Living

Living married Living. [Group Sheet]

Living married Hannah Ida Williston Cook. Hannah (daughter of Ezra Asher Cook and Maria Elizabeth Blanchard) was born on 05 Oct 1877 in Chicago,,IL; died on 04 Mar 1929 in (resided Seattle, WA). [Group Sheet]

Notes:

See notes for M. Pamela MILKE, his mother.

"As a very young soldier, he fought in McClellan's Army (Civil War) and was seriously wounded." (Later) Ezra Asher Cook owned a large stationery store and print business in Chicago.

Source: Civil War Pension File - Card for Ezra Asher:

Filed in Illinois
Widow: Maria E. B.Cook
39th Illinois Infantry - enrolled as a Private on 2 Sept 1861
Invalid application 1870 May 22 Application # 156669
Certificate # 106736
Widow's application 1911 September 25 Application # 972315 Certificate # 733244

Notes from email from Linda Cook, April 26, 2004: Linda found the following information on the internet about "Ezra A. Cook Publishing" of Chicago, Illinois.
Ezra A. Cook published a number of anti-Masonic books and histories of all sorts of secret societies--- The American chapters of Knights Templar, the Ku Klux Klan, and others. One of the books published was written by Jonathan Blanchard, who wrote "Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated" published by EAC Pub., 1882.

US Federal Census 1900 - Chicago Ward 18, Cook County, IL

Ezra A. Cook - 58 Head
Maria B. Cook - 53 Spouse
Albert E. Cook - 24
Lyman J. Cook - 14
Ethlel M. Cook - 12
Helen J. Cook - 11
Permelia S. Cook 90, mother
Antonette J. Konop - 21, servant
Arthur Schaffer - 33 - boarder
Nellie V. Walker - 25 - boarder

Ezra married Maria Elizabeth Blanchard on 05 Aug 1869 in Wheaton,,IL. Maria (daughter of Jonathan Blanchard and Mary Avery Bent) was born on 30 Oct 1846 in Galesburg,, IL; died on 05 Mar 1915 in Wheaton,, IL. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

The Bent Family in America, of the Descendants of John Bent who settled in Sudbury, MA, in 1638, by Allen H. Bent. pub. 1900.

page 79.

Maria Elizabeth Blanchard, b. Oct. 30, 1846; graduated from Wheaton College; m. Aug. 5, 1869, Ezra A. Cook, printer and book publisher, of Chicago, where she still lives (1900). Ten children.

Notes:

HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF THE MILK-MILKS FAMILY, by Grace Croft, 1952.

