From Ontario to Saskatchewan
Cook family legend has it that our family were Loyalists who left the American colonies for Canada during the Revolutionary War. Where they came from or whether they were loyalists is unknown. They may have come from Dutchess County, New York, but I have found no proof of that yet.
Matthew Cook
Matthew Cook was born somewhere in Canada West (Ontario) in 1808. He was a miller in Chesterville, Dundas, and later in the Village of Crysler, Stormont. Matthew was married to Catherine Herrington in 1837.
“Family stories from the Cooks told that they were Loyalists and were related to the Cook family who owned Cook and Brothers Lumber of Morrisburg and Toronto.” (Doris McGrath Patterson) No documentary evidence has been found to prove these family stories.
There were three Cook families in Dundas and Stormont in the 1800s. The first Cook family, associated with Cook and Brothers Lumber, and active in politics, were Loyalists from New York of German descent. Another Cook family from Ireland arrived in the 1830s. Matthew Cook and his descendants were usually described on the census as of Dutch descent.
Catherine Herrington
A story Doris McGrath Patterson told me is that Matthew Cook’s family may be related to Cooks of Cook and Brothers Lumber. “Mom [Eliza Mildred Cook] told me that Grampa [Joseph Albert Cook] told her when she showed him a wedding picture in the paper of the Daughter of George W. Cook (one time President of Cook and Brothers Lumber) about the year 1923 – Mom remarked how much she resembled Aunt Hazel [Hazel Eunice Cook], Grandpa told her George W. Cook was his second cousin, so that was why there was a family resemblance.”
Recently, a descendant of the German Cook family and a member of our Cook family each participated in the Cook DNA Project. No DNA match was found between the families, which proves conclusively that there is no connection.
Joseph Albert Cook
Two of Matthew and Catherine’s daughters, Eliza and Jane, went to New York and lived in Frewsburg (Carroll), Chautauqua County, New York. Samuel’s daughter Mamie lived in Elmira, Chemung County, New York.Matthew Cook died in Chesterville in January 1876. His widow Catherine went to Peterborough where she died in Lakefield in 1895. Her grandson Samuel Matthew died there as well.
Samuel and Joseph Albert pioneered in the Windthorst, Saskatchewan area. Joseph had a homestead which still stands. Joseph and his wife Rebecca opened their house to others every Sunday for church services. Joseph was the first postmaster of Buffalo Plain.
