My Genealogy Hound

William Cook, deputy county clerk, De Vall’s Bluff, Ark. This representative gentleman is a native of Shenandoah Valley, Va., where his birth occurred in 1838, and is the eldest of five children, the fruits of the union of William and Sarah (Kelley) Cook, natives of the Old Dominion. The father was a merchant by occupation and followed this in Warren County, Va., for many years. William Cook, Jr., was reared in the Shenandoah Valley, received his education in his native State, and when fifteen years of age left home and went to Missouri. He then started to go overland to California, went as far as Salt Lake City, and then returned to Missouri, settling in Rockport, and was here engaged as clerk for different firms. In 1861 he joined the Confederate army, and soon after the battle of Wilson’s Creek, he was assigned to Gen. McBride’s regiment, Seventh Division, Missouri State Guards. He participated in the battles of Lexington, Mo., Springfield, Mo., Pea Ridge, Ark., and Corinth. He was with Gen. Price in his raid through Missouri, and was taken prisoner at Lexington, in that State. He was taken to Johnson’s Island, was paroled in 1865, and then came direct to Des Arc, Prairie County, Ark., where he engaged in general merchandising under the firm of Wilson & Cook, and carried on business until 1868. He then engaged in agricultural pursuits on a farm he had purchased in the edge of Des Arc, for some years, and later was made deputy clerk of Prairie County. He is a Democrat in his political principles. Socially he is a member of the White River Lodge No. 37, A. F. & A. M., and has served in every office in the lodge, having been Worshipful Master for ten years. He is a member of Iron Hall Lodge No. 109, De Vall’s Bluff, Ark. He was married in Missouri in 1861, to Miss Mattie Lewis, a native of Virginia, who died at Des Arc in 1874, leaving three children, the eldest, Lula, now Mrs. Vayden, of Des Arc. Mr. Cook was married the second time in Des Arc, in 1875, to Miss Can T. Allen, a native of Tennessee, and the result of this union was one child, who died at the age of one year. Mr. Cook was a member of the school board at Des Arc for some years, and is now one of the progressive men of De Vall’s Bluff. Mrs. Cook is a member of the Presbyterian Church.