John
Cooke
Born about in Colony of Virginia
[uncertain]
Ancestors [uncertain]
Son of Mordecai Cooke I
and Susannah (Thresher) Cooke
Husband of
Susanna (Pell) Cook
— married
1685 in Rappahannock County, Virginia Colony
Descendants 
Father of
John Cooke, Ann Cook, Mary (Cook) Biswell, Hannah (Cook) Motley, William Cook, John Cook, Katherine Cook, Sarah Cook and Thomas Cook
Died before
before about age 73
in Essex County, Colony of Virginia
Profile managers:
Joe South 
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[send private message], US Southern Colonies Project WikiTree [send private message], James Hill [send private message], and Richard Gould [send private message]Profile last modified
| Created 9 Apr 2013
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| John Cooke resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies |
This is the profile of John Cook of Essex County, Virginia, who left a Will dated 1727.
Contents |
Biography
John Cooke passed away before 20 June 1727, presumably in Essex County, Virginia.[1]
Will & Probate
Last Will and Testament of John Cook[1]
St Anne Parish, Essex County, Virginia.
2 March 1726/7.
20 June 17727 (proved).
[transcription should be reviewed against the image citation]
In the name of God Amen I John Cook of St Anne parish in Essex County being Sick and weak in body but of Sound mind & memory praised be God do make ordain & constitute this my last will & Testament in manner following first & principally I recomend my Soul to Almighty God that gave it & my body to the Earth to be decently interred according to the discretion of my Ex:rs hereafter named
Item I give & bequeath the plantation where I now dwell with the appurtances thereto belonging containing one hundred & twelve acres or thereabouts to my son John Cook & his heirs not interrupting or hindering his mother to make use of any part of the houses or land during her widowhood where she thinks most proper for her use making no wast Sale or distruction thereon
Item I give devise & bequeath to my son Thomas Cook & his heirs forty seven acres of Land which I formerly took up adjacent to the former also my wearing apparell & rideing Sadle
Item my negros named Roger Bachus, Jaik & Doll I lend to my well beloved wife Susanna Cook during her natural life provided she lives in widowhood during the Same
Item I give and bequeath unto my Son-in-Law William Motley & hannah his wife my negro woman name Dinah with her increase to the heirs of them the said William & hannah
Item after my wifes decease living in widowhood as aforesaid I give & bequeath my aforesaid Negro named Roger to my son John Cook my other negro named Bachus to my son Wm Cook that named Jaik to my son Thomas Cooke & the other named Doll to my grand daughter Mary Bizwell & their severall heirs Respectively but if my aforesaid wife Susannah should happen to Intermarry it is my will intent & meaning that at the time thereof she have nor claim any further right or property in any of my negros as aforesaid lent to her during her naturall life but that they & Every of them to whom they are hereby bequeathed Receive & take their negro & negros immediately thereupon as well as they might or could receive to be enjoyed by the same after her decease|only my Son-in-Law William Motley & hannah his wife hold & Enjoy the said Negro named Dinah which now they have in possession from this time forewards without any interruption Whatsoever
Item, I give to my daughter hannah wife to William Motley aforesaid my great Chest of drawers & Cane chairs
Item I give to my grand daughter Mary Bizwell one feather bed & furniture
Item all the rest & Residue of my Estate of what nature or quality soever I give to my aforesaid wife & Children to be equally Divided
Lastly I make ordain Constitute & appoint my beloved wife Susanna my son John Cook & my Son-in-Law William Motley Ex:rs of this my last will & Testament disannulling & makeing void all other wills by me hereto fore made & do publish & declare this to be my last will & Testament this 3rd day of March 1726/7.
Signed: John Cooke (his mark).
Witnesses: Ja's: Alderson, Eliz'a: Motley (her mark), William Cook, John Read.
Executors: my beloved wife Susanna, my Son John Cook, my Son in Law William Motley.
At a Court Held for Essex County on Tuesday the 20th day of June 1727. The above last will & Testament of John Cook dec'd was presented in Court by Susanna Cooke John Cooke William Motley the Ex'ers: therein named who made oath thereto & being further proved by the oaths of James Alderson & Eliz'a: Motley two of the witnesses thereto is admitted to Record.[1]
On 20 June 1727, Susanna Cook/Cooke, John Cook/Cooke, William Motley, Joseph Leemon, John Motley, and William Taylor posted bond for the Probate of the Estate of John Cooke.[1]
Children
[a reliable source is needed to establish the parent-child relationship for each attached child]
Their children included:
- tbd
Research Notes
Vital Statistics
Birth
Birth location: Colony of Virginia. A merged profile had that he was born in 1654 in Berwick On Tweed, Northumberland, England, son of Mordecai Cooke I and Susannah (Thresher) Cooke. Since his parents had emigrated to Gloucester County, Virginia in 1639, it seems most unlikely therefore either that he was born in Berwick-upon-Tweed or that the John Cook who was born there is their son.
