Pension Application for Wid. Delydia Cook. Parish of Orleans, Louisiana Submitted by Sherry Sanford ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** TIPS FOR SEARCHING RECORDS ON THE INTERNET Netscape & Ms Explorer users: If searching for a particular surname, locality or date while going through the records in the archives or anywhere....try these few steps: 1. Go to the top of the report you are searching. 2. Click on EDIT at the top of your screen. 3. Next click on FIND in the edit menu. 4. When the square pops up, enter what you are looking for in the FIND WHAT ___________blank. 5. Click on DIRECTION __DOWN. 6. And last click on FIND NEXT and continue to click on FIND NEXT until you reach the end of the report. This should highlight the item that you indicated in "find what" every place it appears in the report. You must continue to click on FIND NEXT till you reach the end of the report to see all of the locations of the item indicated. Application Number 19454 WIDOW'S APPLICATION FOR CONFEDERATE PENSION Mrs. Delydia Cook Widow of: William Cook Company and Regiment: A, 9th Battn. La. Inf. Street Address: 5700 Dannell St., New Orleans, La. Filed: Dec. 4, 1929 Allowed: June 9, 1931 Monthly Allowance $: 1st Ceass (?) Pension Allowed from: June 9, 1931 Rejected: Dec. 10, 1929, Mar. 11, 1930, Jun. 10, 1930 W.M. Stirling, Secretary Board of Pension Commissioners. Date of Marriage: Sept. 2, 1919 Date of Birth: Dec. 3, 1864 (note on bottom: Get opinion from attorney General- about divorce) Cause of Death of (Husband?, word not readable) Answer: Pneumonia When Did He Die? Answer: Oct. 27, 1924 Where? Answer: East Baton Rouge, La. Date of Granting Pension? (Blank) Monthly Amount? (Blank) Date of Appilication? Answer: December 3rd, 1929 WIDOW'S APPLICATION FOR CONFEDERATE PENSION State of Louisiana Parish of Orleans On this 3rd day of December, 1929, personally appeared before me, (first initial unreadable) Richard Hagen, Notary Public, within and for said Parish and State, Mrs. Delydia Cook, who, being by me first duly sworn according to law, declares she is the widow of William Cook, who entered the service of the Confederate States during the Civil War under the name of William Cook, and that she claims the aid and benefit of Article 18 of the Constitution of 1921, and subsequent Acts of the Legislature of the State thereunder, as is further shown by her answers to the following questions, which she swears to be true and correct: 1. Where were you born? Answer: Macon, Ga. When? Answer: December 3rd, (year has had tape over & is unreadable) 2. How many times have you been married? Answer: 2 3.Explain fully, giving dates and (rest taped over) Answer: to Charles Howell Oct. 12, 1907, died Nov. 11th 1909 4. Where was your husband born? Answer: England When? Answer: Jan, 9, 1843 ( this date is in conflict with birth date given by William Cook on other papers) 5. When did your husband enlist? Answer: May 15, 1862 Where? Answer: Camp Moore, La. 6. Die he serve in the Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Navy, or Marines? Answer: A, 9th Bat. La. Inf. 7. Give the letter of his company and the number of his regiment. Answer: A, 9th Bat. La. Inf. 8. In what State was his command organized? Answer: La. 9. Where did your husband reside at the time of his enlistment? Answer: East Baton Rouge 10. Give the names of your husband's commanding officers. Answer: Captain Stewart 11. Did he serve until the close of the war? Answer: Captured Oct. 9, 1864 at Wilson's ferry 12. Where was he paroled, or discharged? Answer: Elmira, N.Y. May 7, 1865 When? Answer: May 7, 1865 13. How long have you been a resident of the State of Louisiana next preceding the date of this application? Answer: 63 years 14. When did your husband die? Answer: Oct. 27, 1924 Where? Answer: East Baton Rouge, La. 15. What was the cause of his death? Answer: Pneumonia 16. Are you salaried or otherwise provided for by the State of Louisiana, or by any other State or Government? Answer: No 17. What is the value of your property, real and personal? Answer: none 18. What is the amount of your total annual income, from all sources? Answer: None 19. Have you ever made application for the pension before? Answer: Yes If so, when? Answer: April 16, 1929 20. (Can't read question) Was it allowed? Answer: yes 21. (Can't read) address? Answer: 5700 Dannell Street, New Orleans, La. (Can't read), 3rd day of December, 1929 Witnesses: (Signed) Mrs. W.W. Cummings Mrs. F. Mahoney Applicant, Mrs. William Cook/ Mrs. Delydia Cook Also personally appeared Mrs. W.W. Cummings, residing at 1307 Baronne St. And Mrs. F. Mahoney, residing at 1217 Baronne St., persons whom I certify to be respectable and entitled to credit, and who, being by me duly sworn say that they were present and saw Mrs. Delida Cook, the claimant, sign her name to the foregoing declaration and that they verily believe that the facts and declaration of said claimant are true and correct; that their acquaintance with her for 8 years and 9 years, respectively, justifies them in making this statement, and that she is the identical person she represents herself to be, and that they have no interest in the prosecution of this claim. (Signed) Mrs. W.W. Cummings Mrs. F. Mahoney (Can't read portion), and subscribed before me on this, the 3rd day of December, 1929, (unreadable), that the contents of the above declaration were fully made known and explained to applicant and witnesses, (unreadable) this claim. (Signed) R. Richard Hagen, Clerk of Court or Notary Public (There is a huge amount of information in this file, including letters by the applicant, Mrs. Delydia Mobley Howell