This tall zinc tombstone for Lieutenant Henry Cook is supplemeted with a small bronze "Veterans of the War of 1812" grave marker at historic Baccus Cemetery, now in a mixed-use residential retail development on the Frisco-Plano city limit line.
The tombstone reads as follows:
"[W side]
LIEUT. HENRY COOK
Born May 28, 1775
Died June 10, 1862.
[N side]
Take him, O Father, in thine arms, and may he henceforth be a messenger of peace between our human hearts and thee."
[E side]
We only know that thou hast gone, and that the same relent-less tide which bore thee from us, still glides on, and we who mourn thee with it glide.
[S side]
I fear not death"
The small marker next to Lt Cook's tombstone reads as follows:
"General Society of the War of 1812
WAR OF 1812 VETERAN"
From Find-A-Grave: (
visit link)
"Birth: May 28, 1775
Fincastle
Botetourt County
Virginia, USA
Death: Jun. 10, 1862
Henry Cook was born on May 28, 1775 in Fincastle, Castle County, in the province of Virginia which later became West Virginia. The family has long believed (though proof is still needed) that Henry's parents were John Cooke and Mary Braun/Brown, who came to America on the Brig Betsy. Henry's father, John Cooke, took an oath to this country at the State House in the city of Philadelphia, December 4, 1771. John and Mary Braun Cook had two daughters that were born in Germany but their son, Henry, was born in America.
The Revolutionary War moved west to the Illinois country, held by the British and their Indian allies and Henry's parents brought the family to Green County, Illinois, where they lived in Kaskaski, a French settlement near an Indian village. Later in life, Henry served in the War of 1812 as a lieutenant and was a French and Indian interpreter.
On September 1, 1846, Henry Cook left Illinois for Texas with a caravan of seven wagons. The Cook family had three wagons for Henry's wife, Sarah, and her six children. Two pigs and a few chickens were brought from Illinois, also. Henry took the caravan to St. Louis, Missouri to secure a way bill to Texas since there were no roads and the Mississippi river could only be crossed in certain places with wagon and oxen. In St. Louis a cook stove was purchased and some tools including a frow for making shingles and a broadax to smooth logs.
The caravan reached Trinity Mills near Carrollton on October 15, 1846, but Henry thought this area too low and wet to be healthy so after a couple of weeks he moved back to Old Indian Springs where the group camped in a tent for the winter. On this white rock ridge the travelers had camped on the journey down. In the spring they moved near the present Baccus Cemetery. Henry patented land as a Peters Colonist, selecting property in two separate tracts, one with a spring and one with adequate wood supply, both being vital necessities. First two log cabins were built. Later one large room was constructed with a white rock chimney, know as a dirt and stick chimney. Just before the Civil War Henry built two large rooms with an open hallway between and used the old cabin for a kitchen at the back. The logs for this house were prepared at Lanson Clark's mill on Little Elm, where there was a circular saw. When the Cook family arrived in 1846, Dallas had only one store and 39 inhabitants.
Henry Cook seems to have had quite a number of wives. He first married Elizabeth McCormack on 13 May 1800 in St. Clair County, Illinois. Second he married Nellie Waddle on 11 Apr 1805 in St. Clair, Illinois. His third wife was Alcy Nix. They married on 7 Feb 1811 in St. Clair, Illinois and had the following children:
Henry Cook b.1815,
David Cook b. 1816,
William Cook b. 1816,
Jacob Cook b. 1817 and
Mary Ann Cook b. 1820.
Henry's first three wives all died early, but his children all followed him to Texas. With the exception of daughter, Mary Ann Cook Miller, who lived in Collin County, TX, all of Henry Cook's children by Alcy settled in Denton County, TX, not far from Henry Cook's home.
Henry Cook had six children by his last wife, Sarah Kincaid Cook b. 6 Jul 1793. They were married on 6 March 1825 in Carrollton, Green Co. IL and had the following children:
Martha Cook b. 1826 who married John B. Martin;
Elizabeth Cook b. 1829 who married Henry Heustis;
Rachel Cook b. 1830 who married first William Bridges, and after his death, she married Joseph Baccus;
Daniel Cook b. 1831 who died at seventeen and is buried in Baccus Cemetery in what is thought to be the first marked grave in the county.
Lewis Franklin Cook b. 1834 who married Ellen Maria McIntyre; and
Sarah Jane Cook b. 1839 who married Nicholas Dudley.
Henry was evidently a man of forceful and magnetic personality to the end of his days. He led a caravan from Illinois to Texas at the age of 75, a task seldom undertaken by any but a younger man. He arrived on the frontier so early that Texas was just entering statehood. He evidently was the focal point for two different sets of children almost all of whom lived within riding distance. He died in 1862 and is buried in Baccus Cemetery.
Henry's daughter, Rachel Baccus, gave the land for Baccus Christian Church which for a number of years was adjacent to Baccus Cemetery. Baccus was originally known as the Cook Cemetery. It was started by Henry Cook, who buried his 17 year old son, Daniel, not far from the newly built cook Cabin with its animal skin for the front door. The date was January 13, 1847. The second burial was that of George W. Martin, son of J.B. and Martha Cook Martin. George was born on April 1, 1849, and died August 17, 1850. George's mother was Martha cook, eldest child of Henry Cook and his last wife, Sarah Kincaid Cook. Martha's little son lies next to his Uncle Daniel. In time, Henry cook's daughter, Rachel Baccus, acquired the land, and in 1878, she deeded it to the heirs of Henry Cook for church and cemetery purposes. In about 1915 the cemetery association changed the name to Baccus Cemetery in recognition of Rachel's gift of the burial ground and the tract for the neighboring Baccus Christian Church, organized in 1908.
Family links:
Spouse:
Sarah Kincaid Cook (1793 - 1889)
Children:
John Cook (1804 - 1894)*
Jacob Cook (1817 - 1901)*
Martha Cook Martin (1826 - 1906)*
Elizabeth Cook Heustis (1828 - 1920)*
Rachel Cook Baccus (1830 - 1912)*
Daniel Cook (1831 - 1847)*
Lewis F. Cook (1834 - 1919)*
Sarah Jane Cook Dudley (1839 - 1928)*
*Calculated relationship"