John and Elinor Fincher with children moved to Unchlan Township untl the spring of 1716, when they removed to London Grove, Chester Co., PA. John had 200 acres deeded him, 13th and 14th March 1722 by Tobias Collett & Company. John and Elinor were both active members of Friends Meeting. They removed their certificate of membership to Newark MM (Old Kennett Mtg.) in 1716, and in 1718 when New Garden MM (Chester Co., PA) was established they became members of that meeting. Elinor had no children by her second husband. The last mention of her is found in 1726 and the date of her death is not known.
THE FAMILY NEWS
Vol I, No. I
Norfolk, VA
Nov 1903
(*1) No. 219. Marriage Register of Cheshire and Stradfordshire Quarterly Meeting of the Society of Friends, General Register Office, Somerset House, London, EnglandA copy of "The Family New" was obtained from Mary Louise Reynolds, wife of Thomas Hamm of Spiceland, IN.
Peter frequently had to pay tithes even though he no longer belonged to the Church of England. This and the size of their family undoubtedly contributed to his lack of money. Peter Cook was a poor man and required assistance for the voyage, as many did. Frandly Meeting, Frodsham, undertook the job of raising money for the passage to America.
Frandly Meeting 1P. 11s. 4d.
Newton Meeting 3P. 10s.
Chester Meeting 1P. 1s. 6d.
Norton Meeting 12s. 2d.
Total 6P. 15s. 2d.This information was obtained for Albert Cook Myers some years ago (c. 1910) by an Englishman named Isaac Sharpe. The original record showed a total of 16 pounds, 5 shilllings and 2 pence. Mr. Sharpe's comment to this was ".. either someone's addition was poor or Peter Cook was done out of 10 shillings."
"-- The Albert Cook Myers Collection
R. L. Cooke, Jr.
c. 1953
ELINOR (NORMAN) COOK IN AMERICA
by Albert Cook Myers and Robert Lee Cooke, Jr.
6th Cook Family Reunion August 15, 1952
Mechanicsburg, Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania
Robert L. Cooke, Jr., speakerBefore plunging into the life of Elinor Cook in this country it might be well to bring ourselves up to date on her English background. Her maiden name was Elinor Norman. (1) She and Peter Cooke were married in Cheshire, England, in December 1695, (2) and in the next 17 years they raised a family of 9 children, only 6 of whom lived to maturnity. In the early part of 1713 the Frandley Monthly Meeting of Cheshire provided them with money for their passage to America, and they sailed without delay.
It requires some effort and imagination for us, of the 20th century, to put ourselves in the position of an 18th century immigrant. merely to make the Atlantic passages was an act of courage for the ordinary person in those days. Ships were small and uncomfortable, the voyage was long, and no guarentees were given for a safe arrival. Add to that a new, wild, sparsely settled, and mostly unmapped land from which to wrest a home and a livelihood and I think we can agree that the decision to leave old friends and the familar sights and faces required not only courage but a great faith in the future.
As if all these obstacles, common to all immigrants, were not enough, Elinor was called upon to summon more courage and determination then she would have believed within her power, for within the year her family was reduced by two! First, and probably the hardest blow, both to her emotions and to her hopes for the future, was the death aboard ship of her husband, Peter. (3) We do not know what caused his death. No tradition has come down to us, which seems a little strange since the 3 oldest boys, at least, were old enough to be aware of what was happening. Secondly, shortly after arriving at Philadelphia, the records of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting state, under "burials" for July 1713: "Samuel Cook, son of _____ Cook, who dyed at sea, and Elinor, hiw wife", Samuel was only 15 months old.
We know nothing of the circumstances of their stay in Philadelphia, nor do we know how long the family was there. Certainly it was not a time given to gaiety. There were, however, some glimmerings of the sunnier future which lay in store. James Logan, secretary and representative of William Penn, took an interest in Elino. Whether this was because of his own deep interest in those sorely tired or whether, as a desperate widow, she put herself boldly forward and commanded attention is a matter for speculation. At any rate a memorandum in Logan's handwriting, written for the Commissioners of Property of Philadelphia in August of 1713, reads: "Granted to Elinor Cook, a poor widow, lately arrived from England, 100 acres of land in Chester County. Another glimmer of light may have come form a woman named Merrick, a woman of some means and a witness to Elinor's marriage in England. We have no records to show that Elinor received aid from her but we know the Merricks were here (4) and the possibility exists.