Ezra Cook and wife, Permelia Milk, had 7 children:
1) Nathaniel Cook, b. 26 Mar. 1836, West Fulton, NY, d. 14
Dec 1901, Winters, CA; m. (1) 21 Oct. 1860, Mariah Grant,
b. 2 Dec 1845; m. (2) Minerva Stern.
Children of 1st m. -2:
1) William Ezra, b. 20 Aug 1861
2) Reuben Nathaniel Cook, b. 18 Aug
1863, Wheaton,IL.
Children of 2nd m. - 4:
3) George Albert Eastmond Cook, b. Kelseyville, CA.
4) Beulah Sophina Minerva Cook, b. 22 Oct. 1880,
Kelseyville, CA (twin)
5) Rose Elizabeth Permelia Cook, b. 22 Oct. 1880,
Kelseyville, CA (twin)
6) Frank Eugene Blanchard Cook, b. 15 July 1883, Christine,
CA
2) Louise Desire Cook, b. 3 Feb. 1839, Coxsackie, NY; m. 15 Sep. 1864, Edwin
H. Hemenway, b. 27 Mar. 1837. Children b. Wayne Cen(ter?), DuPage Co.,IL
1) Ezra Edward Hemenway, b. 14 Oct. 1873, d. 1 Feb. 1878.
2) Esther Louise Hemenway, b. 9 Dec. 1976; m. 4 Sep. 1900
in Sacramento, CA, Frank E. Russell.
3) EZRA ASHER COOK, b. 5 Nov. 1841, Windsor, CT, d. 1911; m. 5 Aug. 1869 at
Wheaton, IL, Maria Elizabeth Blanchard, b. 30 Oct. 1846, Galesburg, IL.,
d. 5 Mar. 1916, Wheaton, IL, daughter of Jonathan & Mary (Bent) Blanchard.
Children - 12:
1) Lillian Cook, b. 1870, Chicago, IL, d.y.
2) Mary Amelia Cook, b. Sep. 1871, Chicago; m. Geroge
Chafee.
3) Julia Elizabeth Cook, b. 5 Nov. 1872, Chicago; m. C. Will
Aveling, b. in Holland, d. 1947. Resided in Wheaton, IL.
4) Blanchard Cook, b. 1874, d.y.
5) EZRA ALBERT COOK, b. 14 July 1875, Wheaton, IL; m.
(1) Ida Brode, d. 1939; m. (2) Maude Bell, resided in New
Boston, IL.
6) Hannah Ida Williston "Jean" Cook, b. 5 Oct. 1877,
Chicago, d. 1934; m. Harvey K. Boyer. Resided at
4536 Latoma, Seattle, WA.
7) Grace Eloise Cook, b. 30 Oct. 1879, Chicago; m. Karl E.
Zahn of Warsaw, WI. Resided in Sacramento, CA
8) Dr. Jonathan Blanchard Cook, b. 11 Sep. 1881, Chicago;
m. Adah Miller, who d. 10 June 1920, dau. of John and
Eliza (Strasburger) Miller. Resided at 1207 Jarvis Ave.,
Chicago. Son:
a) Jonathan Miller Cook, b. 8 June 1930, Chicago.
9) David Maurice Cook, b. 9 Oct. 1883, d. 1929; m. Edna
Cooper.
10) Dr. Lyman Joseph Cook, M.D., b. 13 Sep. 1885; m.
Edith Marks. Resided in Omaha, NE.
11) Ethel Marguerite Cook, b. 14 Aug. 1887, Chicago, IL,
d. 1924; m. Walter J. Hartman, Attorney. Resided in
Elgin, IL.
12) Helen Geraldine Cook, b. 16 Apr. 1889, d. 1929; m.
Edward D. Willing. Helen was Supt. Art in Public Schools,
Santa Anna, CA. Resided in Bellflower, CA.
4) Mary Amelia Cook, b. 11 Mar. 1844, Great Barrington, MA; m. 4 July 1864,
at Naperville, IL, Dwight L. Hemenway. Children - 5:
1) Henry Lewellyn Hemenway, b. 4 Jan. 1866, Wheaton, IL.
2) David Hemenway, b. 25 Mar. 1869, Wayne, IL; m.
Ernestine Lager, Winters, CA.
3) Lizzie Hemenway, b. 25 Aug. 1871, Chicago, IL.
4) Chester Edwin Hemenway, b. 27 May 1875, Chicago; m.
Eva Cooper of San Francisco.
5) Maybell C. Hemenway, b. 3 Jan. 1882, Lakewiew, IL; m.
George Molar of Berkley, CA.
5) Ruth Helena Cook, b. 10 July 1846, Windham Center, Greene Co, NY, d.
25 May 1847.
6) David Caleb Cook, b. 28 Aug. 1850; m. Marguerite Murat.
7) Emma R. Cook, b. 11 Jan. 1851, East Worcester, NY, d. 15 Sep. 1858,
Proviso, IL.

Notes from Web Site (updated 6/26/1998) by Jonathan Cook:
"Nathaniel's son, the Rev. Ezra Sprague Cook became a Methodist minister, though continuing to do some farming. Although it is not clear that he had much formal education, he may have been more learned than many Methodist clergy at that time, for his family remembered him as reading the scriptures in the original Greek and Hebrew. Roscoe's "History of Scoharie County" has a list of ministers for the nearby Jefferson (NY) Methodist Church which in 1848 gives 'William Lull and Ezra S. Cook.' This makes sense, since he married Permelia Milk(s) (see MILK line) of Jeffereson on Jan. 16 (or 26), 1834, in West Fulton; she was the daughter of Benjamin Milk (1780-1856) and a descendent of early settlers like John Milk (died 1689). In the Worcester (NY) Historical Museum, a list of Methodist ministers for East Worcester gives 'E.S. Cook' for 1850, with the next name occurring in 1861; the list is incomplete, however, and Rev. Cook had presumably left for Illinois earlier, since his youngest child died there in 1858."

and..." According to the anonymous Memoirs of David C. Cook, (published by the Cook Co, in 1929), Rev. Cook had to leave the ministry because of a bad case of 'preacher's sore throat.' He then 'purchased an interest in a woolen mill in East Worchester (p. 19), but it failed and the family moved to Northern Illinois, to farms near Wheaton, IL, According to a manuscript left by his son Ezra Asher:
The loose morals of the whole community was simply horrible at that time. The people were literally without God and without
hope in the world. At the next election after our settlement in Proviso, father was elected a director of the public school in our
district and was soon known as THE director, being the only American of the three and the only one who understood the duties
of a director. Then father usually preached to his family and to twenty others, some of whom came as far as ten miles to the
little schoolhouse.

