Union County Biographies - COOK
Asell
C. COOK
George Cook and Effie Hammock
Thomas R. Cook and Nancy Josephine Hammock
ASELL C. COOK. - We are pleased to grant representation
in this volume of Union county's history to the gentleman whose name is at
the head of this article, and who is numbered with the prosperous and enterprising
agriculturists of this county, having a good farm located two and one-half
miles east from Union on the Cornucopia stage road, where he has made a
comfortable and good rural residence and gives attention to producing the
fruits of the field and raising stock, also being esteemed by his associates
because of his stanch qualities and uprightness.
On November 22, 1835, in Cayuga county, New York, Asell C. was born to
William Cook, and in different parts of the state he spent his early life,
until August 5, 1857, at which date he started from New York city via Panama
to San Francisco, whence he went to Sacramento and assisted to build the telegraph
line from Marysville to Sacramento; then went to Yreka and there followed
mining, as also in other parts of the state and in Nevada, Idaho and Oregon,
until 1865. Then he came to the Grande Ronde valley and has since been in
this section. On February 17, 1867, Mr. Cook married Mrs. Nancy Vanscoyk,
whose husband, A.J. Vanscoyk, had been killed in 1863, in the territory of
Nebraska. Her parents were Jacob and Matilda Wilkinson, pioneers to this valley
in 1864, crossing the plains with ox teams and consuming five months in the
journey. Stock raising and farming occupied our subject in various parts
of this county until 1875, when he purchased his present place of one hundred
and twenty acres, two and one-half miles east from Union, and there he has
made a beautiful home. He continues in general farming and stock raising and
has been attended with success and is now numbered with the prosperous farmers
of this section.
Mrs. Cook had two children by her former husband: Norval A., married to
Bertha Utz, and living near Union; Eliza P., wife of Warren Drake, and living
in Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Cook have adopted two children; Roy V. Cook and Norval
C. Cook, grandchildren to Mrs. Cook. Mr. Cook is one of the substantial citizens
of the county, and has done much for its upbuilding and advancement and progress,
and he is esteemed by his neighbors and all who may have the pleasure of
his acquaintance.
Illustrated History of Union and Wallowa Counties
Copyright 1902
Page 346, 347
George Bartholomew Cook, who has been
engaged in the operation of the ranch on which he now resides in the Wallowa
valley for nearly thirty years, is one of the well known pioneers in the vicinity
of Lostine. He was born in Polk County, Oregon, on the 27th of February 1862,
and is the son of Thomas L. and Harriet (Jacobs) Cook. The parents came to
the Willamette valley in 1854 and there the father engaged in agricultural
pursuits until 1879 when together with his family he removed to Wallowa County.
Here he passed away the same year, but the mother survived until 1909.
The Boyhood and early youth of George Bartholomew Cook were passed
on the ranch where he was born, and in the cultivation of which he began to
assist at a very early age. He was given the advantages of but a meager education,
such schooling as he acquired being obtained in the Willamette valley when
he was a lad of between and sixteen years. He accompanied his parents on
their removal to Wallowa County in 1879 and here he filed on a homestead
of one hundred and sixty acres upon attaining his majority, and has ever
since devoted his energies to its cultivation. During the intervening years
he has effected marvelous changes in his place, which is located two miles
south of Lostine, and now owns one of the best improved and equipped ranches
in the community. Mr. Cook is an industrious man of practical ideas and has
applied himself intelligently to the development of his land, which has rewarded
his efforts by abundant harvests of a quality to command the markets highest
prices. He has prospered in both his farming and stock raising and is now
one of the substantial ranchers in this section of the county.
For his wife and helpmate, Mr. Cook chose Miss
Effie Hammock, a daughter of James Wesley and Sarah Hammock, their marriage
being celebrated at Lostine, on the 9th of December, 1886. They have become
the parents of three children, Roy, Grace and Charles.
The family attend the Christian church and fraternally
he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while in politics
he is a democrat. Although he has always taken an active interest in all things
pertaining to the community welfare, Mr. Cook has never sought political preferment
nor been an office holder. In addition to his valuable ranch he is a stockholder
in the Nip & Tuck Mining Company, which claim is located in the vicinity
of Lostine and gives every assurance of developing into a profitable enterprise.
He has worked earnestly and persistently and his unwearied industry has been
a strong factor in the prosperity that has attended his efforts and numbered
him among the successful ranchmen of the county.
Source: The Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1911
Although this sketch focuses mostly on G. B. Cook there is Hammack information
in it and I would conclude Effie and children led a good life. You have to
get through all the poetic prose these sketches produce.
Thomas R. Cook is the owner of a fine ranch of
eighty acres located in the Wallowa valley, in the cultivation of which he
has been actively engaged for more than a quarter of a century. He is a native
of Oregon, his birth having occurred in the Willamette valley on February
16, 1861, his parents being Thomas L. and Harriet (Jacobs) Cook. His people
came to Oregon in 1854, settling in the Willamette valley, where the father
acquired some government land that he industriously cultivated with a goodly
measure of success for twenty-five years. In 1879, he disposed of his holdings
there and removed with his wife and family to Wallowa County, and here he
passed away the same year, the mother, however, surviving until 1909.
Reared on the ranch where he was born, Thomas R.
Cook was early trained in the work of the fields and care of the stock, thus
laying the foundation for a successful agricultural career later in life.
His education advantages were very limited, his schooling being confined to
a few terms of irregular attendance in his home district, prior to the age
of twelve years. He then laid aside his text-books and thereafter has his
entire time and attention to the work of the ranch. When his parents removed
to Wallowa County he accompanied them and upon attaining his majority he
filed on a homestead two miles south of Lostine, and has since engaged in
its cultivation. As he is industrious and practical in his methods and gives
his personal supervision to everything about his place, doing much of the
work himself, he has prospered in a most gratifying manner. At various times,
as his circumstances have warranted, he has introduced modern conveniences
that have added greatly to the comfort and value of his place, and now has
one of the best equipped ranches in the community.
At Lostine, on November 24, 1889, Mr. Cook was
united in marriage to Miss Nancy J. (Josephine) Hammock, a daughter of James
Wesley and Sarah Hammock, and they have become the parents of two sons: Albert
Lawrence, who is assisting his father with the operation of the home ranch;
and James Alvin, who is still in school.
The family affiliate with the Christian church,
and Mr. Cook is a member of The Odd Fellows Society in which he has passed
through the chairs. In politics he is a stanch democrat, but not an office
seeker. He has always applied himself closely and worked tirelessly in the
development of his land, which annually yields him an income more than sufficient
to meet the needs of his family, and he is numbered among the substantial
and worth residents of his community.
Source: The Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1911
