Phineas Wolcott Cook 1819-1900
Phineas Wolcott Cook, Bishop of the Goshen Ward, Utah County, Utah, from 1857 to 1860, was born August 28, 1819, at Goshen, Litchfield County, Connecticut, the son of Phineas Cook and Irene Churchill. He was baptized September 14, 1845, by Edward Webb, and came to Utah in 1848, crossing the plains in Brigham Young's company leaving 5 Jun and arriving in the valley 20-24 Sep. 1220 individuals were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Winter Quarters, Nebraska.
On January first, 1840, Bro. Cook married Anne Eliza Howland (daughter of Henry Howland and Phebe Baker) who was born June 18, 1823, at Stillwater, New York. Sixteen children -- Charlotte Aurelia, Daniel Webster, Harriet Betsy, Eliza Hall, Augusta Precindia, Phineas Henry, Phebe Irene, Vulcum, Ann Eliza and Alonzo (twins), Mary, Henry Howland, Martha, William, Aurelia, and Hyrum-- blessed this marriage.
Bro. Cook married Amanda P. Savage December 18, 1853, the daughter of David Savage and Theodocia Finch, who was born August 23, 1836, in Canada. She came to Utah with her father in 1847, crossing the plains in Parley P. Pratt's company. She became the mother of four children: David Savage, Rosali, and Mary (twins), and Joseph. She died July 15, 1915.
Bro. Cook's third wife was Catherine McCleve, whom he married December 18, 1853. She was the daughter of John McCleve and Nancy Jane McFerren of Belfast, Ireland. The only child by this marriage was Joseph Wolcott.
Bro. Cook married Johanna C. Poulsen as a fourth wife on September 13, 1878. She was the daughter of James Poulsen and Johanna Lundgreen and was born August 8, 1845, at Malmo, Sweden. The children by this marriage were Carl, Moses, Kib and Omer (twins), Parley, and Idalia Johannette.
Bro. Cook first heard the Gospel preached during the winter of 1844-45, and came to Winter Quarters with his family in the Fall of 1846. Two of his children died at Winter Quarters and the whole family passed through much sickness and privation. He reached Utah with his wife and two children, was a millwright, carpenter, and cabinet maker and worked on the first grist mills (Neff's and Chases) built in Salt Lake Valley in 1849 and 1850. He located in Sanpete Valley in the Fall of 1850. He became one of the first settlers of Manti, where he built the first grist mill in connection with President Brigham Young and Isaac Morley. This mill was burned by the Indians in 1853. Bro. Cook built a rock house at Manti and returned to Salt Lake in the Spring of 1853. Here he worked on the Beehive and Lion Houses and made some of the first furniture manufactured from Utah pine. He made a bureau for President Young which is now displayed in the museum in Salt Lake City. He also built a house at Bountiful for Jedediah M. Grant, moved to Payson, Utah County in 1855, built an Indian farm house west of Spanish Fork, and founded a settlement in the valley lying west of Payson in 1857, naming it Goshen for his birthplace in Connecticut. There he acted as bishop for three years.
In 1863, he went to Bear Lake among the first settlers. Here he made a hand mill to grind wheat, built a grist mill in 1856 and later a saw mill, a shingle mill, a wool carding machine, and many other things. Afterwards he moved to Logan, Utah, and labored diligently in the Temple for the dead of his father's family. Being arrested and convicted of so-called unlawful cohabitation, he served a term in the Utah Penitentiary after he was seventy years old.
The last few years of his life he spent at Afton, Wyoming. He died a faithful Latter-day-Saint July 24, 1900, at Afton, aged 81 years. Bro. Cook was the father of 28 children, 16 sons and 12 daughters. He was survived by 11 sons and 4 daughters who were all faithful members of the church. Bishop Cook was a farmer and a stockraiser of limited extent. He was known as a very kind, benevolent man, always ready to share what he had with anyone in need.
Phineas' Temple Work
Baptized 8 Sep 1845
Endowments (5 Apr 1851)
in Salt Lake Endowment House
Sealed to Spouse (18 Dec 1853)
in Salt Lake Endowment House
Sealed to Parents (24 Jun 1924)
in Logan Temple
Catherine McCleve 1836-1869
Catherine McCleve, was born September 17, 1836, in Crawfordsburn, Down County, Ireland. She was the second child born to John McCleve and Nancy Jane McFerren. Her parents were married June 27, 1833. They had a family of nine children when the Latter-day Saint Missionaries brought them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After holding meetings in their home for a while, the parents accepted the Gospel and were baptized in June 1841. When Catherine was fourteen she, with her sisters, Sarah, Margaret, and Mary Jane, were baptized in the Irish Sea, after dark on August 26, 1850.
After accepting the Gospel, the McCleve Family had a strong desire to come to America, the land of Zion. The father had a good job, but it would cost too much to take the whole family to America in one trip. It was for this reason the Elders advised them to send their two oldest daughters, Sarah and Catherine, on ahead and the rest of the family would follow as soon as they could save enough money.
