USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume II > Part 29
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COOKE.
Dr. John D. Cooke, a well known medical practitioner of Shortsville, Ontario county, New York, although a native of Canada, traces his descent to an American family, many generations of which lived at Had- ley, Massachusetts, where they were among the early settlers, and bravely bore their share of the hardships and trials with which the early colonists
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were obliged to contend. Dr. Cooke has inherited many of the admirable traits which characterized these early hardy settlers, and he has followed his career with the sturdy determination to achieve the success which dis- tinguished his forbears in their efforts to establish, in this country, a land of liberty.
John Cooke, grandfather of Dr. Cooke, was born at Hadley, Massa- chusetts, the native town of his father, in 1776, and like the majority of the settlers in those days, was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He mar- ried Sarah White.
Dr. Silas W. Cooke, son of John and Sarah ( White) Cooke, was born at Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1816, and died in Canada, in 1884. At the conclusion of his preparatory education, he became a student at the Medical School in Fairfield, New York, in 1839, and was graduated with honor from that institution. He then removed to Norwich, Canada, where he entered upon the practice of his profession, but subsequently removed to Paris, Canada, where he practiced medicine with success for the long period of forty years. He married Mary Louise Cook, of Mount Pleasant, Canada, who was born in Dutchess county, New York, in 1819, and died in 1897. Their children were : Dr. John D., see forward ; Mary, who now resides in the state of California.
Dr. John D., son of Dr. Silas W. and Mary Louise ( Cook) Cooke, was born at Paris, Ontario, Canada, December 17, 1858. His early edu- cation was acquired at the Woodstock Collegiate Institute, and he then matriculated at the Trinity Medical College in Toronto, from which he was graduated in 1879. Subsequently he entered the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons, in Buffalo, New York, from which he was graduated in the class of 1881. He immediately established himself in the practice of his profession in the town of Shortsville, Ontario county, New York, and it was but a short time before he had a well-established reputation as a physician and surgeon in whom the greatest confidence might be placed. He has not alone won the respect and confidence of those whom he has so successfully treated, but his sympathetic manner and warm heart have won their love, and there is no physician in the county who has a greater number of sincere friends and well-wishers. While a man of a social, genial disposition, his time for general pleasures is very limited, as he spends all the time which his large and increasing practice leaves him, in earnest study and the reading of professional publications, holding the wise opinion that a physician must be constantly learning, otherwise he will be unable to keep abreast of the times in medical research. It is
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owing to his constant desire to increase his knowledge that Dr. Cooke may safely ascribe his professional success.
Dr. Cooke married, in 1885, Julia, daughter of Joseph Whetman, of Mount Vernon, Canada; he is a member of the Western New York Homoeopathic Medical Society. In politics he is a Democrat.
ELLIS.
Willis C. Ellis, who has been prominently identified with the legal interests of the state of New York in various capacities for a number of years, is descended from a family which, for generations, has been con- spicuous in their defence of the country in which they lived.
(I) Smith Ellis, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in the Mohawk Valley, New York, and removed to the town of Gaines- ville, Wyoming county, New York, early in the nineteenth century. He was one of the early settlers in that town and, some years later, removed to Pike in the same county. He was an active participant in the war of 1812 and saw service at Sacketts Harbor. He married Christine Helmer, who was also a native of Mohawk Valley.
(II) Abram W., son of Smith and Christine ( Helmer) Ellis, was born in Wyoming county, New York, and died in Pike, September 7. 1907. His life occupation was that of farming. In 1863 he enlisted in the Eighteenth New York Light Artillery, was transferred to the Twenty- fifth Regiment Light Artillery, and served in the Department of the Gulf until the close of the war. He married, January 1, 1866, Marion A. Phelps, and had one child, Willis C., mentioned below.
