A "Familial" Marker

A familiar name caught my eye a few weeks as I was planting veteran flags on the cemetery’s Area Q. As a matter of fact, I can say it's not only a familiar name, but almost familial. The moniker is not that of a veteran, or a known relative, but I can attest that it is carved upon the face of what can best be described as a substantial monument. The name reads "John W. Cook" (the “W” standing for William).
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Since I was a little boy, my father made sure I knew the story of an ancestor who had come to this country in 1852 from Germany. His name was Johann Wilhelm Koch, and he was my father’s GG grandfather. This immigrant was the pivot point for not only my dad’s first major foray into the wonderful world of genealogy/family history process, but mine as well.  

Wilhelm Koch, 3rd Great-grandfather of the author)

The author (center) with brothers Jon (left) and Tim (right) at Wilhelm Koch's gravesite in Delaware City, DE (c. 1976)

Growing up in the 1940s, my Dad regularly heard family stories about "Wilhelm" and his son, John T. Cook, as the name Koch was changed after Wilhelm became a naturalized US citizen in 1858. These tales were primarily told to him by his grandmother and a bevy of great aunts--
daughters of the fore-mentioned John T. Cook, and granddaughters of the immortal “Wilhelm the immigrant.”
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Both my father and I pursued a minors degree in history while attending the University of Delaware for our college degrees. His major was English, mine Communications. We secretly loved history more but knew there was more money in the communications field as my dad worked his career as a technical editor.

We both found great pleasure in completing major research projects at school, and these gave us a lifelong passion for researching and studying history. I will spare you the story of my collegiate achievement, but my Dad’s project was performed as part of his final thesis in spring, 1958. It was a genealogical study of his maternal Cook family line going back to Wilhelm Koch and his birthplace of Herborn in the Duchy of Nassau, a German independent state from 1806-1866.

​My father spent hours formally interviewing his grandmother, Zitta (Cook) Warfel, and those great aunts I mentioned earlier, all part of the larger Cook family of cousins. He had them re-tell those stories he had heard hundreds of times throughout his youth. The project was a milestone for its time and a Godsend for future generations. By the way, my Dad's research project survives in the U. of D.' s library archival collection. 

Interestingly, I formally interviewed my father on-camera in the winter of 2004, and had him re-tell these same stories, along with that of his own experience of documenting family history for history's sake. My father died a few months later  of colon cancer in June of that year.

The author interviewing his father (Edwin A. Haugh) in March, 2004.

​Having nothing to do with Frederick, Maryland, my close-knit Cook family have populated the small town of Delaware City, Delaware since Wilhelm’s arrival from New York City in the mid-1850s. I, myself, moved here to Frederick in 1974 from this former river town, known more today for its neighboring oil refinery than for its one-time standing as the eastern gateway to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The town is located in the northern third of the state along the Delaware River, a few miles south of the town of New Castle and Wilmington further up the road.

Delaware City, DE (c. 1900)

Late 1960s edition of the Cook family annual picnic

I have vivid childhood memories of the Cook family “Cousins’ Club,” a fun-loving group that was highly active throughout the second half of the 20th century. They held annual reunions in the form of Christmas and Easter parties. Each summer, a hay wagon loaded with Cook cousins departed town being pulled by a large tractor and headed for nearby Augustine Beach on the river, for the yearly picnic.

​This same group also spent plenty of time together at a shared beach cottage owned by one of my father’s great-aunts bought back in the late 1930s and located in Old Fenwick Island (Lea and 138th streets in today’s north Ocean city). My Dad painted a vivid picture of childhood beach trips with particular memories of adults playing cards and enjoying alcoholic libations until the wee hours of the morning, while the kid cousins were "packed in like sardines" on surplus army cots in the attic, sleeping head to toe, and without air conditioning.
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The reason I bring any of this up is due to the reason that history has a way of conjuring up our own past experiences and memories of family that are no longer with us. I’ve said many times before, in this blog, that cemeteries are incredible portals to connect and give context to not only the past—but “our own personal” past, and those we never got the chance to meet as they occupy much higher stations on our respective family trees.

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Wilhelm Koch and family living in Delaware City, DE in the 1860 US Census

​In my case, the Cook family progenitors included Johann Wilhelm Koch (1827-1862), a carpenter by trade, and his wife, Catherine Sebastian (1832-1912), who arrived separately in America in the early 1850 from the Alsace region of France.  By early 1862, these two newcomers to America found themselves the parents of two boys, Adam (b. 1857) and John (b. 1859), with a baby girl (Elizabeth) on the way to be born in June of that year. Sadly, Wilhelm died of smallpox in April of that year, only 34 years of age. His son, John Cook, would follow in his father’s footsteps as a carpenter, but also died relatively young at the age of 51 in the year 1911. John's wife had died of whooping cough back in 1903. 

​Surprisingly, my GG grandfather is buried in a very  understated family plot devoid of upright markers in Delaware City’s original Catholic cemetery. He is buried there with his mother, wife, siblings and a few children. John T. Cook's father, “Wilhelm,” is resting in peace just across the fence in the neighboring Presbyterian Church burying ground.

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The Cook family plot in Delaware City's Catholic Cemetery consisting of a lone footstone style marker

The author with the grave of his GGG grandfather in fall, 1993

​Well that’s my personal trip down memory road, thanks for joining me. You see, that is what this monument in Area Q did to me—it sent me into a time passage! 

