Tag: Henry Lyman Cook

52W Mark IV – Week 34: Card B8 Henry Lyman Cook

Henry Lyman Cook (1803-1869)

My Gx3 Grandfather, Henry Lyman Cook, is another of my maternal ancestors who were early converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). He also may or may not have been one of the earliest practitioners of polygamy in the Church, although on closer examination it might be on a technicality.

Henry was born on July 8, 1803 in Kingsbury, New York, to Daniel Cook (1769-1825) and Miriam Fellows (1773-1830). Henry has deep roots in colonial New England on both sides of his family. Most, if not all, of his Gx2 Grandparents were in Massachusetts and Connecticut by the mid to late 17th Century.

I do not know anything about Henry’s early life before his first marriage, to Nancy P. Bingham, sometime around 1828. However, Henry and Nancy’s first child, Daniel, was born in Kingsbury in 1829, which suggests they were married in New York state. However, the young family did not remain in Kingsbury for long, as they were living in the Wisconsin Territory in 1831, where there second child, William, was born.

By 1833, Henry and family were living in Upper Canada, now Ontario, Canada. Their next five children were born there, with the last occurring around 1840. It was while the family was in Ontario, most likely Essex, that Henry joined the Mormon church in 1837. Henry’s obituary suggested he was living in Detroit at the time, which is less than 30 kilometers from Essex. However, it may be more likely that Henry went to Detroit to hear the missionaries and to be baptised into the church.

By June 1840, Henry and family were living in Quincy, Illinois, where many Mormons had settled. Nancy did not live long after the move; she died in Quincy in April 1842. Henry did not let the grass grow under his feet, as he married Mary Hoag on June 13, 1842, in Nauvoo, Illinois, another significant Mormon settlement.

Henry and Mary’s marriage registration

I know very little about Mary beyond the fact she had married Henry. The marriage was short and abusive. According to the Nauvoo High Council Minute Books, Henry and Mary’s marriage “quickly proved disastrous”. Henry claimed Mary abused his children, set bad examples before them, and would frequently use expletives. Henry whipped Mary in hopes of controlling her.

In an academic paper regarding early Mormon polygamous marriages, author Gary James Bergera speculated that Henry and Mary either separated or divorced; however, he cited no evidence of a divorce. It is unlikely there was a divorce, as Mary and her next husband, John Wells Taylor, were charged with marrying while Mary was still legally married to Henry. According to the officiant of John and Mary’s marriage, John C. Annis, Taylor reported that he had purchased Mary from Henry “for her weight in cat-fish.” Given that Mary and John married on November 27, 1842, it is extremely unlikely that prior to their union there had been a divorce between Mary and Henry. John and Mary were subsequently excommunicated by the church on January 28, 1843.

Henry married for a third time, to Lovina Thayes, on November 5, 1843 in Nauvoo. As far as I know, Henry and Lovina never had any children.

Record of Henry and Lovina’s marriage

In his paper, Bergera concluded that this was not a polygamous marriage because Henry and Mary had divorced. However, while the two had separated, I can find no evidence that Henry had divorced Mary before marrying Lovina. Thus, at least technically, Henry was a polygamist but not as a result of the growing Mormon adoption of the practice. Rather, he simply married Lovina regardless of his legal status with Mary. In any event, Bergera did not give any regard to Henry’s fourth marriage, to my Gx3 Grandmother Susan Turple, which occurred while Lovina was still alive and married to Henry.

While still in Nauvoo, Henry was ordained a “Seventy”, a level of priesthood in the Mormon church. He and his family fled Nauvoo in 1846 when the Mormons were driven out of the town. They resided in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, from about 1846 to 1848. This was a major Mormon encampment north of what is now Omaha that had initially been established to wait out the winter before they moved further west. Henry established himself in by 1850.

Henry married Susan Turple in Salt Lake City on September 28, 1853, less than two weeks after Susan had arrived in Utah from Nova Scotia via Boston. Together, Henry and Susan had four children. The couple spent most, if not all, of their married life in Goshen, Utah. Brigham Young had directed a number of Mormons to settle in Goshen, believing that a new roadway would run past that location. I’m not sure if the road envisioned by Young ever came to be. While Utah Highway 6 now runs through the town, it was built many decades after Goshen was founded.

Henry had a farm or a ranch in Goshen where he raised cattle. Henry had a cattle brand recorded on December 2, 1868, which was a capital “H” placed at the right jaw of the animal.

Sometime around September 1869, Henry developed gangrene in one of his legs, apparently due to some illness rather than injury. As a result, Henry’s leg was amputated above the knee, probably around the beginning of October. A November 10, 1869 newspaper account stated that Henry was recovering well, but it was not to be. Henry died in Goshen on November 17, 1869.

Henry was buried in the original Goshen Pioneer Cemetery, along with 18 others. A new cemetery was opened around 1880 and no further interments occurred in the Pioneer Cemetery. Many of those buried at the Pioneer Cemetery were relocated to the new cemetery, but there is no record of those whose remains were moved.

52W Mark III – Week 38: Symbol

I have many farmers in my family tree. Most grew crops, although a few practiced animal husbandry on a small scale as a small part of their farming activities. Several had cows, although not to such a degree that I would describe them as having cattle, which to me connotates something more like ranching.

Two of my direct maternal ancestors had their brands recorded in a register published by the Utah state legislature, published in the Book of Recorded Marks and Brands in 1874. It records all brands used in the Utah Territory from its establishment to 1874.

