Joshua Cook

Joshua Cook (1683–1737/46), son of Josiah Cook and Deborah Hopkins

Patience Doane (1682–aft. 1746), daughter of Ephraim Doane and Mary Knowles

Joshua, the son of Josiah Cook, was born on 4 February 1682/[3?] in Eastham. [1] He died on between 31 July 1737, when his son was referred to as Joshua, Jr., and 28 September 1746, when his wife was referred to as a widow. [1] He married Patience Doane on 7 February 1705/6 in Eastham. [2]

Patience, the daughter of Ephraim Doane and Mary Knowles, was born the last week of April 1682 in Eastham. [1][3] She died after 28 September 1746. [1]

After the death of her husband, Patience went to Chatham and joined the Haddam Neck Congregational Church, where her son Josiah was already a member and her son Jonathan later became a member. An entry in the church records says, "Patience, wid. adm. ch. Sept. 28, 1746, by letter from another church." [4]

She lived in that part of Middletown that later became Chatham. [1]

Children of Joshua Cook and Patience Doane: Births of the first nine recorded in Eastham as the children of Joshua and Patience. [2]

i. Martha Cook was born on 26 April 1706.

ii. Josiah Cook was born on 30 August 1707. He died in 1775 in Chatham. He married Hannah Sparrow.

iii. Joshua Cook was born on 23 March 1708/9. He died on 13 March 1801, age 96 or 97, in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut, "supposed to be the oldest persson that ever was bd. [buried] in our society." [4] He married Zilpah Brown on 8 October 1730 in Eastham. [1] Zilpah, the daughter of James and Ruth (Snow) Brown, was born on 18 October 1708 in Eastham. [2] She died on 14 April 1783, age 78, in Guilford. [1]

In 1790 Joshua Cook headed a household in Guilford with one male over 16 and one female. [5]

iv. Mercy Cook was born on 2 September 1710 (recorded as 1712).

v. Ebenezer Cook was born on 25 November 1711 in Eastham. [1] He died in 1793 in Connecticut. [1] He married [his third cousin] Marcy Paine on 9 October 1735 in Eastham. [1] Mercy was the daughter of John and Bennett (Freeman) Paine, the maternal granddaughter of Mercy Prence: the daughter of Patience Brewster and granddaughter of Mayflower passenger William Brewster. [6] She was born on 3 April 1712, according to her grandfather's journal. [6]

Ebenezer and Mercy went to Connecticut and joined the East Haddam Congregational Church. [6] Their last child was baptized in the Second Church in Colchester. [6]

vi. Ephraim Cook was born on 16 September 1712. He died after February 1778, probably in Coventry, Connecticut. [1] He married Marry Merrick on 12 February 1734/5 in Eastham. [1] Mary, the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Twining) Merrick, was born on 31 July 1717 in Eastha and died in February 1778 in Coventry. [1]

vii. Ruhama Cook was born on 18 February 1713/4. She apparently died young

viii. Simeon Cook was born on 24 August 1715. He died between 7 July 1762 and 28 April 1767 in New Marlboro, Massachusetts. [1] He married Meletiah Robbins after they published their intention on 16 November 1638 in Eastham. [2] Meletiah married second James Spalding, probably the son of Samuel and Mary (Butterfield) Spalding, on 25 February 1768. [1]

ix. Moses Cook was born on 11 May 1717.

x. Zaccheus Cook was born about 1719 in Eastham. [1] He died on 19 April 1812 in Chatham. [1] He married Mary Hubbard on 13 or 14 May 1747 in the Haddam Neck Congregational Church. [1][4] Mary, the daughter of George an Mary (Roberts) Hubbard, was born on 20 March 1728 in Middletown and died after 11 June 1785. [1]

It does not appear that Zacheus joined the Haddam Neck Congregational Church, but he had a daughter baptized there on 16 April 1758. [4]

xi. Ruhama Cook was born about 1721. [1] She died between 1766 and 1776 in Chatham. [1] Ruhama of Plymouth married Robert Shattuck of Plymouth on 9 September 1742 in Plymouth. [1[7] Robert, the son of Robert and Mary (Pratt) Shattuck of Plymouth, was born on 3 June 1721 in Plymouth. [1][8] He died on 12 February 1802, age 87, "at Oliver Prout's, and was buried on 13 February 1802 in Middletown. [4] Perhaps Robert was the Robert Shattuck who married Lucy Neuf on 29 August 1782 in Middletown. [4]

Wakefield argues that it is likely, but not conclusive, that the Ruhama and Mary who married Robert Shattuck and Caleb Johnson were the daughters of Joshua and Patience Cook. [9]

xii. Jonathan Cook died before 29 October 1804 in Haddam. [1] He married Deborah, the daughter of Nathaniel Roberds. [1]

Jonathan and Deborah became members of the Haddam Neck Congregational Church on 1 December 1751 and had eight children baptized there between 26 April 1752 and 12 November 1775. They named their last two children Patience and Ruhama, apparently in honor of Jonathan's mother and sister. [4]

xiii. Mary Cook was born about 1725. [1] She died in perhaps Burlington Flats, Otsego County, New York. [1] She married Caleb Johnson on 19 September 1745 in the Haddam Neck Congretional Church. [4][1] Caleb was the son of James and Anne (Cook) Johnson of Middletown. [1]

xiv. Hezekiah Cook (assumed son) was born on about 1728 in Eastham. [1] He died on 23 April 1793, age 64. [fag][8] He married Lydia Unknown. She died on 2 June 1821, age 87. [10]

Hezekiah and Lydia are buried in the New Marlborough Cemetery in New Marlborough, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. [fag]

Hezekiah and Lydia had a daughter named Patience. [8]

Endnotes:

1. Laura (McGaffey) Clarenbach and Loretta (Broadwell) Ford, "Joshua Cook (Josiah, Josiah) of Eastham, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 126 (1972): 81–93.

2. "Eastham and Orleans, Mass., Vital Records," Mayflower Descendant 3 (1901): 181 (Birth of Zilpah Brown, marriage of her parents); 6 (1904): 15 (marriage of Joshua and Patience, birth of the children); 28 (1926); 181 (marriage of Simeon).

3. David Hamlin, "First Settlers of Eastham, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 6 (1852): 41–46.

4. "Connecticut, U.S., Church Record Abstracts, 1630–1920," Ancestry (2013: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3032) > vol. 26 East Hampton (East Hampton Congregational Church), images 196–201; vol. 27 East Hampton (Haddam Neck Congretational Church), images 78–81; vol. 47 Guilford (Second Congregational Church of Guilford at North Guilford), images 41–42; vol 70, part 2 Middletown, image 179.

5. "1790 United States Federal Census," Databases with images, Ancestry (2004–2010) (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5058) > CT > New Haven > Guilford, image 11.

6. Mayflower Families Fifth Generation Descendants, 1700–1880," online database, AmericanAncestors, citing Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975–2015) > Brewster, William (MFIP Patience), pp. 133–4.

7. "Plymouth County Marriages," Genealogical Advertiser, vol. 2: 56.

8. "Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988," database, Ancestry (2011: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2495) > Plymouth > Vital Records transcripts, image 91; New Marlborough > Births, Marriages and Deaths, image 378.

9. Robert S. Wakefield, "The 'Only Girl in Town' Theory," The American Genealogist 72 (1977): 139.

10. "Hezekiah Cook," webpage, Findagrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68133450/hezekiah-cook); "Lydia Cook," webpage, Findagrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68133512/lydia-cook), inscription: "wife of Hezekiah 2 June 1821, age 87."

Last revised: 01-Aug-2023