52W Mark V – Week 16: Daniel Cook

This is Daniel Cook.

No, not the kid who starred in the eponymous Canadian children’s show that aired in the mid-naughts. (Did we ever decide what to call the first decade of the 21st century?) I mean my  Great x4 Grandfather, Daniel Cook.

Daniel was born on December 14, 1769 in Preston, Connecticut, to Isaiah Cook and Mary Palmer. Daniel was the third of eleven children – nine boys and two girls – all of whom were born in Preston.

Daniel has deep New England roots going back four generations on his father’s side, in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. His maternal grandparents were also born in Connecticut, but don’t know much, if anything, about his maternal great grandparents.

However, a quick look at FamilySearch shows that shows a tree on Daniel’s maternal side going back at least five generations on most lines. Until I look at the sources supporting the connection to the individuals identified in that tree, I won’t be adding them to my database. I know if I did that now, it would be another six weeks before I even return to drafting this post, so instead I simply created a “Person To-Do Task” for Daniel in my RootsMagic database. At most, I will mention that the tree on FamilySearch indicates that on his mother’s side, Daniel’s ancestry also goes back at least three or four generations in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Somehow Daniel came to be acquainted with Miriam Fellows. While she too was born in Connecticut, she lived about 100 kilometers away in almost the opposite corner of what is now the state. Nevertheless, meet they did, as they married in Preston on April 1, 1796.

After they married, Daniel and Miriam did not reside in Preston for long. By 1798, they were living in Kingsbury, New York, almost 250 kilometers from Preston. I do not know the motivation for the move, but based upon the 1800 census, Daniel was not alone. Three of his brothers – Ephraim, Chester, and Samuel – are listed as neighbours living in Kingsbury.

All six of Daniel and Miriam’s children were born in Kingsbury. It appears that only two survived childhood and the teen years, including my Gx3 Grandfather, Henry Lyman Cook.

Daniel lived the rest of his life in Kingsbury. He died there on July 12, 1825. Daniel died intestate and the court appointed his son Marvin and brother Chester as the administrators of his estate.