So that's all well and good, but who the heck is Mount Olivet’s John William Cook? If anything else, I can tell you that he was a man with a much more impressive monument than my Delaware Cooks.

John William Cook, Jr.
I learned two things that help tp explain the substantial marble grave monument that sits above his gravesite on Area Q/Lot 260:

1.) John William Cook, Jr.  was a prosperous farmer, and 2.) He married quite well in respect to money and prominence.
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Our subject was born June 18th, 1825, the son of John William Cook, Sr. (1804-1864) and wife Christina Myers (1799-1861). He was the oldest of eight children, five boys and three girls. His father was a German immigrant, born Johann Wilhelm Koch in 1804 in Vlotho, Westfalen, Prussia. This gentleman emigrated to America in the early 1800s and married the earlier mentioned Christina Myers in Trinity Chapel, Frederick’s German Reformed Church, in September, 1824.

​Miss Myers appears to have been a local girl, born at Silver Run in today’s Carroll County, but was still Frederick County at the time of her birth. Christina’s grandfather was a German immigrant who settled in York, PA. The family appears to have moved to the Jefferson vicinity of Frederick, likely close to, or on, Catoctin Mountain. This is where I presume she met her husband, John William Cook, Sr. Both can be found here in the 1860 US Census, and would be buried within the decade in the town’s German Reformed Church burying ground. 

1850 US Census showing John Cook, Sr. and family

The graves of John Cook, Sr. (left) and Christina (Myers) Cook (above) in Jefferson Reformed Cemetery

Grave of George W Myers in Mount Olivet's Area Q

​Christina (Myers) Cook’s nephew, George Washington Myers, can be found living at a locale known as Church Hill on the east side of the mountain on the original Carrollton Manor land patent made by Charles Carrollton the Settler around 1724.His property is shown on the 1873 Titus Atlas in the Buckeystown District. George had taken over the family farm homestead at the time of his father’s (Peter Myers, Jr.) death in 1870.

Peter Myers, Jr. was our subject John William Cook’s maternal uncle, making George Washington Myers a first-cousin. Peter is buried at Church Hill’s namesake “church,” once known as St. Matthew’s German Reformed Church which also shared their house of worship with a Lutheran congregation. The burying ground sits on both sides of Ballenger Creek Pike, and the church today is known as Emmanuel Trinity Lutheran Church.

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1873 Titus Atlas showing Myers and Cook properties in upper left of this section of the Buckeystown District. The road to the left of these properties is Ballenger Creek Pike.

Church Hill burying grounds

South of the Myers’ property was “Carrollton,” a 273-acre farm belonging to our subject John William Cook, and wife, Charlotte. It actually came through Charlotte’s family. Cook had married the former Charlotte Thomas on September 3rd, 1856. John had known Miss Thomas for quite some time as he can be found in the 1850 census living on the Thomas family plantation and working as a farm hand. He would stay here on this farm for the rest of his life.
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Charlotte was born on March 9th, 1823. She was named for her mother, Charlotte Thomas, and her father was George Thomas. Both are buried at the nearby Manor Reformed Cemetery, along with an older brother. Four of Charlotte Cook's siblings are buried in Mount Olivet.

1850 US Census showing John W. Cook working as a laborer for the Thomas family and future wife, Charlotte

Graves of Charlotte (Thomas) cook's parents in the Manor Cemetery at Church Hill

I was interested in finding the family farm, but there is not much that still exists in terms of structures. The 1840 brick farmhouse and a few outbuildings were captured (as part of the Cook-Culler Farmstead) a few decades back thanks to a Maryland Historical Trust inventory survey which can be found online at:     mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Frederick/F-1-212.pdf

The red arrow denotes the entrance to the property from Ballenger Creek Pike as it would have constituted the bulk of the acreage to the east and north of Manor Woods Road

Entrance to the Cook-Culler farmstead to the left in this view looking south on Ballenger Creek Pike

​There’s not much more to tell about this couple as they had no offspring. Sort of ironic as the theme here has been genealogy and the layers of ancestors and descendants that a given individual may have. John William Cook had to deal with debilitating circumstances late in life, brought on by paralysis and a few mishaps along the way as the following news clippings will attest to. 

Frederick News (Aug 10, 1892)

Frederick News (April 4, 1896)

Citizen (April 10, 1896)

John W. Cook, Jr. died February 21st, 1897. He would be laid to rest in Mount Olivet four days later.

Frederick News (Feb 22, 1897)

Frederick News (Feb 26, 1897)

Charlotte (Thomas) Cook would eventually move into the City of Frederick, residing at 76 E. Church Street. She died on June 21st, 1904. ​

Frederick News (June 21, 1904)

Baltimore Sun (June 26, 1904)

​The woman mentioned in Mrs. Cook's will, Jane Poole, can be found to the right of the lot with a small, yet classic, stone. She was a one-time servant of the family and stayed on as a companion to Mrs. Cook later in life.

Frederick News (April 4, 1832)

​Although I have no relatives of my own in Mount Olivet, I have to say that this substantial, familial marker and monument to the Cooks will remind me of my own family history and how it continues to inspire me to research and learn more about my roots. Who knows, if I go back far enough in that German line, I may find that my relatives may be distantly related to this early Frederick family. Herborn, Germany of my personal heritage is only 105 miles from Vlotho, home to Mount Olivet's John William Cook's ancestors.

When it comes to genealogy, I guess you can't have too many "Cooks" in the kitchen, can you?