(III) Willis C., only child of Abram W. and Marion A. ( Phelps) Ellis, was born in Pike, Wyoming county, New York, January 12, 1868. His preparatory education was acquired in the Pike Seminary, from which he was graduated in June, 1888. He then became a student at Cornell University, from which he was graduated June 16, 1892, with the degree of Bachelor of Letters. He continued the study of law in the offices of Day & Romer, Buffalo, New York, and was admitted to the bar, June 12, 1893. In June of the following year he came to Shorts- ville, New York, where he opened his present offices, and where he has acquired a large and lucrative practice. His political affiliations have been with the Republican party, and he has filled a number of public offices. He has served as village attorney for Shortsville for the past
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ten years, and for the same period of time in a similar capacity for the town of Manchester. In 1909 he was designated by the attorney-general as prosecutor of violators of the agricultural laws for the county of On- tario. He is also engaged as attorney for the Mutual Bank and the E. D. Mather & Company banks of Shortsville. His fraternal and club associa- tions are as follows : Delta Chi and Kappa Sigma fraternities, of Cornell University ; Triluminar Lodge, No. 543, Free and Accepted Masons of Pike: Excelsior Chapter, No. 164, Royal Arch Masons, of Canandaigua : Zenobia Commandery, No. 41, Knights Templar, of Palmyra, New York; he is past grand of Parlor Village Lodge, No. 88, Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Shortsville: member of Red Jacket Club of Canandaigua ; Western New York Cornell Alumni Association of Roch- ester, New York; New York State Bar Association; New York State Historical Association.
Mr. Ellis married in Canandaigua, New York, July 5. 1900. Martha C., born in Canandaigua, June 18, 1874, daughter of George D. and Maria (Crawford) Hart, the former a retired farmer. Children : Ruth, born May 15, 1901 ; Helen, July 18, 1903; Gordon A .. November 23. 1906; Christine, December 18, 1908.
BARDEN.
The name of Barden, and also that of Burden, was originally Borden. The change in spelling is due to the fact that among the early generations of families in America, there was a dearth of interest in preserving the original orthography of their surnames. The Barden family of Ontario county, New York, is of the posterity of Thomas Barden, a settler from New England, who was undoubtedly a descendant of Richard Borden, an immigrant from "old England."
(I) Richard Borden, born in the county of Kent, England, in 1601. arrived at Boston in the ship "Elizabeth and Ann" in 1635, and in 1638 became one of the founders of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where he died in 1671. He was a Quaker and a man of unsullied integrity, who held various public offices, including that of deputy to the general court. His wife Joan died in Portsmouth in 1688. Children: Thomas, Francis, Matthew, John, mentioned below, Joseph, Sarah, Samuel Benjamin and Anne.
(II) John, son of Richard Borden, the immigrant. was born in
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Portsmouth in 1640; died there in 1716. He married Mary Earl, who died in 1734. Children: Richard, John, Annie, Joseph, Thomas, men- tioned below, Hope, William, Benjamin and Mary.
(III) Thomas, son of John and Mary ( Earl) Borden, was born in Portsmouth, December 13, 1682, and was still residing there after 1721. He married (first ) Catherine Hull; married (second) Mary Briggs. A complete record of his children is not at hand, but it is quite certain that he had sons : Thomas, mentioned below, Isaac and Samuel, all of whom settled in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
(IV) Thomas (2), son of Thomas ( I) Borden, was probably born in Portsmouth. He was residing in Attleboro in 1756, and appears in the records as Thomas Barden. He participated in the revolutionary war and in the "Massachusetts Rolls" is credited with service as follows: On an alarm in Rhole Island he enlisted from Attleboro, Massachusetts, Sep- tember I, 1779, as a private in Captain Joseph Franklin's company, Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment; served four months and was dis- charged December 31, of that year. Re-enlisted July 28, 1780, in Cap- tain Caleb Richardson's company, Colonel Abiel Mitchell's regiment, raised for the continental army, and was discharged October 31, of the same year. Thomas Barden married Susanna Riggs. Children: Su- sanna, Thomas, George, Otis, Eleanor, James, Sylvanus, Molly and Eunice.
(V) Thomas (3), son of Thomas (2) and Susanna ( Riggs) Bar- den, was born in Attleboro, February 24, 1765. In 1788-89 he disap- peared permanently from his home in Attleboro, and never returned, nor was he ever heard from. It was thought at the time that he might have gone to the then district of Maine, where many young men from Massa- chusetts were settling as pioneers at that time, but this supposition was never verified. The Thomas Barden previously referred to as the ancestor of the Ontario county family, was, according to information at hand, born near Boston and settled in the town of Seneca in 1790. It is there- fore not unreasonable to assume that he was the identical Thomas Barden who disappeared from Attleboro in 1788-89, and turning westward instead of eastward found an acceptable home in the wilderness of West- ern New York. For a number of years Thomas Barden operated a saw- mill at Bellona, manufacturing lumber on quite an extensive scale, and he furnished the material for the old Geneva Hotel, which is now the Hygienic Institute of that city. In 1795 he purchased of John McKin- stry a farm of one hundred acres, and in 1807 he bought another hun- dred-acre lot of Daniel Smith, the latter being a part of what was known
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as the Phelps and Gorham Purchases. Both of these farms were located in the town of Seneca. At the breaking out of the war of 1812-15, he entered the army, holding the rank of captain, and was killed in battle. (VI) Levi Barden, son of Thomas, was born in Seneca in 1798. Upon attaining his majority he acquired possession of the homestead and became a very prosperous farmer. The present residence was erected by him in 1839, and he otherwise improved the property, making it a val- uable agricultural estate. He died in 1876. He married, July 17, 1828, Maria Bush ; she died at the age of sixty-six years. They attended the Presbyterian church. Children : 1. Ruby Ann, born September 7, 1829; died in 1862; married Dudley McConnell and had Floyd, Emma and Jennie, who reside in Jackson, Michigan. 2. Luther Calvin, born July 6, 1832; died in 1839. 3. Henry Vincent, mentioned below.