On March 28, 1853 Sarah and Catherine sailed for America from Liverpool, England. After arriving in Utah Sarah married John Young on October 3, 1853. John Young was a brother to President Brigham Young. Catherine married Phineas Wolcott Cook on December 18, 1853.
The day Catherine married Phineas W. Cook, he also married Amanda Savage. Because Amanda was six weeks older than Catherine, she was the second wife and Catherine was the third. Phineas had previously married Ann Eliza Howland. They had several children at the time. Before he married Catherine and Amanda, President Young advised him to go into polygamy. He prayed over the matter and the Lord revealed the principle to him. They were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.
On April 21, 1855 while living in Salt Lake City a son was born to Catherine in a house that was about a block east of the Eagle Gate. He was named Joseph Wolcott.
When Sarah and Catherine left their loved ones in Ireland in 1853 it was with the understanding that the rest of the family would follow as soon as they had the money to do so. After three years, they received word that the family was coming. The girls were both married and had children of their own. Sarah had two, Lydia and John McCleve Young, and Catherine had a son, Joseph Wolcott. They looked forward with great anticipation to seeing their family. The McCleves were anxious to see their daughters and husbands and their first grandchildren. The family was with the Second Handcart Company. On September 24, 1856 when the Handcart Company was within two days travel of their destination, the father was severely injured in a handcart accident. After suffering greatly for a few hours he passed away and was buried on the bank of the Weber River.
When Catherine's son was two years old Phineas moved his family south to Payson. It was at this time that Catherine divorced her husband. Catherine and her son lived with some of Catherine's family who were also in Payson and later with others who had moved to southern Utah near Harrisburg.
In the fall of 1862, Catherine married a man by the name of David Dudley Russell. Russell had no home of his own so the family lived in rented houses in Payson and Salem, which was then called Pontown. In the spring of 1865 Russell moved his family, with several other families, south to Salina just as the Blackhawk Indian war broke out.
Early one morning in April Catherine went up the steps of her dugout where they were living and heard a man from across the street call out, "Into the house, women and children, the Indians are on us!" She looked to the East, and there they came - a dozen or two of them, some on horses but mostly on foot. The town sheepherder had just passed with the herd and was hardly out of sight, when she heard the guns fire that killed him. They killed several others in the attack and drove off the cattle. The Indian attacks continued and soon teams from the northern settlements came and moved the people north. The Russells returned to Payson.
In the fall of 1868 Catherine's husband went to Henefer, Utah and worked in the timber, making ties for the Union Pacific Railroad, which was then building through Echo and down Weber canyon. He returned to Payson for his family and the next year moved them to Henefer. At the time of the move Catherine had three more children, Hannah Jane, David Riley and Margaret. The latter was only a few months old. She lost a little girl named Sarah Catherine Russell in the fall of 1867 making a total of four children born to Catherine and David.
In November 1869, Catherine became very ill. Her son Joseph recalled that she was out of her head and seemed to have a high fever. There were no doctors in the country so her husband made preparations to move her south. He fixed up a bed in a covered wagon and put Catherine and the children, and what few things that could be hauled, into the wagon and started for Salt Lake City. They were two days and part of the night on the way. The weather was extremely cold. They stopped in Salt Lake a day or so at Catherine's sister's (Sarah Young) home, then with the same outfit they again started south. At American Fork, they stopped a day or two at a friend's place. While there, Catherine spoke her last sensible words. Her son Joseph was at her bedside and she said to him, "Joseph, would you be a good boy and help take care of my children?" Joseph promised her that he would. After being there a day or so, David piled Catherine and the children in the same rig and they reached Spanish Fork about dark. Catherine died that evening at the home of her sister, Isabell Mott, On December 19, 1869 at the age of 33. She was buried in the Payson cemetery.
Catherine's Temple Work
Baptized 1849
Endowments (9 Aug 1994)
in Idaho Falls Temple
Sealed to Spouse (18 Dec 1853)
in Salt Lake Endowment House
Sealed to Parents (27 Nov 1885)
in St George Temple
John McCleve 1807-1856
John McCleve, Jr. was born Aug. 18, 1807 in Ballymoney, County Down, Ireland, son of John McCleve, Sr. and Catherine Lamb. He was a shoemaker by trade; they were very important people in those days and not to be confused with the “cobblers of today”. They were independent shoe merchants and manufacturers of their own goods. Eliza Wakefield said she remembers her father, Alexander Gilmore McCleve, repairing shoes, using the hammer and awl that came from Ireland and had belonged to his father, John McCleve, Jr.
Nancy Jane McFerren was born May 1, 1815 at Crawfordsburn, on Skelly Hill, near Belfast, Ireland, the only child of William McFerren and Margaret NcHarry, a lassie from the “highlands”, raised in culture and refinement. Her father died when she was two years old, and then she and her mother went back to Crawfordsburn where Nancy Jane grew up among her mother’s people, the McHarrys. According to her cousin, James McHarry of Oakland, California, Nancy Jane was a general favorite, always pleasant, gracious and kind to all and she was greatly loved by all of her people. Her people belonged to the Presbyterian Church.
