Aaron
Cooke
Jr
Born before in Bridport, Dorset, England
Ancestors 
Son of Aaron Cooke Sr
and Elizabeth (Charde) Ford
Brother of
Elizabeth Cooke, Joanna (Ford) Clapp [half], Abigail (Ford) Strong [half], Thomas Ford [half], Hepzibah (Ford) Marsh [half] and Hannah Ford [half]
Husband of
Unknown (Unknown) Cooke
— married
about 1636 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
Husband of
Joan (Denslow) Cooke
— married
1649 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
Husband of
Elizabeth (Nash) Cooke
— married
2 Dec 1676 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut
Husband of
Rebecca (Foote) Cooke
— married
2 Oct 1688 in Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts
Descendants 
Father of
Joanna (Cooke) Wolcott, Aaron Cooke III, Miriam (Cooke) Leeds, Moses Cooke, Samuel Cooke, Elizabeth (Cooke) Parsons and Noah Cooke
Died
after age 76
in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay
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| Created 14 Sep 2010
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| Aaron Cooke Jr migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 1, p. 464) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm |
Contents |
Biography
Aaron Cooke was born in 1613 or early 1614 in England and christened March 20 1613/14 at Bridport, Dorset, England to Aaron Cooke and his wife Elizabeth Charde.[1] His father died when he was quite young and his mother married again, to Thomas Ford.[1] The Ford-Cooke family emigrated to the new world in 1630 in the Mary and John.[2] The extended family moved from Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, to Windsor (Connecticut) and settling at Northampton (Massachusetts) about 1670.
Aaron Cook Jr served in King Philip's War. He commanded the garrison at Westfield in 1675. He had the military title of Major. He died September 5, 1690.
His first wife was possibly Mary Ford Cook, daughter of Thomas Ford and Joane Waye Ford. Mary died in 1649 at Windsor,CT.
His second wife was Joan Denslow Cook, *possibly* (not proven) daughter of Nicholas Denslow and Elizabeth Doling Denslow. Joan died April 1676 at Westfield,MA.
His third wife, whom he married Dec 2,1676, was Elizabeth Nash Cook, daughter of John Nash and Elizabeth Tapp Nash of New Haven,CT. She died Sept 3, 1687 and is probably buried beside Aaron in Northampton.
His fourth and final wife, whom he married Oct 2,1688, was Rebecca Foote Smith Cook, widow of Philip Smith, and daughter of Nathaniel Foote and Elizabeth Deming Foote.
Aaron Cook was the son of Aaron Cook and Elizabeth Charde Cook of Bridport,Co.Dorset, England.
Children (by first marriage):
Joanna Cook Wolcott (first wife of Simon Wolcott),
Aaron Cook III,
Miriam Cook Leeds,
and Moses Cook.
Children (by second marriage):
Samuel Cook,
Elizabeth Cook Parsons (first wife of Samuel Parsons),
John Cook,
and Noah Cook (father of Elizabeth
Cook Clark and Noah Cook Jr). Spouse: Rebecca Foote Smith Cooke (1634 - 1701) Children: Aaron Cook (1641 - 1716)* Miriam Cooke Leeds (1643 - 1720)* Burial: Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA
Wives
- He married first about 1636, but the wife's name is not known.
- There have been many claims that he married his stepsister, Mary Ford, daughter of Thomas Ford by his first wife Joane Way. But discovery of his mother's marriage to Thomas Ford by Torrey who found evidence on Aaron Cooke which showed that he was a stepson rather than son-in-law of Thomas Ford. See The American Genealogist, 11:179-80. Therefore, the children attributed to Mary Ford in the traditional genealogies would them belong to the unknown wife.[3]
- Pope suggests that the first wife of Aaron Cooke was Mary, who was a member of Dorchester church in 1636; but the records of the Dorchester church do not include a Mary Cooke. In fact, the alleged first wife of aaron Cooke (before he married Joan Denslow) may not have existed. The need for such an extra wife was based in part on the belief that Aaron Cooke had married a sister of John Strong (since Cooke calls Strong brother in his will). But John Strong had married Abigail Ford, Cooke's younger half-sister... There is no record which names the supposed first wife, and especially no death record. The records ARE consistent with the proposal that Joan Denslow was the first of Aaron's Cooke's THREE wives, and the mother of all his children. The only problem is the Will of Joan's mother, the widow Elizabeth Denslow, which names "my daughter Joan Cooke" and that daughter's children Elizabeth, Samuel and Noah. These are the three youngest children, born from 1650 on, after a five year gap in the birth of the children to Aaron Cooke. The standard arrangement of assigning four wives to Aaron Cooke will be retained here with the caveat the first two may be only one."[4]
- He married, second, aft Nov 1645, Joan Denslow, dau of Nicholas Denslow; she died in Westfield in April 1676.
- He married, third, Elizabeth Nash, on December 2, 1676 in New Haven; she died by 1688.
- He married, fourth, in Hadley, 2 Oct 1688, Rebecca Foote, widow of Philip Smith, dau of Nathaniel Foote. Although she is not mentioned in his will, she survived Aaron and died 6 Apr 1701.