(VII) Henry Vincent, son of Levi and Maria ( Bush) Barden, was born in Seneca, September 18, 1837. After concluding his studies in the district school and at Canandaigua Academy, he assisted his father in carrying on the farm, and has devoted the active period of his life almost exclusively to that occupation, having inherited the homestead property at his father's death in 1876. He owns two hundred acres of fertile land, constituting the original estate of his grandfather, and has carried on general farming with profitable results. Politically he acts with the Republican party. In his religious belief he is a Presbyterian.
Mr. Barden married. November 10, 1875, Mary A. Hoffman, a native of Ontario county, born September 13, 1839. Their only child, Katherine M., born May 15, 1877, married Fred Bird Jones, of Auburn, New York, in June, 1902, and now resides in New York City. She has two children, Vincent Barden, born in July, 1906, and Vesta P., born in July, 1908.
Mrs. Barden's parents were Barrett and Katherine ( Newkirk) Hoff- man, who reared a family of four children, namely : Mary A., Joseph, Charles W. and William H. Van Berger Hoffman.
BARDEN.
J. Jay Barden, who has for many years been connected with the agri- cultural department of the state of New York, in positions of trust and responsibility, is, in addition to these duties, recognized as one of the most progressive farmers in his section of the country. His business occupations have been varied and extensive.
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Sylvanus Barden, father of the above-mentioned, was born in Ben- ton township, Yates county, New York, in 1816, and died May 15, 1905. He followed farming all his life, and was of a quiet and retiring disposi- tion, finding his greatest pleasures in his own home. He married Jane Hedges, who died in 1852.
J. Jay, son of Sylvanus and Jane ( Hedges ) Barden, was born in the town of Seneca. Ontario county, New York, May 4, 1852, and was but four weeks old when his mother died. He was the recipient of a good education, his elementary education being acquired at the district schools and he then attended the Canandaigua Academy. At the age of sixteen years he commenced teaching school, an occupation he followed four suc- cessive winters. He then formed a connection with the railway mail service at the age of twenty years, and held this position for a period of five years. During this time he had not neglected his farming interests. and in 1878 was well established as a farmer and a produce merchant, a business with which he was connected for twenty years. At this time he became associated with the horticultural division of the agricultural department of the state, and for the past ten years has held the office of agent for the commissioner of agriculture, having full charge of Wayne, Ontario (with the exception of three townships), Yates, Livingston, Steuben, Alleghany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties, which is a very responsible office and has a great deal depending upon its efficient administration. Mr. Barden's farm consists of ninety acres of finely cultivated land situated in Seneca township, his dwelling house being well located and provided with all modern improvements. Mr. Barden gives his farm his personal supervision, and makes a specialty of growing fruit, in which he has been eminently successful. While not being able to spare a great deal of his time in behalf of the public interests of the township, he takes a lively interest in all that concerns the welfare of the county, state and country, and is up-to-date and well read on all matters of importance, his political allegiance being given to the Republican party. He has been active in Grange work, serving as county deputy for eight years, and for the past three years has held the office of president of the Deputy Masters' Association of the State of New York. He and his wife are members of the Seneca Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Barden married, April 14, 1877. Adelaide E., born in Flint Creek, March 31, 1856, daughter of John M. and Jane Woods, both deceased, the former having been a farmer. They had one child. Ade-
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laide E. Mains, born in 1884, who died September 5, 1904. They have adopted a child, Gladys E., born February 22, 1897, who is at present attending the high school at Penn Yan, New York, where her progress is most satisfactory.
COOK.
