Re: DNA & Genealogy
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In reply to:
DNA & Genealogy
Glen & Melody Cook 9/02/00
Nr. 344:
A reader suggests that I have not covered the Cook family who were members of the Second Colony.Let's see, if by putting our heads together, if we can't make a few statements about them.Michael Cook (Koch) was from Schwaigern, where he had married Barbara Reiner; however, in Virginia, his wife's name seems to have been Mary.Whether Barbara and Mary are the same person is not proven, but Mary does appear to be a Reiner.In fact, in the Hebron Register she is given as a "Steiner", which is surely a mistake for Reiner.Another minor mystery is why Michael Cook and Jacob Crigler had a joint patent for land.
Michael and Mary Cook had four children in Virginia:Margaret, Dorothy, Adam, and George.The Hebron Church Register has many references to the families and their members, and it is possible to state that the four children and their marriage partners were (keeping the number 1 for Michael):
George Cook, born before 1723, married first, Mary Sarah Reiner, his first cousin, and married second, Anna Maria Hoffman.He died about 1802.Mary Sarah Reiner came with her family about 1750.Her father is believed to be the brother of Michael Cook's wife.
Adam Cook, born before 1723 also, married Barbara Fleshman.
Dorothy Cook, married John Carpenter, Jr.
Margaret Cook, married Philip Snyder.She died about 1795.
I have the following grandchildren of Michael.Children of George Cook and his first wife, Mary Sarah Reiner:
Mary Barbara Cook, b. 1751, married John Blankenbaker.
Margaret Cook, b. 1753, married Christopher Tanner.
Magdalena Cook, b. 1756, married John Huffman.
Elizabeth Cook, b. 1758, d. before 1805, no marriage known.
Dorothy Cook, b. 1762, no marriage known.
Diana Cook, died at a young age.
Lewis Cook, b. 1768, married Mary Yager.
All of the above children birth's are in the Hebron Register.Children of George Cook and his second wife, Anna Maria Hoffman:
Ambrose Cook, b. 1775, married Susanna Fleshman.
Aaron Cook, b. 1776, married Leanna Garr.
Sara Cook, b. 1777, married Andrew Huffman.
George Cook, b. 1778, married Jemina Wilhoit.
Rosanna Cook, b. 1779.
Cornelius Cook, b. 1780, married Mary Wilkinson.
Moses Cook, married in 1804, Elizabeth Grayson.
? Jemina ? (This may have been a daughter-in-law, not a daughter.)
Not all of the children of the second family are in Register.Another source of information on the members of the family is the estate settlement of George Cook.As we proceed with the discussion of the Cook family, perhaps readers can add or correct what is said.
Incidentally, I am always open to suggestions as to topics to cover here.But remember that I may not know anything about your favorite topic.
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Nr. 345:
Continuing with the Second Germanna Colony family of Michael Cook, some information was given in the last note about his son, George.One reason for starting with George is that the Hebron Register and the estate settlement for George (see Madison County Deed Book for 1805) specify his children, though uncertainties remain.References to other Cooks in the Hebron Register must be references to the children of Adam, if not to the sons George and Adam themselves.(Of course, the next generation could be appearing also.)
Land deeds and the Hebron references establish that Michael Cook had four children, two girls, Dorothy and Margaret, who were older than the two sons, Adam and George.On 1 Aug 1751, Michael Cook gave 100 acres each to Philip Snyder and to John Carpenter, Jr.On 21 Jul 1757, he gave 112 acres to Adam and George.This later date for the son's land is the reason for thinking that the sons were younger than the daughters.The distribution of land was typically German, with both daughters and sons receiving assets.Also, a distribution before death is not unusual.
When the final estate of George Cook, one of the sons of Michael, was divided, there were thirteen heirs who sold smaller pieces of land.Each of the heirs had a set of witnesses to the act.As a consequence, some information can be learned from the names of witnesses.For example, there were two John Blankenbakers in the community at the time.Mary Barbara Cook, the eldest daughter of George Cook, married one of them, but which one?Since the husbands signed for the couples in the estate sale, a John Blankenbaker appeared, and he asked some other Blankenbakers to be his witnesses.The logical persons to ask would be his brothers.Therefore we conclude that this John Blankenbaker was the one who was the son of Zacharias.