John and Nancy were married on June 27, 1833. Nothing is known where the young couple made their home but their first child, a daughter, Sarah, was born at the old McHarry home in Crawfordsburn.
To this couple were born the following children:
Sarah, Oct. 29, 1834; married John Young, Jr.
Catherine, Sept. 17, 1836; married (1) Phineas Wolcott Cook; (2) David Dudley Russell.
Margaret, Sept. 17, 1838; married Mosiah Lyman Hancock, Sr.
Mary Jane, Aug. 21, 1840; married Dr. Priddy Meeks
Isabel Wilkins, Jan. 29, 1843; married (1) Danial Richmond Mott; (2) Jabez Erastus Durfee
John “T”, Mar. 29, 1845; died June 5, 1857
Joseph Smith, July 29, 1847; married (1) Susan Oler, (2) Betsy Crandell (Brewer)
Eliza Roxey, May 3, 1849; married James Henry Ellsworth
Daniel Bell, Aug. 22, 1851; died Mar. 25, 1852
Alexander Gilmore, Feb. 24, 1854; married Emma Cecelia Jennings
John and Nancy Jane heard the Gospel from Elders James Ferguson and John D. T. McAllister in June 1841. They were the only members of their families to accept the Gospel. His folks were very better and cast him off; but her people were tolerant and kind and it made no difference in their love for her. The McCleves were very anxious to get to Zion and although the father had a good job, it took a great deal for so large a family to make the trip. For a few years before they left Ireland, he was overseer of a plantation for an Irish Lord by the name of Alexander Gilmore, a very fine man, who was kind and gracious to them and for and for whom they named their youngest son. This pleased him greatly and he gave the baby many fine presents, one a little velvet suit that he sent to him after they were in Utah.
In March, 1852 they had been called to part with their baby, Daniel Bell. This was a tragedy, especially as they were planning to leave for America as soon as possible. The next year their two oldest daughters left for Zion, the remainder of the family to follow as soon as possible.
On Feb. 24, 1854 Nancy Jane gave birth to her tenth child, who was named Alexander Gilmore.
What an exciting and wonderful day it must have been, two years later, when they finally were able to leave their homeland by the aid of the Perpetual Emigration Fund that was made available to them by the Saints in America. John and Nancy McCleve traveled with seven of their children on the Samuel Curling leaving 19 Apr 1856 and arriving in Boston 23 May 1856.
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| The Samuel Curling |
They crossed the plains in the Second Handcart Company, Daniel McArthur, captain. They hauled their provisions in handcarts, a cart on two wheels with a shaft to draw it. There were seven children in the family at this time, Margaret, Mary Jane, Isabella, Eliza, Joseph, Alexander and John.
On September 24, 1856 when the Handcart Company was within two days travel of their destination, John was severely injured in a handcart accident. After suffering greatly for a few hours he passed away and was buried on the bank of the Weber River.
John's Temple Work
Baptized Jun 1845
Endowments (9 May 1877)
in St George Temple
Sealed to Spouse (5 Apr 1869)
in Salt Lake Endowment House
Sealed to Parents (27 Nov 1885)
in St George Temple
Nancy Jane McFerren 1815-1879
Nancy Jane McFerren was born May 1, 1815 at Crawfordsburn, on Skelly Hill, near Belfast, Ireland, the only child of William McFerren and Margaret NcHarry, a lassie from the “highlands”, raised in culture and refinement. Her father died when she was two years old, and then she and her mother went back to Crawfordsburn where Nancy Jane grew up among her mother’s people, the McHarrys. According to her cousin, James McHarry of Oakland, California, Nancy Jane was a general favorite, always pleasant, gracious and kind to all and she was greatly loved by all of her people. Her people belonged to the Presbyterian Church.
Nancy Jane was educated according to the times and was an expert in dressmaking and fine sewing and needlework, a skill that she taught her daughters, also. She wrote a beautiful hand. In spite of the hardships of pioneering, she instilled the desire for education and refinement in her children, besides the sterling qualities of character which are everlasting. Many of her descendants have been and are still leaders in Church and Government and have a great love for humanity.
John and Nancy were married on June 27, 1833. Nothing is known where the young couple made their home but their first child, a daughter, Sarah, was born at the old McHarry home in Crawfordsburn.
To this couple were born the following children:
Sarah, Oct. 29, 1834; married John Young, Jr.
Catherine, Sept. 17, 1836; married (1) Phineas Wolcott Cook; (2) David Dudley Russell.
Margaret, Sept. 17, 1838; married Mosiah Lyman Hancock, Sr.