The Cooks are numerous both in England and America, and while not quite as prominent as some others in point of numbers, they are, nevertheless, a prolific race. They are also industrious and thrifty, and not a few of them have attained national distinction on both sides of the ocean. The English ancestors of the family referred to in this article were frugal and industrious farming people, a class which for ages has constituted the chief bulwark of the British nation.
(I) Edward Cook, born in England in the latter part of the eigh- teenth century, was a prosperous yeoman, owning a large dairy farm in Somersetshire. He was married at Kingston, April 5, 1807, to Ann Jones, who was born in England in 1772. She became the mother of fif- teen children, twelve of whom lived to maturity. In their old age Edward and Ann Cook came to America. Edward died in Texas and was buried there, and the remains of his wife were interred in Green- wood cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y.
(II) Henry, son of Edward and Ann (Jones) Cook, was born in Somersetshire, England, June 5, 1818, died in Geneva, New York, Janu- ary 26, 1904. Emigrating to the United States in 1855. he was em- ployed by his brother for a short time at the Quaker settlement near Wa- terloo, New York, whence he went to Sennett, near Auburn, New York, and obtained employment as a farm assistant. In 1857 he returned to the Quaker settlement, where he was engaged in farm work until 1863. where he purchased a farm of twenty-five acres located four miles north of Geneva, and was thenceforward occupied in tilling the soil on his own account. In 1882 he added to his landed possessions by the purchase of another twenty-five acre farm and derived a comfortable prosperity as the result of his labor. In politics he supported the Republican party, and in his religious faith he was a Presbyterian. He was married in 1840 to Sarah Hillman, who was born in England about twelve miles from the city of Bristol. in 1818, died in Phelps, New York, in 1876. Children, all born in England except the youngest, are: I. Willemina, born in 1840, died in 1852. 2. Esther Ann Hillman, born March 9, 1842, emi-
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grated to America and became a nurse and is now living at the Church Home at Geneva, New York. 3. Jane, born in 1845, married Charles Haines. 4. William Hillman, born 1847, married Hattie Dadson and has four children : Harry, Jessie, Edith and Florence, all of whom are married. 5. Edward, born in 1849, married Ida Steele; one daughter, Lena, married Leslie Lee. 6. Benjamin Franklin, see forward. 7. Henry, born in 1855, married Carrie Ferguson; children: Howard, died in 1881 ; Ruby and Amy. 8. Amelia Russell, born in 1860, married Thomas Avery and resides in Syracuse, New York; children: Burt, born in 1886, died in 1888; Mildred, born in 1894; Russell, born in 1900.
(III) Benjamin Franklin, third son and sixth child of Henry and Sarah ( Hillman ) Cook, was born in Bristol, England, October 18, 1852. At the age of four years he left his native land and arrived in this country, November 20, 1856, after a voyage of six weeks. His boy- hood and youth were spent in attending the public schools and acquiring proficiency in farming and gardening. In 1880 he engaged in market gardening on North street, Geneva, as a member of the firm of Munson & Cook, and upon the retirement of his partner in 1888, on account of failing health, he became sole proprietor of the business, which he carried on in his own name some four years. In 1893 he entered mercantile pursuits, opening a grocery store at the corner of Hallenbeck and Andes avenues, and he is still engaged in that business, having built up a large and profitable trade. He takes a lively interest in all movements relative to the growth and prosperity of the city, and his well-known integrity and other excellent qualities have won the respect and good will of all who know him. In politics he is a Republican. He attends St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal church.
Mr. Cook was married in Auburn, New York, December 26, 1877, to Lucy A. Howell, born in Phelps, New York, July 26, 1857, of English parentage. Children : 1. Willemina, born September 7, 1878, married William J. Buchholz, of Geneva, June 6, 1900; children : Ethel May, born December 5, 1904; Edward Franklin, born April 5, 1906. 2. Mary Eliza- beth, born October 10, 1881, unmarried, resides in Aurora, Illinois. 3. Effie Eva, born March 25, 1884, employed in her father's store. 4. Leon Henry, born in Geneva, August 1, 1886, is now employed by the New York Central Railroad Company at Syracuse. 5. Benjamin Franklin, born in Geneva, May 15, 1889, is now a merchant tailor. 6. Hazel Fern; born September 14, 1891, living at home. 7. Ruth Agnes, born January 22, 1895, was attending the Geneva high school at
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the time of her death, March 1, 1911. 8. William Rankine, born October 5, 1896, was the last child baptized by the late Rev. Dr. Rankine, and is now a talented musician.