Merges: Prior to proposing a merge for Cooke-3199, birth information of 1682 Gloucester, Gloucester, Colony of Virginia was removed to facilitate merge with other John Cook/e profiles (born c1654/died c1726):
- John Cook (1654-aft.1724) merg completed
- John Cooke (1654-1727) merge completed
Birth in 1654 or 1655, in Gloucester County, is unsourced. John, grandson of Mordecai Cooke of Gloucester County, was born about 1690 to Mordecai and Frances (Ironmonger) Cooke. He died in 1776, according to the source cited on his profile.[2]
Death
That profile had previously included a death date/location of 20 June 1727, Essex County, which may belong to the John Cooke portrayed by this profile - but if he died in Essex County, he probably was not born in Gloucester County. The Mordecai Cookes were of Gloucester County (see Mordecai, b c1610). The Cookes of Rappahannock County and Essex County were a separate family.
Disputed Children
The profile for Mary of Essex County, who married (1) Wood, (2) Harbert, (3) Taylor, was detached 6 January 2022, because her parents are not known. A father born about 1654 fits for the Mary Cooke (1680-1722) of Essex County who married (1) Jenkins, (2) Biswell.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 County Court, Essex County, Virginia, Will books, 1717-1904; general indexes to wills and fiduciary accounts, 1717-1904, Will books, v. 3-4, 1717-1730 -- v. 5 (p. 1-316), 1730-1734; database with images, FamilySearch (image 307-308).
- ↑ Dr. and Mrs. William Carter Stubbs, Descendants of Mordecai Cooke, of "Mordecai's Mount," Gloucester... (1923), page 39 (#43).
See also:
- Dr. and Mrs. William Carter Stubbs, Descendants of Mordecai Cooke, of "Mordecai's Mount," Gloucester Co., Va., 1650, and Thomas Booth of Ware Neck, Gloucester Co., Va., 1685, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015025921365&view=2up&seq=4&size=150, pgs. 23,80,81.
- Virginia Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850 (Ancestry Online Publication, 2004; APID: 1,7832::0). Original data: Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County. Baltimore.
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DNA
No known carriers of John's DNA have taken a DNA test.
No known carriers of John's DNA have taken a DNA test.
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Rejected matches › John Cook (abt.1810-bef.1871) › John Cook (abt.1847-) › John Cooke Jr. (abt.1656-1737) › John Martin Cook (1877-1955) › John Cook (1656-) › John Cooke (1690-1776)
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US Southern Colonies Project adding project management (PMP) and project protection (PPP) as co-manager—frequently duplicated.
Please review US Southern Colonies Project-Managed Profiles for more information.
Please continue to manage normally, and review US Southern Colonies Project Editing Guidance before editing.
1. We have an active researcher/descendant from this family, who would like to see the profile of her ancestor about him, rather than about that he doesn't belong to the Mordecai Cooke family. I would also like to make that happen with the primary source documentation we have for Cooke-1895.
2. There is now definite proof this John Cooke was the son of an elder John Cooke, who was assigned a 250 acre grant in 1666/7 by Richard Stokes. That fact is defined in a deed made by his grandson, John Motley, and I've found the original land records. Cooke's father John may have been the John Cooke to whom Thomas Browning assigned 450 acres in Lancaster County in 1659, land again assigned to Thomas Meador in 1664, there is a Pell connection in that Meador family and the wife of Cooke-1895 was certainly a Pell. John Cooke's widowed mother appears to have again married to Alexander Robins, who named John in his will, which could potentially add half-siblings to John Cooke's family.
3. There are sources indicating attached children to Cooke-1895, likely do not belong, certainly not those identified as belonging to the Cooke family of Gloucester. Two attached sons, John & William, are unsourced, but set in un-merged matches by me last year, with profiles containing primary source documentation, which help prove many of the relationships that should be documented on this profile of John Cooke, again citing the deed proof that he left no male "Cooke" descendants.
1.Remove Mordecai Cooke-585 and Susannah Thresher-16 as the parents of John Cook-1895. The Cooke/Cook family of Rappahannock & Essex counties and the Cooke family of Gloucester County are two different families. There is no evidence that John Cook-1895 is the son of Mordecai Cook I.
2.Add John Cooke-10056 as the son of Mordecai Cooke-585 to replace the John Cooke 1895 that we removed.
3.The profile of John Cook and Susannah Pell shows 2 sons named John. Remove John Cooke-2905 as their son. He belongs to the Gloucester family--add John Cooke-2905 as the son of John Cook-10056.
4.Modecai Cooke-1860, currently shown as a son of John Cooke and Susannah Pell, belongs to the Gloucester family. Remove Mordecai Cooke-1860 as the son of John Cooke-1895 and Susannah Pell-185. Add Mordecai Cooke-1860 as the son of John Cooke-2905 and Ann Todd-506.
Some Biographies and Research Notes may also need to be cleaned up.
edited by E. (Nicoll) Hindmarch
Cooke-3199 and Cooke-1895 appear to represent the same person because: I'm working on merging the multiple profiles for John Cook/e with similar dates. Please merge. Thanks!
edited by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
Cook-4737 and Cooke-1895 appear to represent the same person because: these profiles appear to be duplicates and should be merged - I have not found a record that would say whether Cook or Cooke is correct.
edited by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
Recommendation was to search http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015025921365;view=1up;seq=26
edited by Liz (Noland) Shifflett