Father often told us of his own boyhood and of the deplorable drinking habits. So universal was the use of liquor that a
drunken preacher was not even blamed, especially if he had been working hard and because fo fatigue took too much toddy.
Not to offer liquor to the pastor when he called at one's home was considered an act of great rudeness. ["Cook reports loose
morals as 'horrible'," Wheaton Sunday Journal, July 2, 1978, p. 31]

According to the Memoirs, Ezra Cook eventually sold the Wheaton property and moved the family to Chicago, opening a 'small printing office in a building on La Salle Street, between Washington and Randolph...specializing in bank supplies" (p. 36).

US Federal Census 1860: Milton, Dupage, IL, post office Wheaton.
Ezra is 49, Permilia is 50, Nathaniel 24, Louisa 18, Ezra 16, Mary 21 and David 11.

US Federal Census 1870; Chicago Ward 15, Cook County, IL
Lists just Ezra - 59 and Permilia - 60. Exra's occupation is stationier.

Rev married M. Permelia Milke on 16 Jan 1834 in West Fulton,,NY. M. (daughter of Benjamin Milk and Mary Baker) was born on 07 May 1810 in Jefferson,,NY; died on 27 Jul 1901 in Chicago,Cook,IL; was buried on 27 Jul 1901 in Graceland Cem, Chicago, Cook Co. IL. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

The following is from a letter written by Julie Aveling for a Cook Family Round-robin letter sometime in the 1976. Julie was the daughter of Julia Cook Aveling. Julia was the sister of Ezra Albert Cook, father of Gerhard, father of Alan, father of Andrew, father of Matthew and Mason.

"My mother, Julia Cook Aveling, if she were alive, would be 104 years old in the Centennial Year. She had devotedly loved her grandmother, Pamela Milke Cook, born in 1810 in New York State. Apparently Pamela Cook was an unusual woman who lived a hard life with a great sense of independence, spiced by a lively sense of humor at the same time, maintaining great interest in people and things around her and in the future of the country. My mother's account of Pamela Cook and her stories adds insight to the way of life in the early years of our country. Then life was hard and childhood short. As an older child she tended babies when she was practically a baby herself. When she was 8 years old, she was sent to the far meadow to watch the cattle wallowing in the sharp tall swamp grasses and wandering thru the deep woods. Since this was not considered a demanding task, a tiny brother who had been seriously injured in an accident became her charge. She often sat in the cold raw weather for hours holding him until one day he died in her arms. At 10 she was considered a woman and did a woman's chores. At 12(1822) her parents considered her old enough to become a wage earner and they sent her to the home of a wealthy uncle in upper New York state where she joined a large staff of helpers, some related and some not. Here for the first time she found plenty to eat, plenty of help and a life full of joy and interest without the eternal grinding struggle just to live. A girl married early in these days. If unwed at 16 she was considered an old maid so at 15 grandmother began to feel the weight of her years.

"A young itinerant minister, Ezra Sprague Cook, had come to her church to preach for a 'spell.' He supported himself partly by farming and partly by donations. He was extremely learned and read the Bible straight from the Hebrew. Pamela's tiny form, snappy black eyes and lively ways warmed even his rather chilly blood and he persuaded her to become his wife. As usual with marriage at that time, life immediately became difficult and strenuous. Children came quickly. His salary was $250 a year with an increase of $5 a year as each child was born. One by one, five children came along to fill the tiny house. Even at that time it was hard to provide for 7 people on $275 a year so the church held 'donation' parties which brought them produce and other goods. The only trouble was that usually donations consisted of produce in season, corn in corn harvest time, etc. and carrots and cabbage in plenty while the more desirable produce did not appear among the gifts.

"In addition to being a woman with all the housekeeping chores of that age, bearing and tending five children, tiny little Pamela had a large vegetable garden. With the desire of a young girl for beauty, she edged the garden with flowers. One of the sorrows of her life was that her husband claiming that they could not afford cleared land for flowers, pulled them up, replaced them with onions.

