Ezra Albert Cook

Notes:

Notes about Ezra Albert Cook and Ida ("E-da) Brode Cook--from conversation with Lura Lincoln Cook, daughter-in-law, wife of Gerhard Cook. (September 1998):

Albert (this is the name he went by) had a PhD in Theology from a German University in Halle. He was a Congregational minister. He had no tact; sort of like "old Jonathan Blanchard." When he had a church, if someone was misbehaving, he told them directly what he thought. Usually the "told off" person was influential in the church and he was asked to move on. During WWI, Albert taught philosophy (Lura thinks) at McGill University. He preached a pacifist sermon and was asked to leave. He was a very musical, dedicated, warm person and played the guitar beautifully.

He would have been a good engineer. He built a cabin on "Seven Mile Lake" near Montreal. The cabin was serviced by a hydraulic system he constructed from lake water. Albert had 11 siblings: Julia Cook Aveling, Grace Cook Zahn, Don Cook, Lyman Cook (Bonny - get info from Dad's red notebooks). Julia lived in the Chicago area and had 2 daughters, Wilhelmina ("Sis") and Julie. Grace married Carl Zahn and they lived in Sacramento and owned apartment buildings. Don was an "oddball" and married twice but he owned a successful accounting firm and got rich. (See Gerhard Cook Notes for an Uncle Don story.) Lyman practiced medicine until he was 90.

Ida had a German accent. She had been a teacher in Halle, Germany. When they got married, she was around 30 years old. Ida was brought up as a traditional German young lady. She brought a German maid over to this country with her. Ida thought that "only what was German was right." She loved playing with Gerhard and his sister, Brunhild. She was a good mother but a bit over-zealous. Gerhard rebelled at one time. Ida took the kids back to Germany several times for long months at a time. They went to her mother's home. Ida could be charming. The insecurity and continual upheaval of her life kept her in a state of anxiety. She asked to be cremated and her ashes taken back to the family tomb in Halle. (Brunhild complied.)

Ida's brother, Fritz, was in the German Army in WWI. Fritz and his wife had one daughter, Gerti. Gerhard visited her in Halle several times. She became increasingly helpless with degenerative disease. Gerti's daughter deserted her but her son, his wife and two children still live in Halle (Cristian and Monica Brode).

Gerhard graduated from Chickasha High School in Chickasha, Oklahoma. Albert wanted him to go to Marietta College, a Congregational College, in Southern Ohio for two years. Gerhard wanted to go to the University of Oklahoma but he went two years to Marietta before attending U of M. Albert got a job in Grand Rapids, Michigan, so Gerhard could go to the Universtity of Michigan and get in-state tuition. Gerhard taught high school chemistry and eighth grade general science in Dearborn, MI, 1928-31. He wanted a PhD in Chemistry so he saved his money in two banks but lost his savings in the "bank holiday." He was able to go to Johns Hopkins for one year and then went back to the University of Michigan to complete the degree. Graduate school was 4 years: 1 in Johns Hopkins and 3 in U of M. Gerhard always worked at the U of M, and had some sort of fellowship. (Lura said that Gerhard was so thin that his cheeks had hollows in them.)

Brunhild, born January 9, 1909, was 1 1/2 years younger than Gerhard. She married Carl Keith and had two boys, Kenneth and Charles. Brunhild taught first grade for several years after her children were older. Later she earned a masters degree in Religious Education and worked as a Religious Education director in a Methodist Church. She was an ardent pacificist. She insisted on going to Japan to apologize to the Japanese for the Atomic bomb. Brunhild died on May 2, 1988.

Kenneth was the older boy. He originally married a Japanese girl and later was divorced. He married and divorced a second time and now (1999) lives in the Virginia area. Kenneth has some sort of brain problem. Charles is married to Janice and lives in southern Michigan. He has two sons, both are college graduates and lived at home for a while.