Cook, letters to and from the Board of Pension Commissioners, and much more. I will include a few select such correspondence.) State of Louisiana Office of Board of Pension Commissioners Baton Rouge April 19, 1929 No. 19454-Cook 4929 Dryades (?) Street New Orleans, La. Your application for Confederate pension is now on file in this office. In order that it may be as near complete as possible when the board meets to examine it, I will ask that you give additional information on the subjects checked below: 1. Send us a certified copy of birth or evidence of date of same Dear Madam: Your application for pension was received on April 16th, but this Board will be unable to approve your claim because you were married to Mr. Cook subsequent to the year 1905, and have not yet attained the age of sixty-five years. See the enclosed copy of Act 140 of 1928 Yours very truly, WMS/BS Secretary. UNITED SPANISH WAR VETERANS DEPARTMENT OF LOUISIANA Hayden Y. Grubbs Camp No. 3 New Orleans, La. July 30th, 1929 Board of Health for the City of Macon, Ga. In Re; Delidia Mobley Dear Sir; Delida Mobley, was born in the City of Macon Georgia, December 3rd, 1864; she is the daughtere of Henry Mobley and Delida Carey. Delida Mobley, now the widow of William Cook, a confederate Veteran, is filing her application as the widow of said soldier, and as she was married subsequent to 1905, it is necessary that she file a certified copy of her birth. (Application for confederate pension) Will you kindly refer to your records of 1864 for the purpose of locating any recordation of this birth, and if so recorded, kindly send to the lady a certified copy of this birth record. Thanking you for any courtesy to Mrs. Cook, I am, Yours very truly, W.W. Cummings Post-Commander. 528 Audubon Building New Orleans, La. Address your reply to Mrs. William Cook, 3304 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans, La. (Note hand written on bottom of this letter: We are very sorry to advise that our Vital Statistics records do not date back as far as 1864. Yours truly, Dr. J.O. Applewhite, Health Officer.) To the Honorable Judge of the Twenty Second Judicial District Court of Louisiana, In and For the Parish of East Baton Rouge. The petition of WILLIAM COOK, a resident of this Parish and State, with respect shows: (1) That he was lawfully married to Delidia Howell, a widow on September 2nd. 1919 in this Parish and State. (2) (Can't read first word) your petitioner shows that he is seventy-nine years of age, served in the Confederate Arm and has spent a greater part of his life in your said Parish and State. (3) That the circumstances under which he married the said Mrs. Delidia Howell were as follows: That your petitioner advertised in a newspaper for a wife and that the said Mrs. Delidia Howell promptly answered his advertisement and suggested that he come to New Orleans to confer with her upon this subject; that your petitioner promptly went to the City of New Orleans and after a brief consultation with the lady, they decided to come to the Parish of East Baton Rouge and be married and that as aforesaid, they were married in the city of Baton Rouge on September 2nd. 1919. (4) That the matrimonial domicile was established in this Parish and State and that petitioner's said wife resides in this Parish and State> (5) That petitioner took his wife to his home in the Fifth Ward of this Parish to live. (6) That almost from the moment that he arrived at his home with his new wife, she began to quarrel with him and promptly demanded that he sign a deed conveying to her title to all his lands and chattals, threatening him with personal violence if he refused to do so. (7) That petitioner refused to made her a deed to his property and that thereafter, his said wife has made life miserable for him. (8) That she has been guilty of cruel treatment and outrages towards your petioner of such a nature as to render living together insupportable and in this to-wit: (9) That she has constantly kept petitioner in fear of death; that she has kept a loaded shot gun and pistol and often pointed both of them at him and told him that if he did not make her a deed to his property and otherwise comply with her wishes, she would kill him; your petitioner especially avers that she assaulted him with both shot gun and pistol in the month of May, 1920 and that so violent was she in her conduct towards him, that he was compelled to leave his house and sleep in the hay loft. (10) As an additonal specification, your petitioner avers that in the month of July, 1920, his said wife threatened to kill him in the presence of Steven Bostick and assaulted him with an iron rod commonly known as a fire poker; that on this occasion she publicly defamed your petitioner, calling him vile names, belittling, ridiculing, slandering and abusing him in every way all of which she had been guilty of in the months of May and June 1920, imaginable, all of which took place at their home in the Fifth Ward of this Parish. (11) That her abuse and threats were continous up until a certain day in July 1920, when your petitioner was compelled to leave his home and seek refuge in the home of a neighbor. (12) That not content in running petitioner away from his home in fear of losing his life at the hands of his said wife, she came to the place where he was living, abused and threatened him and finally had your petitioner arrested for non support. (13) That after having been arraigned, petitioner ws tried in this Honorable Court and acquitte of the charges against him. (14) And now petitioner shows that he has never given his wife any cause for such ill treatment; but on the