Yolo-Colusa County CA Archives Biographies.....Cook, Thomas 1833 - 1891 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 14, 2006, 3:53 pm Author: Tom Gregory (1913) THOMAS COOK The last leaf was turned in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life when death entered the comfortable cottage of Thomas Cook and called his spirit hence. From the opening chapter, which chronicled his birth in Fairfield county, Ohio, in the year 1833, to the closing chapter that recorded his demise at Woodland in 1891, there was little of excitement or adventure in the annals of his orderly, industrious and honorable existence. Apart from his service in the Civil War and the manifold dangers experienced throughout the term of his association with the boys in blue, the record is that of a capable farmer, earning a livelihood by dint of perseverance and energy, but avoiding the allurements of public affairs and all inducements to speculative investments. Whether he farmed in the east, in the midst of an old settled community, or in the west, where agriculture was yet in its infancy, he proved to be efficient and judicious, a careful student of the soil and a sagacious exponent of crop rotation. The opening of the Civil War found Thomas Cook so zealous in behalf of- the Union that he gave not only his influence, but also his personal services to the country. Family duties detained him at home until 1863, but in that year he volunteered as a private and was assigned to Company K, Third New York Cavalry, which he accompanied to the front and in which he served for twenty-two months, or until after the close of the war, with fidelity and valor. On his return to the old home he resumed agricultural labors and continued quietly amid the familiar surroundings, engaged in the cultivation of the soil, until 1875, when he brought his family to California and settled near Colusa. Here, as in the east, he devoted himself assiduously to general farming. Removing from the Colusa farm in 1881, he came to Yolo county and bought four hundred and eighty acres near Madison, where he gave his time to farm pursuits for ten years. During 1891 he retired from extensive agricultural efforts and settled on a small place near Woodland, where shortly afterward he passed away. The opening years of young manhood found Mr. Cook establishing domestic ties and starting a home of his own, and in this home, first on an eastern farm, and later in the rural portion of Northern California, he found the highest happiness of maturity and the greatest content of old age. It was in Putnam county, Ohio, on October 20, 1851, that he married Miss Electra M. Flint, who was born in Williams, Orange county, Vt., December 31, 1835, the daughter of Reuben S. and Electra (Holt) Flint, and a granddaughter of Daniel Flint, who served in the Revolutionary War, as did also her maternal great-grandfather, Amaden Holt. Thirty years after their union Mr. and Mrs. Cook became residents of Yolo county, where now Mrs. Cook owns and occupies a neat residence at No. 117 Elm street, Woodland. Nine children were born of their marriage and seven are still living. Reared to lives of usefulness, all have gone out into the world for themselves, the daughters to preside over their own homes, and the sons to earn their way to competency through intelligent application. There are thirty-two grandchildren and six great-grandchildren and this large circle of descendants is the pride of Mrs. Cook in the evening of her existence. The daughters and sons are named as follows: Mrs. Sarah Evans, of San Francisco; Mrs. Cynthia W. Sedam, of Petaluma; William B., a photographer with a studio in Gilroy; George, a rancher at Esparto, Yolo county; James, who is in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad and resides in Sacramento; John, a photographer in Woodland; and Alice, who married Frederick Boxold and resides in Colusa. 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] File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/bios/cook177gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 4.7 Kb