My Gx4 grandfather, William Burgess (1794-1880) used a brand that looked like a number “2” with a flourished serif and an arch above. William’s eldest son with his first wife, Harrison, also had a brand recorded in the book. Harrison’s brand, recorded on June 5, 1867, was a sideways capital “H”, placed on the right shoulder. Harrison also used a cropped ear mark, consisting of two “v” notches out of the upper side of the left ear.

William Burgess’s brand

On another branch of my maternal line, my Gx3 grandfather Henry Lyman Cook (1803-1869) has a brand recorded in the book, dated December 2, 1868. The brand was a capital “H” which was placed at the right jaw.

Henry Lyman Cook’s brand

I have also found a subsequent publication of this book, compiled in 1901. However, I have not found any family in that edition. William, Harrison, and Henry had all passed away by then. My more recent direct ancestors were not farming at that time, while others had left the state by then. Sometime I may have to look into what records there might be for brands used in Alberta, where many of these people had settled.

52 Weeks – Week 37: High and Low

Highs and lows bring to mind the Guinness Book of World Records. So for this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge, I thought I’d consider some of the superlatives in my family tree. Bear in mind that this is for entertainment purposes only, because some of these superlatives have not been sufficiently researched or verified such that they can be taken as fact.

Here’s a high: Mount Baker, Washington

I cannot verify with certainty the longevity of the few centenarians in my database. According to my database, my longest-lived ancestor died at age 110. I don’t believe that for a second, so I won’t even name them. The person for whom I have at least a scintilla of information regarding their longevity is Joseph Metz, my first cousin three times removed. According to his headstone, as seen on Find a Grave, Joseph lived to be about 102 or 103. The longest-lived person in my database with the most reliable information regarding their lifespan is my fourth cousin three times removed, Fern Renner. She was better known to the world as Fern Welk, as she was married to the well-known band leader, Lawrence Welk.

My relative who was the oldest on their wedding day was my great great great uncle, Samuel Nelson, who married for the fourth time when he was 77. The bride, Cecilie Anderson, was 62. Samuel lived to be 93, making him one of my longer lived relatives.

The newlyweds, Hazel Nelson and Albert Beaves, about July 5, 1967.

My great grandmother, Hazel Nelson, married for a second time at age 67, not quite two months before she passed away. Her husband, Albert Beaves, was also a widower marrying for the second time. Albert was 85 years old at the time. He lived another nine years after Hazel’s death. Albert died when he was 94.

While Samuel Nelson had been married four times, the record for most marriages is my 7x great uncle, Archelaus Kenney, who apparently married five times. Not even any of the Mormon polygamists in my tree married that many times. However, I have not verified any of Archelaus’s marriages.

Otherwise, Samuel’s record was tied by his younger brother, my great great grandfather, John Alexander Nelson. However, while it appears that Samuel had been widowed each time he remarried, John was a polygamist. Another ancestor, my great x3 grandfather, Henry Lyman Cook, was also a polygamist who married four times. Other polygamist ancestors, including my great x3 grandfathers William Burgess, Jr. and Preston Thomas, only married three times.

A bunch of polygamists: John A. Nelson, Henry L. Cook, William Burgess Jr., Preston Thomas.

It probably comes as no surprise that the women in my family tree have had fewer multiple marriages than the men. I can find few examples of women who married more than twice. One of the exceptions is my great x4 grandmother, Louisa Thomas, who married three times. Her first husband, Lazarus Beakley, died a year or two after they married, when Louisa was around 24 or 25 years old. Louisa’s second husband, my great x4 grandfather Conrad Liggett, died 18 months after they married, when Louisa was 26. Louisa married again at age 29, to Aaron Cook. Unfortunately, that was another short-lived marriage, as Louisa died when she was 35.

Of course, with marriage there are often children. Of course, the person with the most children in my tree is a father. My great great grandfather, Horace Burgess, had nineteen children. He had nine children with his first wife, my great great grandmother Sarah Cook. Their eight child and youngest son was Milton Leo Burgess, my great grandfather. After Sarah died, Horace remarried, to Julia Josephine Lundquist, with whom he had ten children.

The woman in my family tree who appears to have had the most children is Horace’s paternal grandmother, Violate Stockwell. Violate and my great x 4 grandfather, William Burgess Sr., had 12 children, including my great x 3 grandfather William Jr, who had 12 children with three different wives.

Delving far from what I’ve established through the genealogical proof standard, the earliest occurrence of a surname in my direct lineage is de Fleg, which dates back to the 10th century, through my 9x great grandfather Thomas Flegg. My connection to Thomas is through Henry Lyman Cook. While I have done a pretty good job at demonstrating my connection to Henry, I have not really done much work on his ancestry beyond the basics.

Here’s a low: standing a meter below sea level in Waarland, Netherlands

I realize that in this examination of superlatives, I have only considered the highs. Of course, considering the people in my tree who are at the opposite end of most of the categories I have discussed are in the multiples. The one category that might lend itself to reasonable consideration of the low end is the surname that might be the opposite end of earliest occurrence. In other words, the surnames I have traced the least far back in time. I’ve identified all 32 of my great x3 grandparents. It is the next generation where I face my first brick walls. I am missing nine of my 64 great x4 grandparents, all on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family. They are all Germans from Russia, who are particularly difficult to research. These lines trace back to settlements in what is now Ukraine, when it was part of the Russian Empire.

Genealogy: all the highs and lows are fascinating!