Re: James, son of SHEM COOKE
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In reply to:
James, son of SHEM COOKE
jim cooke 7/24/06
Shem (1773-1862) was the third son of James Cook and [—?—]. Unfortunately, an extensive search of the marriage records of Amelia and Prince Edward Counties in Virginia failed to identify conclusively a marriage partner for James.The only marriage bond entered for a James Cook is for a marriage to Anna Ford in 1764,but given that James Cook was first listed in the household of Shem (1720-1796) Cook in 1763 at age sixteen,this marriage seems unlikely. However, James was certainly the father of the four Cook children named as heirs in Shem's will:William, born, say, 1769;Rowland, born about 1771;Shem, born about 1773;and Ann, born about 1780.Shem’s will named only the children of his deceased children, James Cook and Delphia Cook Roberts, as heirs;the children of his living children were not named in the will, although at least nine of these grandchildren were alive in 1792 when the will was written.
Alice Algood's article published in Historic Maury, Vol. 32, No. 1, 1995, "Shem Cooke and His Family in Granville and Franklin Counties, North Carolina" states "James Cooke seems to have been the oldest son since he appears in the Amelia records first. He is listed on the tax list in 1763. If the age of listing was 21 then he would have been born about 1742. Because of the proximity of his father's land to that of Hezekiah Ford it seems reasonable to assume that he is the James Cooke who married Anna Ford on 21 September 1764 in Amelia." (p. 19) In fact, according to the laws of Virginia, white males were added to the tithable lists when they reached age 16 -- not 21, so James Cooke, son of Shem, was born in 1747, not 1742. It is possible that he married at age 17 but James continued to live in Shem Cooke's household and was reported on the Amelia County tithable lists for 1764, 1765, and 1766. In 1767, Shem Cooke moved his household to neighboring Prince Edward County.
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Re: James, son of SHEM COOKE
jim cooke 4/29/07