Cook Family Papers mssCook
Brooke M. Black
The Huntington Library
January 2022
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Cook family papers
Creator:
Cook family
Identifier/Call Number: mssCook
Physical Description:
0.41 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1851-1953
Date (bulk): 1862-1863
Abstract: Papers belonging to the Cook family of New York including American Civil War soldier James Clinton Cook, and his grandfather,
Lemuel Cook, one of the last documented survivors of the Revolutionary War.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
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[Identification of item]. Cook family papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Karen Hong, April 2020.
James Clinton Cook (1823-1863) a Civil War soldier, was a grandson of Lemuel Cook (1759-1866), one of the last documented
survivors of the Revolutionary War. James Clinton Cook, who went by Clinton, was married to Mary C. Gates (1827-1901), a native
of Albion, New York. The couple had three children: Lucy Cook Slater, Luther L. Cook (1853-1905), and Charles Clinton Cook
(1856-1889). The family lived in Burns, Allegheny County, New York. In August 1863, Cook enlisted as private of Co. 1 of the
130th Regiment of New York Infantry Regiment. He was stationed in Suffolk County, Virginia, serving as a hospital nurse. On
January 23, 1863, he was discharged by reason of disability and died six days later in Baltimore. In the 1870s, his widow
married Silas Wardner (1833-1909); they lived in Painesville, Ohio. Luther L. Cook married Clara D. Sylvester; they had four
children: Charles Sidney Cook (1872-1952), Flora Cordelia Cook (1881-1961), Arthur James Cook (1885-1945), and Herbert Sylvester
Cook (born 1895). In the early 1900s, the family moved from Ohio to California.
The collection contains correspondence between James Clinton Cook and his family exchanged during his Civil War service from
1862 to 1863. Also includes Mary Cook's letter to Benjamin Trumbull Kneeland (1825-1903), her husband's regimental surgeon,
and a letter from her relative, Luther Perkins, a ship carpenter in St. Louis, Missouri. Also included are family photographs,
from the 1860s to the early 1900s, a portrait of Lemuel Cook made after a famous photograph taken of him in approximately
1864, and genealogical correspondence, genealogical charts, and other materials assembled by Flora Cordelia Cook in the 1950s.
Processed by Brooke M. Black in January 2022.
Arranged in the following series: 1. Correspondence; 2. Photographs; 3. Genealogical material.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Married women -- United States -- Correspondence
Allegheny County (N.Y.) -- History -- Sources
New York (State) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Children
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Medical care.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social conditions
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Veterans
Genealogical tables -- United States -- 20th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Letters (correspondence) United States 19th century
Letters (correspondence) United States 20th century.
Photographs -- United States -- 19th century
Cook, James Clinton, 1823-1863
Box 1, Folder 1
Correspondence 1851-1863
Box 1, Folder 2-3
Photographs 1860s-1900s
Box 1, Folder 4
Genealogical material 1914-1953