It is difficult to fit all the scanty facts of the next year, 1714, into a coherant story. The land warrant for Elinor's land in Uwchlan Townshiop was not issued til November 8, 1713, (5) and although this would no necessarily prevent her from taking possession of her land, she might conceivably have waited for it, especially as winter was fast approaching. (The warrant, incidently, is here in this frame and its terms might be intersting. She agreed to pay 10 pounds with nine months to pay, rate of interest unspecified, and use the land in one year. This requirement of use was commonin those days. Jacob Taylor, the Surveyor General, was instructed to make the survey - which would be valid if Elinor fulfilled the conditions, but otherwise to be treated as if the survey had never been made.) We also find that she was near Media (now Delaware County) in March of 1714, whne she presented her certificate of removal from the Frandley MM to the Chester MM held at Providence Meeting House.
On the other hand, one of her neighbors to be was a friend from Cheshire by the name of Joseph Helsby. He and his wife, Joan, were among the signers of Peter's and Elinor's marriage certificate. (6) Also the land warrant, of which we were jsut speaking, suggests that she had requested that her land be next to John Maxwell, also from Cheshire, though an Anglican, not a Quaker. (7) So itis possible that she took her family out at once and stayed with one or more of her friends till her home was built.
Be that as it may, we can picture quite vividly their situation whne it came time to create a farm. They were located along the border of what are now Upper and Lower Uwchlan Townships, about 2 miles north of Downingtown, in rolling country rising in places to 500 feet. Most of their land as covered in virgin timber, which was an obstacle to be overcome but which, at the same time, provided the material for a house. Elinor was not a young woman, being at this time nearly 50, (8) but she had two strong boys, John, 18 and Peter, 14, for heaby work and Isaac, 12 and Thomas 10 were no doubt also helpful. In those days, as in some places today, the neighbors all joined to help the newcomer get started. We may suppose that hte Helsbys and Maxwells contributed food supplies as well as sweat and muscle.
About the only record we have of this period tells us that hte family attended meetings at the home of a Welshman, John Caldwallader. (9) It is intersting to note that the Cooks were living on the edge of that section of Chester and Montgomery Counties known as the Welsh Tract. Living at that moment within 20 miles was Lewis Walker, Welshman, an ancestor of practically everyone here by the marriage of his great grand daughter, Hannah Walker to John Cook. (10)
It would seem almost a shame that so much energy and perspiration should be expended for so short lived project. Somewhere along the line Elinor had met a widower, John Fincher by name, whom she soon married, and the Uwchlan Tract was abandoned.
.... Whatever the circumstances of their meeting the upshot was marriage, and hte land which the Cook family had devoted t's toil was abandoned. John Fincher and Elinor Cook were married under the care of of the Goshen Meeting in September 1714. After the marriage the Cook tribe joined the Fincher's on John's land in Goshen. Incidently it is interesting to observe that hte Goshen Meeting was most meticulous in securing for Elinor's children the rights to all her possessions before the marriage took place, although these could hardly have amounted to more than the land in Uwchlan. (18)
Together they made quite a family! Although Elinor brought nothing in worldly goods she did bring the strong boys to help make the family a going concern. All told theere were 13 chidlren: The Cooks being 4 boys and 2 girls, and the Fincher's 4 girls and 3 boys. None were subsequently added which is, perhaps, just as well. Although the Finchers are not actually related to most of us it was interesting to me to find that John Fincher's son John and the son's wife, were killed by Indians, (19) for it is the only occurance of it's kind I have thus far found in any way connected with our family.
Once settled in Goshen, Elinor immediately became active in the affairs of the Meeting. Again and again the Woman's minutes note that she went to Chester Meetings as representative f the Goshen Meeting. It is instuctive to reflect on her great activity, both here and in England In England she and Peter were unquestionably poor. The traveling she did was costly in time and money, neither of which coud be easily spared. Here in America the financial aspect was undoubtedly eased by her marriage, but a family of 15 could scarcely have allowed much leisure time and it is, perhaps, not too much to suppose that at the age of 50, after a difficult life, she was not as spriy as she once had been. But such was the strength of faith of the early Quakers, and for that matter, of the early members of every religious group. While such devotion is still to be seen today, under much less rigorous circumstances, I suspect that on the whole it is not so common as it once was.
