Stephen Cook

As printed in 1880

REV. STEPHEN COOK, farmer; P. O., Levering; was born Feb. 25, 1811, in Washington Co., Md. He is a son of John and Rachel (Bryson) Cook; his parents came here when Stephen was about 18 months old. It was in the fall of 1812 that the family of Rev. John Cook began their journey to Ohio with a five-horse team; they arrived in October, cutting their way through the woods to a cabin and a small clearing, made by John Cook, a son, some three months before, on the land purchased by the father in 1810. Rev. John Cook enlisted under Captain John Schenk for one year, and then became a “Minute Man,” fig-thing: in the battles of Germantown and Flat-bush, of the Revolution. The Cook family, along with five or six others, fled to Daniel Levering’s during the Indian troubles, where they erected a blockhouse, near Waterford; the men working on building, while the women and children were crowded in the dwelling for two days, until Mrs. Cook, being a lady of culture and refinement, said that she would rather face the Indians than remain longer. At one time, Tom Lion, a friendly Indian, was there on butchering day, and they asked if the Indians could furnish hams of denison for the winter, and tallow of the deer for medical purposes. Some time later two Indians came on Sunday with six saddles of denison; no one was at home but Mrs. Cook, so she gave them a dinner and told them to help themselves to potatoes, which they did, taking six bushels in payment for the denison. The winter of 1812 brought many hardships to the family, owing to the difficulty of procuring provisions; corn was to be found below Mt. Vernon, and the family lived on corn-bread and blue denison that winter. Mr. Cook began preaching in Maryland, where he united with the regular Baptist Church in an early day, and he continued his ministrations in this county, organizing the first Church in the house of Benjamin Hart. He was married to Ida Van Liew of New Jersey, by whom he had six children — John, Asher, William P., Polly, Dinah and Elizabeth. The wife of his youth dying, he married Rachel Bryson; by this marriage five children were born — Ida, Stephen, Joseph, Nathan and Ruth. The Bryson’s were directly related to the old Stevens family, of which Thaddeus Stevens is the illustrious representative. The ancestry points also to the Hale family, whose progenitors were of the nobility of England. Rev. John Cook departed this life Aug. 22, 1822, when Stephen was only twelve years old; he attended school the following winter, and from that time the care of the bereaved family and the interests of the farm claimed his attention; taking charge of the home place when he was 15, he continued to farm it until 1837, when he purchased 100 acres, where he has lived ever since, near a beautiful spring of clear, sparkling water, which scarcely varies in its ceaseless flow from year to year. He was married to Mary Van Cleve October 27, 1833; she was a daughter of William and Rebecca (Powell) Van Cleve, and came to Ohio about 1831, with Lawrence Van Buskirk, from Bedford Co., Penn. This marriage has been blessed with ten children — Caius M. C., Stephen M., John M. C., Ida, Mary C. and Lua R., are living; while Lovina, Mary, Louisa and Caroline are dead; two of these are ministers of the Disciple Church, and all are married except John M. C. and Lua D., who are still at home. Stephen, when a boy, became a subscriber to the Fredericktown Circulating Library, and by the flickering light of a lard lamp he might be found night after night, pouring over the pages of all the ancient and modern histories extant, in those days; from these lessons of “ Philosophy teaching by example,” he obtained a conception of human life, which aided him in the education of his own family, which claimed his attention for thirty-five years; Mr. Cook votes the Democratic ticket, but is not a strict partisan; he and his family are members of the Disciple Church, in which he has preached for forty-five years, beginning at the age of 24. His labors in the cause of the Master for nearly half a century have been prompted by an untiring zeal for humanity.

As printed in History of Morrow County and Ohio : containing a brief history of the state of Ohio ... a history of Morrow County ... biographical sketches, portraits of some of the early settlers and prominent men, (1880). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.