Mrs. Lucy A. ( Howell) Cook is a daughter of William Howell, who was born near Kent, England, in 1826, died in Phelps, New York, April 1, 1893. Her grandfather, Thomas Atkins, was born in 1808, and died in North Bourne, England, October 16, 1892. Her grandmother, Lucy (Stafford) Atkins, died in England, in 1841. When a young lad Will- iam Howell ran away to sea, visiting as a sailor nearly all of the import- ant ports of the world, and survived a shipwreck on the southern coast of Africa. In 1855 he joined his parents in Phelps, New York, where his father was engaged in market-gardening, and he succeeded to the business. In politics he favored the Democratic party. His religious affiliations were with the Presbyterians. He was married at Oaks Corners, Ontario county. November 20, 1855, to Lucy Atkins, born near Deal. England. August 31, 1837, died February 3, 1906. Children : I. Lucy A., now the wife of Benjamin F. Cook. 2. William T., born December 8, 1858. married Mary E. Neifie, of Phelps: nine children : Ina, married C. Peck, of Lyons, New York; Mary Etta : Charles; Jessie ; Nellie; Carrie, died aged one and one-half years; a child who died at birth ; Marjory and Cora. 3. John Milton, born in Phelps, in 1860, mar- ried (first) Emma Dillman, who died and he married ( second) Grace Eighmey, of Clifton Springs, New York, now living in Richland, state of Washington. 4. Mary Elizabeth, born in 1862, married Burt Auston, an Englishman: children : Willis, Lucy and Mabel. 5. George Henry. born September 7. 1868, married Frances Boak: children: Edna and Foster.
GARDNER.
Anson Lapham Gardner, whose paternal ancestors were among the early colonial settlers of this country, is rapidly attaining distinction in the profession of law, which he has chosen for his life work.
(I) William Gardner, the immigrant ancestor of this family, came from England at an early date, and settled in Rhode Island, where he located at McSparren Hill, and died there in 1748.
(II) John, was a son of William Gardner.
(III) William (2), son of John Gardner, settled in Albany county. New York, 1790.
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(IV) Elisha W., son of William (2) Gardner, was born at South Kingston, Rhode Island, and followed the occupation of farming. He married Sarah, born in Amenia, Dutchess county, New York, daughter of Thomas Pattison, who came from the north of Ireland and settled in the colony of Connecticut, and a granddaughter of William Utter, who was of German descent, and whose family was almost entirely wiped out by the Indians during the French and Indian war. In the "Memoirs of Sunderland Pattison Gardner" we read: "His wife, eight children, one white man, and one colored servant were scalped, and left for dead on the floor, the father and the son being absent, returned the next morning to behold the terrible sight, and to learn that the two young girls, seven and nine years old, had been carried away prisoners. Overwhelmed with grief, they buried their friends with their own hands. The two girls, Hannah and Sarah (the latter the great-grandmother of Anson Lapham Gardner), were held in cruel captivity eleven months, and then returned by an exchange of prisoners." Sarah ( Pattison) Gardner was a first cousin of Elizabeth Pattison (commonly spelled Pat- terson ), who married Jerome, a brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. Children of Elisha W. and Sarah ( Pattison) Gardner : A child, died in infancy ; Sunderland Pattison, see forward; Hannah; Sarah ; Harriet; John W .; Mary ; Maryam; Elizabeth, Amy Ann; Elisha W. Jr .; Thomas P.
(V) Sunderland Pattison, son of Elisha W. and Sarah ( Pattison ) Gardner, was born in Rensselaerville, New York, July 4, 1802, and died February 13, 1893. He was a farmer, but the chief work of his life was as minister in the Society of Friends. He was a temperance advocate and a staunch Democrat, and as a young man served for several years as a school commissioner. He was married according to the Friends' ceremony, May 28, 1863, to Annette Hannah Bell, who was born at Richmond, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, August 24, 1836. She was the daughter of William and Sarah Hyde (Lord) Bell, the former born in Pennsylvania, 1765; granddaughter of John Bell, who was born in Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish descent, and served as a soldier in the revolutionary war under Washington. Sarah Hyde (Lord) Bell was born in Connecticut, 1800, and was a daughter of Gould Lord, grand- daughter of Samuel Lord, and great-granddaughter of Robert Lord, a native of England, who was the first soldier to scale the wall at Quebec during the French and Indian war. Annette Hannah ( Bell) Gardner was the great-granddaughter, on the maternal side, of Ephraim Fanton, who was of Irish descent, and who came to this country in the "May-
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