Yolo County CA Archives Biographies.....Cook, Ephraim 1829 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 13, 2005, 7:07 pm

Author: Tom Gregory

EPHRAIM COOK

    The suns of many summers have shone upon the ripening grain and as often the
fallen leaves of autumn have found a grave amid the dead grasses of the earth,
since the early settlers began to develop the agricultural resources of Yolo
county. Although not one of the first farmers of the county, Mr. Cook was
entitled to the term of pioneer. When he came here after several years of
prospecting in the gold mines, he found little to arouse the enthusiasm of the
ordinary observer. It was long before the era when railroads had made
transportation a matter of ease and convenience and travelers here as elsewhere
rode on horseback or in the old-fashioned stage-coaches. Few houses had been
built and these were cabins primitive in structure, affording a rude shelter,
but providing no conveniences for the inmates. Villages were few and sparsely
inhabited, while in the country districts many miles intervened between the
homes of the closest neighbors.

    It was into such an environment that Mr. Cook entered when he became a
farmer of the county and took up land six miles from the present site of
Washington, after having spent a number of years as a miner at Cold Springs and
Ragtown, Eldorado county. He was a native of Putnam county, Ohio, born February
13, 1829, and had grown to maturity in the Buckeye state, where, the family
being in limited circumstances, he had worked at an age when most boys were
attending school. Hoping to better his condition in the west, during the summer
of 1852 he came across the plains with a large party of gold-seekers who made
the journey with "prairie schooners" drawn by mules and horses. The mines did
not prove as remunerative to his labors as he had anticipated, so he decided to
turn his attention to ranching and with this object in view he took up a
quarter-section of grain and timber land in Yolo county. Later he bought three
hundred and twenty acres near Plainfield and besides farming the ranch he also
operated a threshing-machine in the neighborhood. After years of diligent
application to agriculture he died September 18, 1896, leaving to his heirs a
valuable property and that which is even more desirable, viz.: the memory of an
honorable life.

    The first wife of Mr. Cook, whom he married in 1853 and who passed from
earth June 9, 1856, bore the maiden name of Ann Blodgett. Two sons were born of
that union, George and Roswell, the former of whom died in early life; the
latter resides in Sacramento. During 1859 Mr. Cook was united in marriage with
Miss Mary A. Hurlock, a native of Maryland. They became the parents of four
children, Edmond E. (residing in the East), Alice (now deceased), T. Frank and
Homer. The last-named married Miss Ida Worth and has four children, Arline,
Alta, Homer and Philip. T. Frank in 1893 married Miss Elma Edgington and of
their union three children were born, Mary F., Roswell H. and Lela M.

   The fraternal organizations of which T. Frank Cook is a member, the Foresters
of America and the Woodmen of the World, have the benefit of his interested
contributions to their local progress. However, he has little leisure for
activity in the lodges nor does he find the time necessary for participation in
politics, for the care of his farming interests demands his close attention.
Having ranched with his father until the death of the latter, he then became the
manager of the old homestead and continued as such for four years. About 1905 he
rented the farm of eight hundred acres which he now occupies and which ranks
among the valuable tracts of the locality. Fire caused a heavy loss in 1908,
when his barns burned to the ground carrying with them valuable stock, a large
amount of hay, a harvester and other machinery. Forced to start again to a
certain extent, he has devoted his attention ever since to the replacing of what
he lost through the catastrophe. One of his specialties is the raising of barley
and he threshes yearly from twenty-five hundred to three thousand sacks. Another
specialty is the raising of Holstein cattle and the herd now to be seen on his
ranch will not suffer by comparison with many of the boasted droves of that
breed throughout the northern part of the state.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]




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