Mary Jane, Aug. 21, 1840; married Dr. Priddy Meeks
Isabel Wilkins, Jan. 29, 1843; married (1) Danial Richmond Mott; (2) Jabez Erastus Durfee
John “T”, Mar. 29, 1845; died June 5, 1857
Joseph Smith, July 29, 1847; married (1) Susan Oler, (2) Betsy Crandell (Brewer)
Eliza Roxey, May 3, 1849; married James Henry Ellsworth
Daniel Bell, Aug. 22, 1851; died Mar. 25, 1852
Alexander Gilmore, Feb. 24, 1854; married Emma Cecelia Jennings
John and Nancy Jane heard the Gospel from Elders James Ferguson and John D. T. McAllister in June 1841. They were the only members of their families to accept the Gospel. His folks were very better and cast him off; but her people were tolerant and kind and it made no difference in their love for her. The McCleves were very anxious to get to Zion and although the father had a good job, it took a great deal for so large a family to make the trip. For a few years before they left Ireland, he was overseer of a plantation for an Irish Lord by the name of Alexander Gilmore, a very fine man, who was kind and gracious to them and for and for whom they named their youngest son. This pleased him greatly and he gave the baby many fine presents, one a little velvet suit that he sent to him after they were in Utah.
In March, 1852 they had been called to part with their baby, Daniel Bell. This was a tragedy, especially as they were planning to leave for America as soon as possible. The next year their two oldest daughters left for Zion, the remainder of the family to follow as soon as possible.
On Feb. 24, 1854 Nancy Jane gave birth to her tenth child, who was named Alexander Gilmore.
McCleve home in Belfast.
What an exciting and wonderful day it must have been, two years later, when they finally were able to leave their homeland by the aid of the Perpetual Emigration Fund that was made available to them by the Saints in America. They crossed the plains in the Second Handcart Company, Daniel McArthur, captain. They hauled their provisions in handcarts, a cart on two wheels with a shaft to draw it. There were seven children in the family at this time, Margaret, Mary Jane, Isabella, Eliza, Joseph, Alexander and John.
On September 24, 1856 when the Handcart Company was within two days travel of their destination, John was severely injured in a handcart accident. After suffering greatly for a few hours he passed away and was buried on the bank of the Weber River. Nancy and her children continued on and entered the valley two days later.
In March 1857 Nancy married David Ellsworth as a plural wife. They had two children, Diana Jane and Davisel Ellsworth. Nancy lived in Payson. She died 24 Apr 1879 in Toquerville, Utah.
Nancy's Temple Work
Baptized Jun 1841
Endowments (9 May 1877)
in St George Temple
Sealed to Spouse (5 Apr 1869)
in Salt Lake Endowment House
Sealed to Parents (27 Nov 1885)
in St George Temple
Elizabeth Neibaur 1859-1885
Elizabeth Neibaur was born January 9, 1859, at Salt Lake City, Utah; she was the daughter of Joseph William Neibaur and Elizabeth (Cranshaw) Neibaur. Both of her parents were pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley, her father coming in 1848 and her mother arriving in 1854. Elizabeth was blessed in the Thirteenth Ward, Salt Lake City, Utah on October 30, 1859, by Jeter Clinton.
In 1864, the family was called by President Brigham Young to help settle the Bear Lake Valley (then in Utah Territory, but now located in Idaho). So the family moved to Paris, Bear Lake County, and they helped to settle this new Mormon settlement. Her father helped to build the first meeting house there, which was also used for school, etc.
Life was very hard for the young family in this wilderness; indeed, it was a challenge to all the pioneers who settled in this valley. The winters were very severe and cold, and disease often took its toll among the weak and the strong.
In 1872, her mother passed away, Elizabeth being the second child in the family, and the oldest girl was left with a big responsibility of caring for the family of eight other children, but with the help of her sister, Ellen, and kind neighbors the little family managed as did others of pioneer stock in the Bear Lake Valley.
Elizabeth was married October 4, 1883, in the Salt Lake Endowment House to Elder J. W. Cook. On January 15, 1884, they moved to Border, Idaho, and on January 22, 1885, she gave birth to a son whom they named Joseph Wolcott Cook. Elizabeth passed away shortly after on January 30, 1885, and her little son passed away the following spring. They are both buried in Paris, Bear Lake County, Idaho.
Elizabeth's Temple Work
Joseph Wolcott Cook 1855-1931
When the "Utah War" broke out, his family evacuated from Salt Lake City and moved south to Payson, Utah. Shortly thereafter, the marriage between Phineas and Catherine was dissolved. She and young "Wook," as he was called, moved in with her mother's family. He and his mother moved several times, living with different relatives during the following period. After a few months, his half brother, Phineas (junior), found him and took him to live with his father's family, who were now in Goshen, Utah, west of Utah Lake.
In the fall of 1862, his mother married David Dudley Russell and took her son to live with her new family in Salt Lake City. Russell had no home of his own, so the family moved from place to place as his work changed. They eventually wound up back in the area of Payson.
In 1864 the Russell family together with some friends decided to move to Sanpete County where they intended to raise cattle. They got as far a Moroni, Utah, when the Black Hawk war broke out. Settlers already in Salina were attacked and several men killed. This delayed the family's move somewhat so that they did not arrive in Salina until the summer of 1865. In the following year, there were several Indian raids on the settlers which resulted in loss of cattle and some fatalities.