In a similar way, Jemina Cook had three witnesses, all different from the other witnesses.Her relationship might be as an unmarried daughter of George, or it might be as a daughter-in-law.Her witnesses were three Garr men.It is hard to escape the conclusion that Jemina was a Garr who had married a son of George who died after his father died and before the estate was settled; however, I have not researched this question in depth.(If I could find my copy of the estate settlement, I might look into this more as I now have a copy of the Garr Genealogy.)
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Nr. 346:
[There was no note yesterday due to the severe windstorms in the area.Sunday night, many trees were blown down, taking out the electrical service including our well water.It was an approximate hint of what life in the eighteenth century was like.]
The immigrant, Michael Cook, had two sons, Adam and George.The children of George are fairly well known, though there is an element of uncertainty about a probable son who married Jemina Garr.The remaining third generation Cooks in the Hebron Church Register are assigned to Adam though the process is not fool proof, as a woman with a Cook surname could have the name as a birth name or as a married name.The other problem is sorting out the third generation, especially from the fourth generation.
Adam, of the second generation, did marry Barbara, daughter of Peter Fleshman, and granddaughter of the 1717 immigrant Cyriacus Fleshman, for on 13 Dec 1773, Adam Cook, Christopher Barler (Barlow), Christopher Ryner (Reiner), and John and Peter Fleshman signed an agreement regarding the valuation of the estate of Peter Fleshman, dec'd. (Culpeper D.B. D, p. 222).In the baptisms of the Cook children, the names of Barlow, Reiner, and Fleshman occur very frequently, and they are probably cousins.A tentative list of the children of Adam Cook and his wife, Barbara Fleshman, is:
Frederick, married, ca 1778-1780, Eva.Eva's maiden name is uncertain but two families stand out as candidates, Boehm and Smith.
Peter, married Mary Carpenter, his first cousin, the daughter of Dorothy Cook and John Carpenter, Jr.
John, married Mary Fleshman.
Michael, married Catherine Wilhoit.
Adam, Jr., married Elisabeth. Elisabeth's maiden name is uncertain.
(B.C. Holtzclaw confused Adam, Sr., with Adam, Jr., and derived a false conclusion.)
Daniel, married Rosanna or Rosina Wilhoit.
All of the remaining children are less certain.
Mary.
Barbara.
Margaret.
Other candidate children are:
Susan.
Ephraim, married Jemina Fleshman.
Ann, married Absalom Utz.
Elizabeth, married Samuel Snyder, her first cousin, the son of Margaret Cook and Philip Snyder.
Whereas most of the children of George Cook, #2, appear as births in the Hebron Church Register, none of the children of Adam Cook, #3, appear in the birth register.Many of the children of Adam are to be found in the Hebron Register as adults though.The probable reason that the children of Adam do not appear in the birth register is that the register, as it was rewritten in 1776, has no families whose first child was born before 1750.This is a slight bit of evidence that Adam may have been older than George, whose first child was born in 1751.
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Nr. 347:
The children of the two daughters of Michael and Mary (Reiner) Cook, 1717 immigrants to Virginia, are known to a better degree than the children of Adam Cook.One of the daughters, Dorothy, married John Carpenter, Jr.The children of John and Dorothy are not given in the Hebron Register because the first child was born before 1750, and the Register includes no families whose first child was born before 1750.The children of John and Dorothy are taken to be:
John, III, b. ca 1748, who married Susanna Delph.
George, the records are thin for George and the assumption is that he died young.
Michael, b. ca 1755, married Rebecca Delph after 1776. Michael was in the Rev. War.
Mary, b. ca 1761, married her first cousin Peter Cook, the son of Adam Cook.
Samuel, b. ca 1761, married Margaret Blankenbaker.
Margaret, b. ca 1763, died without marriage.
Leah, b. ca 1765, very few records exist for her.
Susanna, b. ca 1769, married John Jesse.
In the last note, Mary was given as a child of Adam Cook.Note that the Mary here married Peter Cook, so that, after marriage, she would be a Mary Cook.It is possible that Adam's Mary and Dorothy's Mary, after marriage, have been confused.
I have a question in my notes to think about.Adam Barlow, Jr.'s, wife was a Leah.Because the Cook, Reiner, Fleshman, and Barlow families are rather close, I have wondered if Leah Carpenter could have married Adam Barlow, Jr.Maybe someone else could comment on this question.