By the spring of 1716, John Fincher, true to his past record, had the itch to move on. He obtained a land warrant from the Philadelphia Board on March 15, 1716 for vacant land in London Grove Township, Chester Co. (PA) At the end of April the representatives of Goshen Meeting reported his intentions to the Chester Meeting, and on the 28th day of May he presented his certificate tof removal to the Chester Meeting in Delaware, then part of Pennsylvania. The entire Cook part of the family went along except John. For some unknown reason to us he remained behind two years. Then in August of 1718, John Cook asked the Chester Meeting for a certificate to Newark Meeting, New Garden Township, Chester Co., PA to marry Elinor Lansdell (Lansdale) and also to live there. The request was granted in September. It appears, however, that he changed his mind about living at New Garden for he soon turned up with his wife at London Grove where the Cook and Fincher children were starting to leave the nest and strike out on their own. By 1722 we find that John, Peter and Thomas each had their own farms. (20)
The curtain now comes down on Elino. Our records of her activities here at London Grove are not quite so complete as at Goshen but we note that in June of 1726 she signed the marriage certificate of her foster son, Jonathan Fincher to Deborah Hicks at London Grove Meeting, while in June of 1728 she did not sign the marriage certificate of Sarah Fincher and Edward Swaine at the same place. Knowing her past history I think we may safely assume that she would not voluntarily have missed the wedding so, was either dead or desperately ill. She is presumed to be buried at the London Grove Meeting Cemetery.
John Fincher now also steps out of our story. In leaving him, I will say that he married a third time (21_ and in his will, proved November 1747, he made no mention of the Cook children. (22)
This concludes our story of Elinor Cook, but in order to connect all t his more closely with ourselves, I should like to take a few minutes to tell you what happened to her children, all of whom married while at London Grove.
John Cook was the only one to remain in Chester Co. The deed records disclose that he was well regarded by the London Grove Meeting in spite of the fact that he was only 26, for in 1722 and 1723 he was one of the trustees of the Meeting to purchase land for the use of the Meeting. For many years, up to the 1930's there was an annual reunionof this branch of the family.
Elinor Cook had an illegitimate child and was disowned by the meeting. She is believed to have married Thomas Grindall at Swede's Church, Wimington, Delaware. (23) Peter appears to have been the only member of the family to stand by her through this trial. Peter took her to the house of a Charles McDowell in Maryland for the birth.
In 1730 Mary Cook married Thomas Cox, who had previously married (1722) Mary's foster sister, Elizabeth Fincher. (24) Mary (Cook) Cox was the first of the family to move to York Co., settling near Warrington Meeting. The Cox's moved sometime prior to 1740. Thomas Cox died about 1759 and in that same year, Mary left with her family for Cane Creek Monthly Meeting in Guilford County, NC. (25)
Thomas Cook married Mary Underwood (26) of Delaware and moved to Warrington in 1742. Thomas died in 1751 and Mary went to the New Garden Meeting, NC. in March 1758. (27) Some of her children, however, remained behind, but I cannot say if any of their descendants are still living here.
Issac Cook married Mary Houghton (28) of Delaware and moved to Warrington in 1751. They later moved to NC. (29) Incidently, most of the laer Cook generations in the Carolinas moved to Ohio and Indiana on account of their opposition to slavery.
I have reserved Peter Cook to last in order to be a bit more detailed. After the moved to London Grove he began courting Sarah Gilpin, who lived on her father's farm 12 1/2 miles to the east. The Gilpin's were early settlers in Pennsylvania and came of a very prominent family in England.
In 1730 Peter and Sarah were married at Concord Meeting. IN 1745 they moved to Warrington with their family of 4 boys and 4 girls. Just to give an idea of the state of the county at that time; Warrington Meeting was already functioning but the town of York had only been organized in 1730.
Peter got a land grant in 1744 for 200 acres in Manchester Township, Lancaster County (30), and later in the same year for 400 acres in York County (31) about 1 1/2 miles southwest of Wellsville as the crow flies. Actually, these grants were in the same place as York County was originally part of Lancaster County.