The next year the family moved back to Payson. It was here that Wook had his first schooling. They lived in Payson until the fall of 1868, when Russell got work in the vicinity of Henefer, making ties for the new transcontinental railroad. The following spring he moved his family to Henefer. Russell divided his time between working for the railroad and farming. By this time, there were four other children in the family.
During the late months of 1869, Catherine's health began to fail. Her illness was so severe that Russell decided to take her and her family back to Payson, where she had family and could get better care. The journey was a difficult one due to cold weather and vicious snowstorms. At a stopover in American Fork, Catherine spoke her last words to young Wook She died the next night in Spanish Fork on December 19, 1869, at the age of thirty-two.
Russell moved his family in with his brother in a small settlement of Chicken Creek in the vicinity of Levan, where they spent the rest of the winter. In the spring of 1870, Russell married again, this time a 16-year-old orphan girl named Ann Palmer. Fifteen-year-old Wook and his 16-year-old stepmother did not get along well, and after a year, he decided to leave Russell's family and join his grandmother McCleve and her family, who were now living near St. George, Utah.
On New Year's Day, 1870, he and a companion, 20-year-old John Holden, left his home near Levan and headed south carrying a slap-jack which weighed about two pounds and a light-weight quilt. They were on foot most of the way. They would travel from town to town, where they would ask for shelter and food in return for some kind of work. Most of the time they were successful in finding shelter, but on one or two occasions, they were forced to spend a night in the snow around a sage brush fire with no shelter except the bedding they were carrying.
In Cedar City they caught a ride with a man with a team of mules who was going to St. George. This was a welcome change. Wook found his grandmother living in Leeds and was welcomed into her family. The entire trip had taken him about 12 days. He soon found work with a man named Tueller and was paid in the form of his keep and a horse and a cow. He was now on his own.
In the meantime, Phineas W. , Wook's father, had been called to settle Bear Lake Valley. He was soon settled near Garden City, Utah, and was becoming quite prosperous. His concern for his son led him to ask Apostle Erastus Snow to look for him in southern Utah and if found, to persuade him to come live with him in Bear Lake. Apostle Snow made inquiries on his next trip south and soon found Wook and convinced him to sell his horse and cow and join his father in Bear Lake..
On his way to Salt Lake, he stopped in Holden, Utah, to visit his half sister, Harriet Teeples, and her husband. They told him that the road into Bear Lake was blocked by snow and suggested he spend the winter with them and wait for spring thaws before going to Bear Lake. As an added incentive they told him he would be able to attend school in Holden. So it was decided. He spent the winter in school and in his spare time worked in a blacksmith shop, where he learned smithing skills.
In April of the next year, he rode with Harriet and William Teeples to Salt Lake for General Conference. While there he found his half brother, Alonzo, who was headed for Bear Lake, and they traveled on together. They took the train to Evanston, Wyoming, and then journeyed on to Bear Lake, where he found a warm welcome from his father and his family. On the way, they stopped overnight at Woodruff, Utah. That night a baby girl was born in Woodruff. Her name was Eliza Snow Bryson. Nineteen years later, she married J. W. Cook.
During his first years in Bear Lake, he helped with the work in the summer and attended school in the winter months. In 1875 he made arrangements with his father to buy some land from him and some horses to work the land. He paid for these by working for his father at the rate of $1.50 per day. With this and working at various jobs in the area, he was able to pay his debt to his father.
Soon after he received word that Russell had left his family and that Catherine's children were scattered out, living first with this relative and then another. Wook decided to go back to southern Utah to see if he could find them and bring them to Bear Lake. After some months of looking and persuading, he gathered them all together and brought them to his father's family in Bear Lake. Here they were parceled out to different families, and most of them grew up in that area.
In the fall of 1882, he worked with his half brothers, who had acquired land on Bear River in Thomas Fork Valley located east of Bear Lake on the Idaho-Wyoming line. Their problem now was to get water on the land. This they did by damming up Bear River and digging ditches to carry water for irrigation. Wook acquired some land of his own in the area and worked in partnership with his brothers.
On September 4, 1883, Wook married Elizabeth Neibaur of Paris, Idaho. They spent the winter in a temporary house on the ranch, while Wook gathered logs from Raymond canyon, about 12 miles north, to build a house of their own. During the next few months, he finished a fairly sizable log home, covering the walls with siding inside and out. It was a good warm comfortable house for those times. In January of 1885, his wife gave birth to a nine-pound boy. Nine days after the birth, Elizabeth passed away. His sisters cared for the baby, but nine weeks later, the baby died also.
The next few years were difficult ones for him. He grieved for his family and tried to lose himself in his work. In the summer of 1887, he received a call to go on a LDS mission to the Southern States Mission. He was deeply in debt, and there was no market for the hay he had to sell to pay his debts. Nonetheless in February 1888, he turned his affairs over to his brother Dave and left on his mission.