The will of John Carpenter, Jr., who died in 1804, mentions the children John, Michael, Samuel, Mary Cook, Margaret Carpenter, and Susanna Jesse.Thus, George and Leah in the list above are not confirmed by the will of John Carpenter, Jr.
In the Hebron Register, records for the Carpenters are found as both Zimmerman and as Carpenter.There was another, unrelated, Zimmerman family who is always found as Zimmerman so that one must ask which family is meant.
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Nr. 348:
Margaret Cook, daughter of Michael Cook and his wife Mary Reiner, married Philip Snyder, a later arrival to the Robinson River community.Philip received a gift of land from Michael Cook.The children of Philip and Margaret started arriving before 1750 and therefore do not appear in the Hebron Church Register.Philip and Margaret appear as sponsors at the baptisms of the children of her brother, George.
The children of Philip Snyder and Margaret Cook are:
Michael, b. ca 1749-50, married Mary Delph,
(Mary) Margaret, b. 1752, married Michael Delph,
William, died as a young man,
Elisabeth, b. ca 1754, married ca 1774-76, Conrad Delph,
Joseph, married Mary Christopher,
Philip, Jr., b. 1758, died without heirs 1820,
Mary, b. ca 1762, never married,
Susanna, b. ca 1763-4, married before 1788, Jacob Razor,
Samuel, b. 1771-2, married Elisabeth Cook, his first cousin,
George, died as a young man,
? Adam ?
Margaret, above, probably had the full name of Mary Margaret, for Michael Delph and Mary were parents in 1780 and 1782.Margaret Delph was a sponsor in 1788.Michael and Margaret were at church in 1776 and 1782, but to confuse the issue, there is probably an error in 1782, when Michael and Magdalena were at church in 1778.
Typical baptisms illustrate the family relationships.For example, Michael and Mary Snyder had Adam baptized (born 28 Aug 1774) with sponsors Adam Delph and Rebecca Delph from her family.From his family he had Elizabeth Snyder, his sister.Frederick Tanner was also a sponsor.When Anna Snyder was baptized (born 21 Jan 1776), Joseph Snyder was a sponsor and Daniel and Rebecca Delph were sponsors.After a gap of several years, which should not be taken as signifying anything, Michael and Mary Snyder had Elizabeth (b. 28 Jan 1790) and Josua (b. 12 May 1793) baptized on 16 Jun 1793.By this time, the pattern of the sponsors had changed and the parents served as the sponsors.
Note that there are two families of Michael and Mary.There is Michael and Mary Snyder, and there is Michael and Mary Delph.The two Marys swapped maiden names and married names.It tends to confuse one.
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Nr. 349:
Christian Herr, like his father, Hans Herr, was a Mennonite minister.As was typical of the Anabaptists then, Christian had other occupations, in his case farming and distilling.His estate inventory in 1750 shows that he owned two stills.Today, Anabaptists frown severely on the use of alcoholic beverages.With our own Germanna colonists, we often find that they owned stills.A short presentation here on the use of alcohol through the ages is based on material from the current issue (June 1998) of "Scientific American".If you are interested in my own views on alcohol, I have a bottle of spirits that is advertised as aged seven years but, since I have had the bottle, at least some of the contents have aged another fourteen years.
Drinks with a high percentage of alcohol are relatively modern, arising only in the last few hundred years in the western world.Prior to that time, drinks with a low percentage of alcohol, such as beer and wine, have been used for perhaps ten thousand years.As civilization developed or became concentrated in a region, the water supplies became polluted.It simply was not safe to drink the water and beer and wine filled the need for safe liquids.
How many instances can you cite in the Bible where water is extolled as a drink?Jesus converted water into wine and not wine into water.In the writings of the Greeks, water is not mentioned favorably except for mountain springs, deep wells, or from rainwater.Roman towns on a river had water supplied by an aqueduct from sources several miles away because the river water was too polluted.The river was not viewed as a source of water but a disposal means.Unless you were a hermit, living away from civilization, the water was often not fit to drink.This has only changed in the last one or two centuries in the western world.
Additionally, alcoholic beverages were a supply of calories besides being a liquid.The beverages kept well from one growing season to the next.
In 1777, Frederick the Great of Prussia was disturbed by the fad for coffee which had to be imported.He said, "It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the country as a consequence.Everybody is using coffee; this must be prevented.His majesty was brought up on beer, and so were both his ancestors and officers.Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war."