Miles Cook’s Bible
Published in MAYFLOWER DESCENDANT
Summer 2003, Volume 52, No2 by Mark Ihrig
“Miles Cook’s Bible will my children, preserve this record” – Benjamin Cook
“This inscription is found on the flyleaf of Miles Cook’s bible and has echoed over many generations. For almost 200 years, the Bible was handed down to the oldest son for safekeeping and recording of the family’s history. A second inscription transcribed from an earlier Cook family registry matches the fifth generation of Thomas Cook Jr. and Hannah Tryon. This links almost 400 years of Stephen Hopkin’s descendants.
The Cook Bible started with Miles Cook in 1831. It was handed down to Benjamin Cook after Miles’s death on 10 July 1846. In 1860 Benjamin took the “original family register” and inscribed detailed information about his grandparents into the Bible. Before the War of 1812, Benjamin had moved to Antwerp, Jefferson Co., N.Y., where he built a pole cabin and farmed. He was the third teacher of the area. Benjamin married Lucinda Foster on 24 June 1827. “Lucinda died leaving six out of eight children.”
Benjamin and Lucinda’s son, James Foster Cook, was born on 1 January 1843. James Foster Cook was a bugler in the New York 142nd Regiment Infantry during the Civil War. James Foster Cook married Almira Helm on 6 May 1877 probably in New York and they later migrated to Michigan. James inherited the Cook Bible from his father Benjamin after his death on 13 June 1880 in Antwerp, N.Y. Miles and wife Sarah, and Benjamin and wife Lucinda are all buried in the Kinne Cemetery, Antwerp, Jefferson Co., N .Y. James Foster Cook and Almira Cook had eight children in Michigan, including two sets of twins. The family migrated to Condon, Oregon.
The Bible continued to be passed down to the next oldest son, Benjamin Cook (1886-1936); to his son, Lloyd (“Ted”)Laverne Cook (1907-1981); and to his son, Dr. Thomas Cook. Dr. Cook lives in South Dakota and currently has possession of the Cook Bible. He provided the author with scanned color copies of the fragile Bible pages. He included many older photos of the Cook family. Publishing the data here will provide a lasting legacy for the six generations recorded in a manner that would make Benjamin Cook (1791-1880) proud.”
