John Bell Cook    

John Bell Cook, of Washington township, is of the third generation of that name in this locality. He was born Aug. 26, 1808, upon the old Cook homestead in that township. His early education was received in the common schools. He learned the business of farming, and resided with his father until his marriage with Matilda Cunningham, of Washington township, Fayette Co., Oct. 18, 1837, and then moved to a farm on the Monongahela River near. Fayette City, where he resided sixteen years. Here all of his children, below named, were born: James was born May 14, 1840, and followed farming until September, 1862, when he entered the army. He died at City Point, Aug. 16, 1864, from injuries received in the service. His remains were removed in November of that year to Rehoboth Presbyterian Cemetery. Sarah A. was born Aug. 23, 1842. She was educated in the common schools and Blairsville Female Seminary, married Andrew M. Fulton, Esq., of Greensburg, Jan. 14, 1874, and died December 12th of the same year. William Johnson, the third child, was born July 4, 1844, and died in infancy. Joseph A. was born Dec. 11, 1846. He is a farmer, and resides with his father. He married Violette H. Elliott, of Jefferson township, Sept. 20, 1876; they have two children, Ada and Sallie. The youngest child, Robert Johnson, was born March 21, 1849. He received his early education in the common schools, entered Yale College in 1872, and graduated in 1876. He began the study of law in Greensburg with A. M. Fulton, Esq., in 1877, and completed his course in the office of Hon. John H. Baily, of Pittsburgh. He was admitted to the bar in 1878, and was married April 26, 1881, to Annie Wells, of Pittsburgh, and sailed for Europe. He is now in Leipsic, Germany, studying. They have one child, born in Germany. He was captain of the Yale boat crew from 1873 until 1876. He was sent by Yale to England in 1873 to learn the English stroke.

Mr. Cook has never held a political office outside of the township, and never sought one. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church for many years. His father, James Cook, was born Aug. 13, 1772, upon the Cook homestead, and was a farmer. May 6, 1806, he married Mary Bell, who was born in Ireland, and emigrated to this country when eleven years old. They had six children, five sons and one daughter. John was the second. The sons were all farmers. The daughter married a farmer. Only three of the children are living,—John B., William E., and Martha Hough.

Mr. Cook’s grandfather, Col. Edward Cook, was the pioneer of civilization in this region. He moved here in 1770 from Conococheague, Franklin Co., where he married Martha Crawford. They had but one child, James Cook. To his character the legends of the times say that the inscription upon his tombstone (composed by the Rev. William Wylie, pastor of the Rehoboth Church of Rostraver township, Westmoreland Co., from 1803 to 1815), is a fitting tribute. It is, “In memory of Col. Edward Cook. He died on the 27th of November, 1808, in the seventy year of his age. Few men have deserved and possessed more eminently than Col. Cook the consideration and esteem of the people in the Western country. In public spirit, disinterestedness, and zeal for the general welfare he was excelled by none. In private life, his unsullied integrity, his liberality, and the amiable benevolence of his temper endeared him to his friends, and marked him as a sanctuary to which the poor might confidently resort for relief. Through a long life of piety and active exertion to promote the interests of the Christian religion he had learned to set his heart upon a nobler inheritance than that of this world. He therefore received the approach of his dissolution with resignation and composure, under a lively hope that the end of life here would be to him but the beginning of infinite happiness."

Col. Edward’s wife was born Dec. 25, 1743, and died April 20, 1837.

John B. Cook possesses many of the virtues of his grandsire.

History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1882, pages 825-826. View the image of this page online - Free Trial  More Fayette County History Books  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com

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