William H. Cook

As printed in 1906

WILLIAM H. COOK is well known to the residents of Sodus township, Berrien county, which has been the family home for many years, and he has won an honored name for the many excellent qualities which he possesses. A native of the Empire state, he was born in Oswego county on the 25th of July, 1844. His father, William J. Cook, was born in Vermont, near Brattleboro, his people being originally from Massachusetts and of English descent. His mother was Lydia Thomas, while his wife bore the maiden name of Catharine Dunbar and was a native of Scotland, but was brought to Canada when young. The parents were there married, and the mother died at the early age of forty-four years, while the father reached the age of eighty-seven years. In an early day they came to Michigan, taking up their above in the woods of Hamilton township, Van Buren county, where they secured a small farm. There the mother died, and in the fall of 1861 the father removed to Bainbridge township, Berrien county. In their family were seven children, three sons and four daughters, namely: Lydia A. Whitten; Melissa J. Pierce; Cynthia M. Olds; William H.; Darius A., who was killed by lightning about 1884; Myron W., manager of the Clover Leaf Freight Department Depot at St. Louis, Missouri; and Alice Babcock, of Mishawaka, Indiana.

William H. Cook, whose name introduces this review, was ten years of age when he came with his parents to Hamilton township. Van Buren county, Michigan, which continued as his home until the fall of 1861.

In the following year, 1862, enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company G, Nineteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, in which he served for three years, doing active service throughout the entire time, being mustered out on June 10, 1865, at Washington, D. C. He was taken prisoner in 1863 and incarcerated in Libby prison until May of the same year. He was with Sherman on his celebrated march to the sea, and took part in many of the historical battles of the war, among them being Resaca, Newhope Church, Burnt Hickory, Golgotha, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Bentonville and Averysboro. Mr. Cook was but eighteen years of age when he entered the service of his country, and weighed but ninety-five pounds. He served until the close of the war or for three years, and participated in the Grand Review in Washington, D. C. He was detailed at Savannah, Georgia, as forage through North and South Carolina, and was discharged at Washington June 10

After the close of his military career Mr. Cook returned to Bainbridge township, Berrien county, and engaged in farming. In 1894 he came to Sodus and retired from the active duties of a business life. He has taken an active part in the public affairs of his locality, and is a life-long Republican. In 1876 he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, holding that position continuously for sixteen years in Bainbridge township, and the following spring after his arrival in Sodus township he was again elected to the office and was its incumbent for twelve years, so that for the long period of twenty-eight years he was a justice of the peace in Berrien county. For nine years he was a school director in Bainbridge township. In 1874 he became a member of the Grange, in which he has served many times as master, and for twenty years has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Mr. Cook was first married on the 18th of August, 1866, to Nancy Roberts, and they had one child, Effie, the wife of Milton Park, of Dowagiac, Michigan. The wife and mother died in 1891, and on the 8th of October, 1894, Mr. Cook married Laura Kennedy, of Sodtis, and a daughter of William H. King. Mr. Cook has been identified with the interests of Van Buren and Berrien counties since 1854, and is well and favorably known to their residents.

CHARLES McGOWAN has been so closely identified with the interests of Berrien county that it feels a just pride in claiming him among her native sons. He stands today at the head of one of the leading industrial concerns of Sodus township, being the proprietor of a large general merchandise store in the village of that name and also its postmaster. His birth occurred in Pipestone township on the 30th of January, 1856, a son of Hamilton and Hannah (Garrison) McGowan, both natives of Ohio. They came to Berrien county, Michigan, about 1854, locating in what was then Pipestone township, where the father was engaged in farming. The mother died at the age of sixty-six years, but the father passed away in 1865, when only about thirty-one years of age. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, his father having been a native of Scotland and his mother of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. McGowan were the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter, but the last named is deceased.

Charles McGowan, the only representative of the family in Berrien county, started out to earn his own living at the age of eighteen years, working by the month on a farm in this county until he was twenty-six years of age, and thus he has been distinctively the architect of his own fortunes. In 1 88 1 he engaged in the mercantile business at Sodus, opening a small general store, but as the years have passed by his interests have grown apace with the progress which has dominated this section of the state, and he now carries a large general line of goods, including dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, hardware, farm implements, paints and drugs. He is the pioneer merchant of the town, and is well and favorably known through the surrounding country. In addition to this large business he is also the owner of a fruit farm of twenty acres adjoining the village of Sodus.

In 1888 Mr. McGowan was married to Hattie Tidey, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Bur wick) Tidey, and they have five children — William Spencer, Anna, Elsie, Ruth and Vinas. In 1883 Mr. McGowan was appointed postmaster of Sodus, to which position he was reappointed in 1892 and again in February, 1894, having thus discharged the duties connected with that office for about nineteen years. He is a stanch Republican in his political affiliations, active in the work of his party, and in 1888 he was elected treasurer of Sodus township, while for ten years he served as agent of the Big Four. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Patricians at Benton Harbor. He well deserves to be ranked among the leading business men of his native township.

As printed in A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan (1906). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.