Children
He was father to seven children all recorded in Windsor, Connecticut:[5]
- Joanna Cook, bp Windsor 15 Aug 1638; m Windsor 19 Mar 1656 Simon Woolcott
- Aaron Cook, bp Windsor 21 Feb 1640[/1?]; m in Hadley 30 May 1661 Sarah Westwood
- Meriem (Miriam) Cook, bp Windsor 12 Mar 1642[/3?]; m in Dorchester 8 Nov 1661 Joseph Leeds.
- Mooses (sic) Cook, bp Windsor 16 Nov 1645; m in Windsor 25 Nov 1669 (as "Moses Cooke of Warronock") Elizabeth Clarke
- Samuel Cook, b Windsor 21 Nov 1650
- Elizabeth Cook, b Windsor 7 Aug 1653; m by 1677 Samuel Parsons
- Noah Cook, born 14 Jun 1657
(Pope assigned one Nathaniel Cooke as eldest son of Aaron, but Nathaniel married in 1649, which would make him too old to be a son of Aaron.)
Last Will & Testament
Dated ?? August 1690; proved 24 October 1690; inventory taken 26 Dec 1690.
"Aaron Cooke Sen[io]r of Northampton..."
- my loving son Noah (who received his inheritance at marriage -- property at Westfield)
- my loving son Aaron (who received his inheritance at marriage -- property at Windsor)
- my son Noah (who "left his dwelling at Hartford to come look to my [decline?] and nurse me in my age at Northampton" -- bequeathed my house and born (in Northampton)...
- my brother John Strong...
- my daughter Miriam Laids...
- my loving daughter Elizabeth Parsons...
- Moses Cooke my grandson, of my son Moses, deceased, born to his wife Elizabeth...
- ?? Clarke's daughter..
- Elizabeth Cooke my granddaughter my son Moses daughter
- my grandson Aaron Cooke, son of my son Aaron...
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Torrey, Clarence Almon. "English Origin of Major Aaron Cooke." The American Genealogist. Vol 11: 179/80. Cites the Thorncombe and Bridport Parish Registers.
- ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins...,", p688-689
- ↑ See Torrey p. 365 - 366 for marriages
- ↑ Anderson, GMB, p 466
- ↑ Windsor, Connecticut, "Records of births, marriages and deaths, 1638-1925" v. 1-4 (p.1-142) 1638-1910. Family Record of Aaron Cook, p. 6
See also:
- Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, by Robert Charles Anderson (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995), pp 464-466
- Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985) Vol. I, pp. 365, 366. ---COOKE, Aaron (1614-1690 & 1/wf _____ ______; ca 1636; Dorchrester/Windsor, CT/Northampton. COOKE, Aaron (1614-1690 & 2/wf Joan [DENSLOW](-1676); aft Nove 1645; Windsor, CT. COOKE, Aaron (1614-1690 & 3/wf Elizabeth NASH (1647-1687); 2 Dec 1676; New Haven. COOKE, Aaron (1614-1690 & 4/wf Rebecca (FOOTE) SMITH (ca 1630-1701), w Philip; 2 Oct 1688; ?Hadley/Northampton.---
- Roberts, Gary Boyd, Ancestors of American Presidents, Published in Cooperation with the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Preliminary Edition by Carl Boyer, 3rd, Santa Clarita, California 1989. Also the 2009 edition.
- Find-A-Grave Virtual Cemetery memorial #25751965 in Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts
- "Will of Major Aaron Cooke, an Old Will Dated August, 1690" The Connecticut Magazine (Connecticut Magazine Company) Vol. 6, Page 440: This list maybe incomplete.
- Bridgman, Thomas. Inscriptions on the Grave Stones in the Grave Yards of Northampton (Hopkins, Bridgman & Co., Northampton, Mass., 1850) Page 14
- Image of Memorial to Founders of Windsor
- Northampton, Mass. First Church of Christ Church records, 1661-1845, p 12[1]
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Categories: Puritan Great Migration Project Needs Merge Cleanup | Puritan Great Migration Project Needs Inline Citations | Hartford County, Connecticut | Founders of Windsor | Puritanism, North America | 17th Century American Immigration | Puritan Great Migration | Mary and John sailed March 20 1630
Windsor Hartford Co., Ct. Vital Records Birth, Death Marriages Arron Cook Children https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BT-8ZL7
In approximately 1660, Captain Aaron Cook, the son-in-law of Thomas Ford, built the first home in Simsbury. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry%27s_Plain_Historic_District
edited by Bob Pickering
A comment by Anderson in his study of Aaron Cooke Jr Regarding first wife "COMMENTS: Pope suggests that the first wife of Aaron Cooke was Mary, who was a member of Dorchester church in 1636; but the records of the Dorchester church do not include a Mary Cooke. In fact, the alleged first wife of Aaron Cooke (before he married Joan Denslow) may not have existed. There is no record which names the supposed first wife, and especially no death record. The records are consistent with the proposal that Joan Denslow was the first of Aaron Cooke's three wives, and the mother of all his children. The only problem is the will of Joan's mother, the widow Elizabeth Denslow, which names "my daughter Joan Cooke" and that daughter's children Elizabeth, Samuel and Noah. These are the three youngest children, born from 1650 on, after a five-year gap in the birth of children to Aaron Cooke. The standard arrangement of assigning four wives to Aaron Cooke will be retained here, with the caveat the first two may be only one."
(Pope also gives Aaron Cooke an eldest child Nathaniel, but Nathaniel Cooke of Windsor married in 1649, which would make him too old to be a son of Aaron.)
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