I have at hand no great details of Peter's life here. One record shows that in 1747 he helped a certain Isaac Rutledge, a miller, lay out a road from the mill on Yellow Britches Creek to the town of York. (32) In the same year two more children were born to Sarah and Peter, twins. (33) Peter died (4 mo. 28, 1779), aged 79, having survived his wife by 16 years (34), and left his farm to his youngest son Peter. (35) Peter and Sarah (Gilpin) Cook are both buried at Warrington Meeting.
In closing I must tell you that, as on the previous occaiton of speaking to you, this material has been gathered largely from the collected papers of our cousin, Albert Cook Myers. Although he was unable to attend this meeting, he gave me freely of his time and advise and enthusiasm. We are all indebted to him.
References:
(1) Records of Newton MM, Cheshire, England
(2) Op.Cit.
(3) Records of the Philadelphia MM
(4) The Albert Cook Myers Collection
(5) Land Office, Harrisburg, PA
(6) Records of Newton MM, Cheshire, England
(7) The Albert Cook Myers collection
(8) Records of Frodsham Parish, Cheshire England- Baptisms
(9) The Albert Cook Meyers Collection
(10) Lewis Walker of Chester Valley, Streets
(18) Records of Goshen Meeting - Chester Co., Courthouse
(19) The Albert Cook Meyers Collection
(20) Tax Lists for London Grove Township
(21) The Albert Cook Meyers Collection
(22) Will records - Chester Co., Courthouse
(23) The Albert Cook Myers Collection
(24) Loc. Cit.
(25) Records of Warrington MM - York Co., PA
(26) The Albert Cook Myers Collection
(27) Records of Warrington MM - York Co., PA
(28) The Albert Cook Myers Collection
(29) Records of Warrington MM - York Co., PA
(30) Land Office, Harrisburg, PA
(31) Loc. Cit.
(32) The Albert Cook Myers Collection
(33) Records of Warrington MM - York Co., PA
(34) Loc. Cit.
(35) Will records - York Co., CourthouseThe following is the inscription Albert Cook Myers wrote about 1910 for a market for Peter Cook and Elinor Norman, to be placed in Londongrove FBG, Chester Co., PA where Near this spot, after 1726, was buried;
Eleanor Cook
nee' Norman, of Kingsley, m. 1st,
10 Mo. 7, 1695, at Friends Mtg. at
Newton, Eleanor m. 2nd, 7 Mo.
1714 to John Fincher and Settled in
London Grove.Peter Cook
of Tarvin, all in Cheshire, England
where six surviving, Children were
born. He d. in 1713 at sea, on the
voyage to Pennsylvania 5 mo, 25,
1713. (youngest son, b. 2 Mo. 23, 1712
John and Elinor Fincher with children moved to Unchlan Township untl the spring of 1716, when they removed to London Grove, Chester Co., PA. John had 200 acres deeded him, 13th and 14th March 1722 by Tobias Collett & Company. John and Elinor were both active members of Friends Meeting. They removed their certificate of membership to Newark MM (Old Kennett Mtg.) in 1716, and in 1718 when New Garden MM (Chester Co., PA) was established they became members of that meeting. Elinor had no children by her second husband. The last mention of her is found in 1726 and the date of her death is not known.
THE FAMILY NEWS
Vol I, No. I
Norfolk, VA
Nov 1903
(*1) No. 219. Marriage Register of Cheshire and Stradfordshire Quarterly Meeting of the Society of Friends, General Register Office, Somerset House, London, EnglandA copy of "The Family New" was obtained from Mary Louise Reynolds, wife of Thomas Hamm of Spiceland, IN.
Peter frequently had to pay tithes even though he no longer belonged to the Church of England. This and the size of their family undoubtedly contributed to his lack of money. Peter Cook was a poor man and required assistance for the voyage, as many did. Frandly Meeting, Frodsham, undertook the job of raising money for the passage to America.
Frandly Meeting 1P. 11s. 4d.
Newton Meeting 3P. 10s.
Chester Meeting 1P. 1s. 6d.
Norton Meeting 12s. 2d.
Total 6P. 15s. 2d.This information was obtained for Albert Cook Myers some years ago (c. 1910) by an Englishman named Isaac Sharpe. The original record showed a total of 16 pounds, 5 shilllings and 2 pence. Mr. Sharpe's comment to this was ".. either someone's addition was poor or Peter Cook was done out of 10 shillings."
"-- The Albert Cook Myers Collection
R. L. Cooke, Jr.
c. 1953
Came to Philadelphia MM in 1683.