contrary, provided for her support to the best of his ability until, on account of her cruel and inhuman treatment of him, he was compelled to seek protection from her in the home of a neighbor. (15) That he is entitled to and desires to obtain a judgment of separation from bed and board from his said wife. (16) That the community existing between him and his said wife owns no property and that no children have been born of said marriage. Wherefore, he prays that his said wife, Mrs. Delidia Howell Cook be authorized to defend this suit and stand in judgment herein; that she be duly cited to appear and answer this petition, and after due delays and necessary proceedings had, there be judgment in favor of your petitioner and against his said wife decreeing a separation "a mensa et thoro" between them, and for all cost and general relief. By Attorney (Sgd.) Chas. A Holcombe State of Louisiana Parish of East Baton Rouge Before me the undersigned authority in and for the above named parish and State personally came and appeared William Cook, who being sworn deposes and says that he is the plaintiff in the foregoing suit; that he has read the foregoing petition, and that all of the allegations of fact therein contained are true and correct. (Sgd) William Cook Sworn to and subscribed before me this 23rd day of Aug. 1920. (Sgd) Charles A. Holcombe, Notary Public Order- Let the defendant Mrs. Delidia Howell Cook be and she is hereby authorized to defend this suit and statnd in judgment herein. Baton Rouge, La., Aug. 23, 1920 (Sgd) H.F. Brunot Judge 22nd Jud. Dist. Court of La. Filed: August 25, 1920 Signed: Dewey J. Sanchez A true copy, Sept. 19, 1929 M.M. Keen, Clerk (Note: Delidia Howell Cook , in the process of Summons & Petition could not be found. She moved numerous times) STATE OF LOUISIANA Department of Justice Offices of the Attorney General New Court Building New Orleans December 12th, 1929 Hon. W.M. Stirling, Secretary Boarrd of Pension Commissioners Baton Rouge, Louisiana 19454 - Cook Dear Sir: Your letter of the 11th instant is to hand. I note you say that a widow of a Confederate Veteran is applying for a pension; that prior to the death of her husband, he instituted divorce proceedings but before the case was tried, the Confederate Veteran died; that no final decree was granted, and that otherwise the widow is entitled to the pension under Act. 149 of 1928. In reply to your letter, will say that if the filing of the divorce suit is the only disqualification referred to, the widow is entitled to the pension, as she is the widow of the deceased Confederate Veteran. Very truly yours, (Signed) Percy Saint Attorney General Parish of Orleans State of Louisiana Before me, Clarence F. Favrot, a duly licensed and commissioned notary public in and for this parish and state, personally came and appeared Mrs. Lydia Howell Cook, widow of William Cook, who being first duly sworn deposes and says that she was married to William Cook, deceased, on Sept. 2, 191; that (can't read sentence), up to about three years prior to his death in October, 1924 (?), affiant deposes and says that her husband deserted her without just cause or provocation about three years before his death, when they were living near Indian Mound as aforesaid; that her husband had become a little childish and became provoked because affiant chided him about his ordering a young neighbor away from the premises without any reason for his actions; that the following day he left affiant and affiant remained at the family residence for about two weeks without any means of her own for support and maintenance and without any from her husband; that she was at that time assisted by her daughter Mrs. M.R. Matranga; that affiant endeavored to get in touch with her husband to see what he intended to do, but he avoided her and finally affiant was compelled to go to her daughter's residence in New Orleans; that affiant never saw her husband again; that she heard he had filed a separation suit in Baton Rouge but she was never served with any document connected with said suit and despite her efforts to locate the record of such a suit in Baton Rouge, she was failed to confirm the reports about same; that she believes if one were filed, it was never carried to judgment; that affiant denies the truthfulness of vague reports that she was either mean or cruel to her husband but on the contrary affiant alleges she always took the best of care of him and both she and her daughter Mrs. M.R. Matranga, daughter of affiant's first marriage, were invariably kind and attentive to the deceased and he was very fond of affiant's daughter and affiant is informed and believes that when he was on his death bed he often called for his step-daughter and referred to her and said if she was there she would soon get him up again, affiant's daugher being a trained nurse and he having in mind other periods of sickness when affiant's daughter nursed him back to health; that affiant ws sixty-five years old on Dec. 3, 1929; that she is in necessitous circumstances; that affiant believes her husband was influenced by outside sources as she and he had lived happily together until the time that affiant half playfully had taken him to task for ordering away the young ( rest of sentence unreadable) talking to affiant on her front gallery, that he was very cranky about having friends ever come to visit them and he objected to affiants ever (?) their neighbors. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 8th day of August, 1930 (Signed) Mrs. William Cook (other signature unreadable) Notary Public, Parish of Orleans State of Louisiana My commission expires at death