LIFE
HISTORY OF CLEO EARL COOK
Cleo Earl Cook
18 January 1911 a son was
born to James Edward and Christina Magadalena Buchmiller Cook in LaBelle, Idaho
in Jefferson County. He was the fourth
child and second son in a family of four boys and nine girls. He weighed seven pounds. Cleo, was blessed 26 February 1911 by his
father. Cleo was baptized 2 August 1919
by Samuel H. Hunt and confirmed 3 August 1919 by Evan Huntsman. I didn't have any records of when Cleo was
ordained a Deacon, Teacher, or Priest, but he was ordained an Elder, 15 October
1939 by Lawrence Carr.
James Edward and Christina Magdalena Buchmiller Cook
Cleo, lived in Taylorsville,
Shelley, Woodville, Coltman, Ucon, Grant, and Roberts, Idaho. He went to school in Ucon, Woodville, Coltman
and Shelley. Cleo walked to school every
day with his brother and sisters and in the winter he often got very cold. One time he froze his hands so badly that he
had great big blisters on his hands. The
first winter his sister Vendetta went to school, Cleo and Carl took turns
pulling her on her little sleigh. Cleo
enjoyed school and was a very good student.
He was always active in sports and enjoyed pulling little stunts and
tricks on his teachers and was punished when he was caught.
Home of the Cook Family in Coltman about 1925. Of course this is how it looks today.
Cleo was adventurous and
liked to go wandering through the sage brush hunting anything or just
exploring. He would tell his mother he
was going rattle snake hunting. It was
after the family had moved from LaBelle to Taylorville that his exploring
caused quite a lot of excitement. They
had gone to pick raspberries and while the others picked, Cleo wandered
away. They searched the rest of the day
and into the night. Men rode horses and
used flashlights searching through a grain field. Finally Cleo came wandering out of the
field. He had grown tired of exploring
and had curled up and gone to sleep in the tall grain.
Cleo was always happy and he
liked to tease. It was hard for anyone
to get the best of him. One day he was
teasing and chasing his sister, Edna Cook Ririe with a stove poker in his hand
and he accidently hit her on the nose and broke it. He felt so bad that he had hurt her and made
her cry. Things were never dull when
Cleo was around.
Edna Jane Cook Ririe
The children in the Cook
family weren't allowed to swear and if they did and they were caught they would
get their mouths scrubbed out with A.B. Naphtha soap on a tooth brush. This is a very strong soap. One day Cleo was told to go out and get some
wood from the big wood pile. Cleo had
other things he wanted to do but his father told him to go out and get that
wood. While Cleo was loading his arms up
with the wood, he started swearing. His
father came around the wood pile and heard him.
He asked Cleo just what he thought he was doing. Cleo replied he was mocking the old red
rooster. Cleo got a spanking and his
mouth scrubbed out with soap that day.
Cooks had to heat their bath
water in a large boiler on their cook stove.
The water had just been poured into a large tin tub, when Cleo came
running in from outside. He tripped and
fell into this very hot water. There was
an old Indian lady who was at the home when this happened. She went out in the sand hills and got some
black powder and spread it all over Cleo.
His hot water bath that day never left any burns on his body. The Indian lady wouldn't tell them where she
got the powder. She said she had helped
Cleo because his mother had helped her and given her food.
While Cooks were living on
the dry farm, one Tuesday night the kids were left home while their parents
went to Mutual. Those at home at the
time were: Agnes, Edna, Carl, and Cleo.
Cleo went outside and then he came back in and told Agnes and Edna that
someone was lighting matched upstairs.
They went out to look and they could see a fire just starting to come
through the roof. They tried to carry
water to put it out and just about had it out when they run out of water. Then they carried everything they could
out. His folks saw the fire and started
back. By the time they arrived there, it
was too late. They lost everything and
their home. They had to live in a
granary the rest of the year. This
happened in the fall of the year. While
living in this granary, the kids came down with the measles. They had to build bunk beds along the wall
for all of them to have a place to sleep.
Dad's family
Front Theola and Melba
Grandpa and Grandma Cook (James Edward and Christina Magdalena)
Carl, Cleo, Reva, and Leora
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