His mission assignment took him to eastern Tennessee. He and his companion were what were called "traveling elders". They had no permanent place to live, but walked from town to farm, staying with whoever would take them in. As they came to towns, they would try to make arrangements to rent a school house or church for preaching services. Most days they walked ten to twenty miles. There were a few church members in the area who would keep them for a week or so at a time, but most of the time they were on the move. They would often pitch in with work to be done to pay for their room and board. Twice a year they would travel to a central location for a church conference where they would meet with a presiding authority and other elders. In certain areas, prejudice against them ran high, and occasionally rocks were thrown or guns fired in an attempt to get them to move on.
When he arrived home two years later, he found himself in a legal battle for title to his land. A new survey had been run by the government, and this required that a new filing for title had to be made. Certain unscrupulous individuals in the area tried to "jump" the claims of him and his half brothers. Eventually it all got straightened out, and they retained title to most of their filings, but it required a lot of legal work and court hearings.
During the summer of 1891, his half sister and her husband were living with him on the ranch. They hired a young girl named Eliza Snow Bryson to help with the housework. On September 30, 1891, J. W. and Eliza were married in the Logan Temple. Seven children blessed their union. Two died in childhood. They continued to live on the ranch, but as their family grew and the need for better schooling arose, they decided to build a home in Paris. It was a large two-story brick home, one of the most comfortable and luxurious in the area. It had one of the first indoor bathrooms and central heating. During the winter months, the family would live in Paris, and in the summer, the boys would work on the ranch.
Shortly after this home was built, J. W. was called on another LDS mission. This mission was to the Central States, and he labored in western Kansas. Here his missionary efforts were more successful, and he and his companion converted families who subsequently migrated to Arizona and Utah and who have since become leaders in the Church. Nonetheless, it was a very stressful time, especially for Eliza, who was left to care for a growing family and at the same time keep up with affairs at the ranch. It was a joyous occasion when he arrived home on Christmas Eve two years later.
In his later years, J. W. was a leader and a doer. He became acquainted with rural telephones on his mission in Kansas and determined to connect his ranch to the telephone system which was being built in Bear Lake County. Here again he ran into apathy and jealousy, but he determined to go it alone if necessary, and eventually the line connecting twelve ranches with the Montpelier exchange was built. He was the first to attempt to grow sugar beets in Thomas Fork Valley. Although it proved to be an unsuccessful venture due to the short growing season, it showed his enterprise and willingness to experiment.
As he grew older, he spent more and more of his time in his Paris home. The ranch was left to his son, Eldon, and his half brother, Kib. He remained active on his small farm in Paris where he raised hay for milk cows and sugar beets on his home lot. In 1930 he suffered rib injuries in a runaway involving a young horse and a mowing machine. During the following winter, he had another accident involving a cow he was milking. His injuries led to pneumonia, and after a short illness, he died on February 25, 1931. His grave is in the Paris, Idaho, cemetery.
Joseph's Temple Work
Eliza Snow Bryson 1872-1955
Merrill Eugene Cook 1907-1948
Merrill's Temple Work
You can read more about Merrill HERE. This will take you to a page that says it will not open. In the upper right corner is a button that says "download". Click this button to download it to your computer, where you can open it.
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| Elizabeth Neibaur Cook |
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| Baby Joseph Wolcott Cook, Jr |
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| Salt Lake Endowment House |
Baptized 14 Jul 1872
Endowments (4 Oct 1883)
in Salt Lake Endowment House
Sealed to Spouse (4 Oct 1883)
in Salt Lake Endowment House
Sealed to Parents (21 Jun 1957)
in Los Angeles Temple
Joseph Wolcott Cook 1855-1931
A SHORT HISTORY OF JOSEPH WOLCOTT COOK
Joseph Wolcott Cook was the only child of the marriage between Phineas Wolcott Cook and Catherine McCleve. He was born on April 21, 1855, in Salt Lake City, Utah, "about a block east of the Eagle Gate," as he put it in his autobiography. His father had migrated to Utah in 1848 in the company led by Brigham Young and was working as a carpenter-builder for the community. His mother was a young Irish immigrant who left Ireland at the age of 16 with her older sister, age 18 in 1853. She became the third wife of Phineas a few months after she arrived in Salt Lake City.When the "Utah War" broke out, his family evacuated from Salt Lake City and moved south to Payson, Utah. Shortly thereafter, the marriage between Phineas and Catherine was dissolved. She and young "Wook," as he was called, moved in with her mother's family. He and his mother moved several times, living with different relatives during the following period. After a few months, his half brother, Phineas (junior), found him and took him to live with his father's family, who were now in Goshen, Utah, west of Utah Lake.
In the fall of 1862, his mother married David Dudley Russell and took her son to live with her new family in Salt Lake City. Russell had no home of his own, so the family moved from place to place as his work changed. They eventually wound up back in the area of Payson.