During WWI, Albert was a professor at Howard University in Washington, DC. Ida went into depression all during WWI and became an invalid. The German maid had to get another job outside of Washington, DC as no one with German citizenship could be in Washington. Ida died in 1936, of pneumonia in Illinois, the year after Gerhard and Lura were married. Lura saw Ida when Gerhard and Lura were living in Cleveland. Albert and Ida visited Lura and Gerhard in Harbor Beach, Michigan, before Gerhard and Lura were married. And, of course, they attended the ceremony in Ann Arbor. Albert performed the ceremony.

Albert married a second time in 1938 to Maude Bell. Maude was completely different from Ida. She was warm and friendly and made friends with everyone. Maude taught elementary school for a time even though she only had a high school education. (Maude died in 1998.) Karl Cook, her son with Albert, was born in 1939.

Source: WW1 Draft Registration for Ezra Albert:

September 12, 1918 Card completed by a government employee, signed by EAC
Ezra Albert Cook
327 Collage (sic) Street NU (perhaps this should have been NW?)
Washington, DC
Professor at Howard University
Next of Kin: Ida Cook, wife
Height:: 5' 9 1/2"
Eyes: gray
Hair: Med. gray

Note that Ezra Albert was a pacifist and after delivering a sermon to his congregation in Montreal, lost his job.

Ezra married Johanna Wilhelmine Ida Brode on 15 Jun 1905 in Halle a. Saale, Sachen, Prussia. Johanna (daughter of Johann Heinrich Friedrich Rudold Brode and Luise Rudolphi) was born on 20 Aug 1873 in Neuk; died on 24 May 1936 in Olney, Richland, Illinois; was buried in Ashes spread in Halle an der Saale, Germany by Gerhard. [Group Sheet]

Ezra married Maude V. Bell on 10 Jun 1936 in Mattoon,,IL. Maude was born on 30 May 1907 in Richland Co,IL; died on 04 Sep 1998 in Coal Valley, IL; was buried on 08 Sep 1998 in Port Byron,IL. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Notes from Alan Lincoln Cook about his father: Gerhard Cook.

A story about Uncle Don Cook (see notes re: Ezra Albert Cook, Gerhard's father)- Uncle Don said to Dad: regarding Dad's budget proposal to Uncle Don for funds for Gerhard to attend grad school - "As a maker of budgets you are no piker. I am not interested in what you have proposed." (Dad has included... a year in Europe as part of grad school.)

Notes from Stephen and Linda Cook, December 2003:
"Dad (Gerhard) and Stephen went to Germany in1973. Dad wanted to go to East Germany (Halle) to see relatives but he couldn't cross the border as he didn't have a visa. So Steve and Dad went to Overwolfach Conference Center where there was a meeting of scientists. They drove to Heidelburg and then flew home. Mother met them at the airport in Toronto.

"Heidelburg had an extra advantage of having old dueling societies as Dad regaled Steve with the following story. Dad said that when he was in Heidelburg with his cousin, he attended a secret society to watch his cousin duel and receive a scar. When Mother heard the story, she said "you never told me that."
Where upon Dad replied, "you never asked."

"Dad was a Great dancer, especially of the waltz. In later years, Dad and Mother joined the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYB), Saturnday night square dance group. One time, Dad gave Mother an Arthur Murray book on How to Dance. (Mother was tone deaf and wasn't able to learn how to dance.)

"Dad once escorted his cousing, Gerta, on the train from Hamburg to Berlin. While on the train they were hassled by the "black shirts" (not army but they seemed to think that they owned the train and made Dad and Gerta leave the train.

"Dad loved to eat goose grease. One of Dad's cousins who was widowed and lived in East Germany, would write to Dad and send him goose grease. Lelly Stern, a wonderful friend of Dad and Mother who lived in Clarence, NY, would translate the letters for Dad. Dad thought that goose grease was medicinal."

Gerhard married Philura Harriet Lincoln on 19 Jun 1935 in Ann Arbor, MI. Philura (daughter of Burr Buchanan Lincoln and Esther Elizabeth Hoare) was born on 09 Apr 1911 in Harbor Beach, MI; died on 05 Oct 2005 in Chapel Hill, NC. [Group Sheet]

Gertrude married Living. [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]

Living married Living. [Group Sheet]

Living married Living. [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]

Living married Living. [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]