THE COOKE FAMILY OF ILLINOIS AND KANSAS

          The first of our Cookes to emigrate to the American Midwest was William Henry Cooke. he was the son of Michael Cooke, the elder brother of my ancestor William. William Henry would have been his nephew.
          William Henry Cooke was born in 1811 in Devon, England. He married Bertha Matthews b.12 Mar. 1815, Abergavenny, Wales in London ,England 22 Jul. 1841.
       Willliam Henry Cooke was a physician. He came to America in 1850 with his wife and 4 children. They had 7 children in total . They lived in Kickapoo Township,Peoria county, IL for about 20 years. They then moved to Wyoming, IL around 1870. William died in October 1890 in Wyoming,Stark county, Il. Bertha died 18 May 1900 in Wyoming as well. Five of her children were alive at the time of death.The children were:

   1-   Their eldest son, George,b. before 1842 died in the army in the Civil War. His  mother filed  application #264674 for his pension in May 1880.

   2-     Emily Cooke,born 28 Aug. 1843 CombeMartin ,Devon,England, married Garrett Harvey Voorhees in 1865 in Valley Township, Stark County, IL. They had 7 children of whom the youngest, Lucia, had the most interesting life.

 3-       Caroline Cooke b. 31 Jul. 1847 married Theodore B. Marsh, 20 Dec. 1871 and died 24 Feb. 1944 in Freeport, Harper County, Kansas

4-        Edward Cooke b. 6 June 1849 lived and worked with his sister Emily and her husband before going east to New York. He married his cousin,Caroline Merrill Vicary 2 Sept 1875. They headed west to Freeport, Kansas where they lived for the rest of their lives.The Cookes and their associated families were all buried in the Protestant cemetery in Silver Creek Township. Click here to see Carol Peterson's web page for this cemetery


Edward and Caroline's family


5-       Mary Bertha Cooke b. ca1854,in Il. married Edward M. Moss 28 Oct 1874. They too moved to Freeport. They belonged to a group that came en mass from Jubilee,Peoria county, Illinois with their minister.They had 4 children, the last two, twins. Bertha died in child birth. The twins were given to Cooke relatives to be raised.

6-       Henry Cooke b. ca.1856 in Il. (no further info)

Click on the map for a larger version of it.
A 1919 map showing the location of Cooke land in MidLothian which is located 2 miles south of Freeport and not quite 2 miles east on Sections 12,13 &25

An old map of Harper County - 121K

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