In 1864 the Russell family together with some friends decided to move to Sanpete County where they intended to raise cattle. They got as far a Moroni, Utah, when the Black Hawk war broke out. Settlers already in Salina were attacked and several men killed. This delayed the family's move somewhat so that they did not arrive in Salina until the summer of 1865. In the following year, there were several Indian raids on the settlers which resulted in loss of cattle and some fatalities.
The next year the family moved back to Payson. It was here that Wook had his first schooling. They lived in Payson until the fall of 1868, when Russell got work in the vicinity of Henefer, making ties for the new transcontinental railroad. The following spring he moved his family to Henefer. Russell divided his time between working for the railroad and farming. By this time, there were four other children in the family.
During the late months of 1869, Catherine's health began to fail. Her illness was so severe that Russell decided to take her and her family back to Payson, where she had family and could get better care. The journey was a difficult one due to cold weather and vicious snowstorms. At a stopover in American Fork, Catherine spoke her last words to young Wook She died the next night in Spanish Fork on December 19, 1869, at the age of thirty-two.
Russell moved his family in with his brother in a small settlement of Chicken Creek in the vicinity of Levan, where they spent the rest of the winter. In the spring of 1870, Russell married again, this time a 16-year-old orphan girl named Ann Palmer. Fifteen-year-old Wook and his 16-year-old stepmother did not get along well, and after a year, he decided to leave Russell's family and join his grandmother McCleve and her family, who were now living near St. George, Utah.
On New Year's Day, 1870, he and a companion, 20-year-old John Holden, left his home near Levan and headed south carrying a slap-jack which weighed about two pounds and a light-weight quilt. They were on foot most of the way. They would travel from town to town, where they would ask for shelter and food in return for some kind of work. Most of the time they were successful in finding shelter, but on one or two occasions, they were forced to spend a night in the snow around a sage brush fire with no shelter except the bedding they were carrying.
In Cedar City they caught a ride with a man with a team of mules who was going to St. George. This was a welcome change. Wook found his grandmother living in Leeds and was welcomed into her family. The entire trip had taken him about 12 days. He soon found work with a man named Tueller and was paid in the form of his keep and a horse and a cow. He was now on his own.
In the meantime, Phineas W. , Wook's father, had been called to settle Bear Lake Valley. He was soon settled near Garden City, Utah, and was becoming quite prosperous. His concern for his son led him to ask Apostle Erastus Snow to look for him in southern Utah and if found, to persuade him to come live with him in Bear Lake. Apostle Snow made inquiries on his next trip south and soon found Wook and convinced him to sell his horse and cow and join his father in Bear Lake..
On his way to Salt Lake, he stopped in Holden, Utah, to visit his half sister, Harriet Teeples, and her husband. They told him that the road into Bear Lake was blocked by snow and suggested he spend the winter with them and wait for spring thaws before going to Bear Lake. As an added incentive they told him he would be able to attend school in Holden. So it was decided. He spent the winter in school and in his spare time worked in a blacksmith shop, where he learned smithing skills.
In April of the next year, he rode with Harriet and William Teeples to Salt Lake for General Conference. While there he found his half brother, Alonzo, who was headed for Bear Lake, and they traveled on together. They took the train to Evanston, Wyoming, and then journeyed on to Bear Lake, where he found a warm welcome from his father and his family. On the way, they stopped overnight at Woodruff, Utah. That night a baby girl was born in Woodruff. Her name was Eliza Snow Bryson. Nineteen years later, she married J. W. Cook.
During his first years in Bear Lake, he helped with the work in the summer and attended school in the winter months. In 1875 he made arrangements with his father to buy some land from him and some horses to work the land. He paid for these by working for his father at the rate of $1.50 per day. With this and working at various jobs in the area, he was able to pay his debt to his father.
Soon after he received word that Russell had left his family and that Catherine's children were scattered out, living first with this relative and then another. Wook decided to go back to southern Utah to see if he could find them and bring them to Bear Lake. After some months of looking and persuading, he gathered them all together and brought them to his father's family in Bear Lake. Here they were parceled out to different families, and most of them grew up in that area.
In the fall of 1882, he worked with his half brothers, who had acquired land on Bear River in Thomas Fork Valley located east of Bear Lake on the Idaho-Wyoming line. Their problem now was to get water on the land. This they did by damming up Bear River and digging ditches to carry water for irrigation. Wook acquired some land of his own in the area and worked in partnership with his brothers.
On September 4, 1883, Wook married Elizabeth Neibaur of Paris, Idaho. They spent the winter in a temporary house on the ranch, while Wook gathered logs from Raymond canyon, about 12 miles north, to build a house of their own. During the next few months, he finished a fairly sizable log home, covering the walls with siding inside and out. It was a good warm comfortable house for those times. In January of 1885, his wife gave birth to a nine-pound boy. Nine days after the birth, Elizabeth passed away. His sisters cared for the baby, but nine weeks later, the baby died also.