"A friend in the church conceived the idea of helping the pastor's income by making an album quilt. Each lady parishoner embroidered her name on one quilt block and paid a dime to have it included in the quilt. The quilt was given to the pastor together with the proceeds which eased financial pressure briefly. The quilt was one of grandmother's life's treasures since it represented a period of concern for her by others and a brief cessation from grinding poverty.

"By the outbreak of the Civil War, several of her sons were called to the service of their country-- - my father, Ezra Cook, a very young soldier, fought in McClellan's army and was seriously wounded. Pamela went through the eternal travail of women who wait until 1865.

"In middle life, grandmother became a skilled 'Herb Woman' familiar with many kinds of illness and the remedies for them. Several doctors consulted her regularly and the formula for one of her cough medicines was widely used for many years.

"When she was still a young woman her husband died. As was customary in those days as a widow, she came to live with our family, consisting of her son (my father), my mother, and a lively family of ten children. With us she lived out the remainder of her life.

"We truly loved our dear little grandmother who was bright and lively as a cricket. Her fascinating stories spanned the better part of a century from the days of witchcraft and barely missing the invention of the airplane which she had been anticipating momentarily for many years.

"When she first lived with her wealthy uncle (1822), two old women lived in a cottage nearby. One summer his(the uncle's) cattle became sick and died one by one and he therefore consulted a witch doctor. The witch doctor said that this was undoubtedly the work of the two witches who had entered into the cows making them sick. If the witch remained in the cow after sunrise the cow must die and the only remedy was for her uncle to stand over the cow beating it thoroughly til sunrise thus driving the witch out. For the time being the results were satisfactory and the witches were defeated by presently trouble arose again disguised as wild turkeys- - -the two old women often blew over his fields filled with evil intent and planning destruction. The witch doctor said undoubtedly the two old women had taken the form of turkeys and were devastating the farm. With great ceremony the witch doctor needed two silver bullets with which to kill the turkeys. When Pamela's uncle fired the first bullet it struck one of the turkeys in the leg and one of the old ladies was lame ever thereafter in that leg. However the witches found other ways of troubling their good neighbors so the witch doctor came back to attend to things personally. The entire household, family members, and hired help were sent to the big barn where they were told to stand close together within a big circle marked out by the witch doctor. In the middle, he had a big boiling cauldron of weird contents which he treated with spells. At the proper moment, he placed the contents of the cauldron in a large jar which was carefully closed, carried out and placed in a high soft place and all were warned to leave it alone. All was well in the household for some years until a curious man took it down and spilled it causing a loud explosion followed by renewed misfortunes. But grandma was not old fashioned even though she believed in witches till her life's end.

"In her later life she had read Buliver Syston's 'Coming Race' and believed every word of it and every day expected the advent of the airplane- - - indeed she told us and truly believed that one night when she had heard a knocking on the window she went to it and opened it and in flew an old neighbor in his neat little airplane. He had come from California, she said, to persuade her to return to the land of eternal sunshine; he said he would take care of her and she would never put her hands in cold water (the height of luxury in that age), she would always ride in a hack and never walk. She was seriously tempted by the promise of luxury and even more by the ride in the airplane but decided that it was not practical since she was then well over 90 years of age. A short time later she heard a flapping sound beside her bed. She was frightened and disturbed until one of those making the sounds told her they were angels coming to take her home because she had led them toward Heaven many years before. They gave her their names and she recognized them as friends. She then told us about them and said that she had promised to go with them on the morrow which she did quite happily, leaving a great void for those who loved her.

"We missed our little grandmother greatly- - - I can still see her chuckling until the lavender ribbons on her black lace cap bobbed and wiggled. Everyone loved her from her own children down to the great grandchildren who were always cause of confusion with her. Hers was a life full of change and color, including an enormous amount of hard grinding work- - -
even in her greatly advanced age her projects never ceased. She kept her descendants knitted up with stockings and mittens and when they gave out as further prospects, she skipped out of the house in great secrecy to a small nearby dry goods store. On checking, much to our chagrin, we found she was knitting golf stockings for this store so that she would be independent of any help for her small needs. Grandmother was proud of her family- - - one son, Nathaniel Cook, became a minister. My father, Ezra Cook, owned a large stationery store and print business in Chicago. Two daughters, Louisa and Mary, married the Hemingway brothers of Oak park, and her youngest son, David Caleb Cook, became the founder and owner of the well known religious publishing house, David C. Cook of Elgin, Illinois.

