near the end of the Klondike rush, but after further research, one will note that there was a major gold discovery in 1899 on the beaches of Nome, which was an easy and very accessable ocean voyage from Tacoma. The ore was literally at one's feet and the equipment needed to mine the gold was well within reach of the "average man". If a fortune was found, it never did find its way down through the future generations.
Sebastian
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