The next few years were difficult ones for him. He grieved for his family and tried to lose himself in his work. In the summer of 1887, he received a call to go on a LDS mission to the Southern States Mission. He was deeply in debt, and there was no market for the hay he had to sell to pay his debts. Nonetheless in February 1888, he turned his affairs over to his brother Dave and left on his mission.
His mission assignment took him to eastern Tennessee. He and his companion were what were called "traveling elders". They had no permanent place to live, but walked from town to farm, staying with whoever would take them in. As they came to towns, they would try to make arrangements to rent a school house or church for preaching services. Most days they walked ten to twenty miles. There were a few church members in the area who would keep them for a week or so at a time, but most of the time they were on the move. They would often pitch in with work to be done to pay for their room and board. Twice a year they would travel to a central location for a church conference where they would meet with a presiding authority and other elders. In certain areas, prejudice against them ran high, and occasionally rocks were thrown or guns fired in an attempt to get them to move on.
When he arrived home two years later, he found himself in a legal battle for title to his land. A new survey had been run by the government, and this required that a new filing for title had to be made. Certain unscrupulous individuals in the area tried to "jump" the claims of him and his half brothers. Eventually it all got straightened out, and they retained title to most of their filings, but it required a lot of legal work and court hearings.
During the summer of 1891, his half sister and her husband were living with him on the ranch. They hired a young girl named Eliza Snow Bryson to help with the housework. On September 30, 1891, J. W. and Eliza were married in the Logan Temple. Seven children blessed their union. Two died in childhood. They continued to live on the ranch, but as their family grew and the need for better schooling arose, they decided to build a home in Paris. It was a large two-story brick home, one of the most comfortable and luxurious in the area. It had one of the first indoor bathrooms and central heating. During the winter months, the family would live in Paris, and in the summer, the boys would work on the ranch.
Shortly after this home was built, J. W. was called on another LDS mission. This mission was to the Central States, and he labored in western Kansas. Here his missionary efforts were more successful, and he and his companion converted families who subsequently migrated to Arizona and Utah and who have since become leaders in the Church. Nonetheless, it was a very stressful time, especially for Eliza, who was left to care for a growing family and at the same time keep up with affairs at the ranch. It was a joyous occasion when he arrived home on Christmas Eve two years later.
In his later years, J. W. was a leader and a doer. He became acquainted with rural telephones on his mission in Kansas and determined to connect his ranch to the telephone system which was being built in Bear Lake County. Here again he ran into apathy and jealousy, but he determined to go it alone if necessary, and eventually the line connecting twelve ranches with the Montpelier exchange was built. He was the first to attempt to grow sugar beets in Thomas Fork Valley. Although it proved to be an unsuccessful venture due to the short growing season, it showed his enterprise and willingness to experiment.
As he grew older, he spent more and more of his time in his Paris home. The ranch was left to his son, Eldon, and his half brother, Kib. He remained active on his small farm in Paris where he raised hay for milk cows and sugar beets on his home lot. In 1930 he suffered rib injuries in a runaway involving a young horse and a mowing machine. During the following winter, he had another accident involving a cow he was milking. His injuries led to pneumonia, and after a short illness, he died on February 25, 1931. His grave is in the Paris, Idaho, cemetery.
Thanks to Shirl Cook and Don Cook for submitting this history.
Baptized 3 Sep 1863
Endowments (4 Oct 1883)
in Salt Lake Endowment House
Sealed to Spouse (30 Sep 1891)
in Logan Temple
Sealed to Parents (BIC)
Eliza Snow Bryson 1872-1955
Eliza's Temple Work
Baptized 16 May 1880
Endowments (30 Sep 1891)
in Logan Temple
Sealed to Spouse (30 Sep 1891)
in Logan Temple
Sealed to Parents (BIC)
Merrill Eugene Cook 1907-1948
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| Merrill at Utah State Agricultural College |
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| Merrill on his mission to Germany/Austria |
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| Merrill on his mission to Germany/Austria |
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| Merrill and Margaret pre-wedding |
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| Merrill, Margaret, Don, Paul |
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| Merrill, Margaret, Don, Paul |
Back Row: Margaret Richards Cook, Emily Randall Richards
2nd Row: Myrlene Cook Thorpe, Unknown Aunt
3rd Row: Paul Cook, Merrill Eugene Cook
4th Row: Barbara Cook Saunders, Don Cook
Merrill's Temple WorkBaptized 29 May 1915
Endowments (22 Jun 1927)
in Logan Temple
Sealed to Spouse (22 Aug 1933)
in Logan Temple
Sealed to Parents (BIC)
You can read more about Merrill HERE. This will take you to a page that says it will not open. In the upper right corner is a button that says "download". Click this button to download it to your computer, where you can open it.
Margaret Iva Richards 1910-1993
Margaret's birth certificate (her name is misspelled and her birthdate is wrong)
Margaret's Temple Work
Baptized 26 May 1919
Endowments (12 Apr 1933)
in Logan Temple
Sealed to Spouse (22 Aug 1933)
in Logan Temple
Sealed to Parents (BIC)