"Yes, my grandmother made the history of our country from its early years to the advent of the airplane come alive for us. We loved her stories of the early days of their way of life and of the witches she believed in. As I look back though, she was the nicest, most human, cutest little witch of all, bewitching everyone who knew her."

US Federal Census 1900 - Permelia Cook is living with her son, Ezra Asher Cook and his family.
She is 90 years of age.

Died:
age 91

Notes:

Biographies of Jonathan Blanchard:
"Fire on the Prairie" and "Minority of One" by Clyde S. Kilby;
and, "Four Hazardous Journeys of the Reverend Jonathan Blanchard, founder of Wheaton College", by Raymond P. Fischer, published Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, IL, 1987.

Source: History of Rockingham, VT, 1907-1957 withe family genealogies, by Mrs. Frances Stockwell Lovell and Mr. Leverett C. Lovell, pub. 1958, page 336:

Residents of Rockingham of the past century who have achieved an unusual amount of success:
1811 - Jonathan Blanchard - president of Knox and Wheaton Colleges, founder of the Christian Era, author, famous abolitionist.

Source: Vermonth Historical Magazine, Vol. 1, page 1010 - Guildhall, VT:

Ecclesiastical- Rev. James Tisdale ...was settled as pastor over Guildhall and Granby churches Sept. 29, 1830. He was dismissed May 5, 1836. And the following summer, Rev. Jonathan Blanchard, then, if we remember rightly, a student of Andover Theological Seminary, and latterly president of Knox College, Illinois, supplied our pulpit for a few weeks.

Jonathan married Mary Avery Bent on 19 Sep 1838 in Middlebury, VT. Mary (daughter of Samuel Browning Bent and Catharine Avery) was born on 07 Jan 1819 in Middlebury,, VT; died on 11 Jan 1890 in East Las Vegas,, NM. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

The Bent Family, by Allen H. Bent, pub. 1900.

page78-79

#111 in Bent family.

Mary Avery (6) Bent (Samuel B. (5), David (4), David (3), John (2), John (1)) was born in Middlebury, VT., Jan. 7 1819, and died Jan. 11, 1890, at Las Vegas, NM, while on the way to California to visit a daughter. She married, Sept. 19, 1838, Rev. Jonathan Blanchard who was born in Rockingham, VT., Jan. 19, 1811, and died in Wheaton, Ill., May 14, 1892. He was educated at Middlebury College, VT, Andover and Lane seminaries; taught school; lectured in the anti-slavery cause; was American vice-president of the World's Anti-slavery Convention in London, 1843; was pastor of the Sixth Street Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, OH., from 1838 to 1845; President of Knox College (founded in 1837), Galesburg, IL, from 1846 to 1860, and President of Wheaton Collge, Wheaton, IL., from 1860 to 1882; devoted much of his time to the Christian Association opposed to Secret Societies.

Mary Avery Bent left her home in the spring of 1835, when only sixteen years old, and , with a young friend, set out for the then distant State of Pennsylvania. The beginning of the following year found her principal of the Girls' High School in Harrisburg, where she first met her future husband, then on an anti-slavery lecturing tour. Securing her position in Harrisburg for her sister, she set out in 1837 for Montgomery, AL., where she taught a few months in the Female Seminary, and then returned to her Vermont home. The following fall, a nineteen-year-old bride, she bade farewell to her native hills and began her duties as a minister's wife in Cincinnati. She was a woman of true piety, gentle but resolute, and in her home, in the church, and in the reforms so ardently espoused by her husband, was always ready with her untiring energy and unfailing judgement.

Children, i to iv. born in Cincinnati, v. to xii. born in Galesburg, IL.:
i. Jonathan Edwards Blanchard, b. July 24, 1839
ii. Mary Avery Blanchard,b. Jan. 7, 1841.
iii. William Walter Blanchard, b. Dec. 16, 1842.
iv. Catherine Lucretia Blanchard, b. July 13, 1844.
*** v. MARIA ELIZABETH BLANCHARD, b. Oct. 30, 1846,
vi. Charles Albert Blanchard, b. Nov. 8, 1848.
vii. Williston Blanchard, b. Sept. 13, 1850.
viii. Nora Emily Blanchard (twin), b. April 3, 1853.
ix. Sonora Caroline Blanchard (twin), b. April 3, 1853.
x. Julia Waters Blanchard, b. April 16, 1855.
xi. Cyrus Louis Blanchard, b. July 11, 1857.
xii. Geraldine Cecilia Blanchard, b. Oct. 15, 1859.