Daniel Cook
Daniel Cook was born in New Brunswick,
Canada, 15 December 1798 to Daniel Cook and Lydia Churchill. He married Mary Maria Fuller about 1820 in
Canada. They had five boys and five girls.
At the age of 44 he was baptized a member
of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints 3 November 1843 (1844) by James Calvin Sly.
In order to be with the Saints, Daniel moved
with his family from Canada into New York and then on to Nauvoo, Illinois. I don’t think that the family actually lived
in Nauvoo. One report I read said they
lived a short distance up the Mississippi River from the city. Their daughter, Hannah Elizabeth said she
remembered well the anxiety, persecution and turmoil of that time.
Their trek West began in Bethlehem, Missouri,
in the Justus Morris Wagon Train. They continued west and met Brother
Wilford Woodruff for the first time. He promised them that they would arrive in
the Valley in safety. The company had nine wagons and 41 persons in all.
Sixteen male members were capable of doing military duty. There was one horse,
seventy-two head of cattle, six dogs and four doves. Also, they carried eleven
guns, two pistols and three swords.
They were all amazed one day when from a rise in the land they spotted 8000
buffalo all in the same area. All in all
that day they spotted about 15000 head of buffalo. They shot some for meat and ate as much as
they could but much of it spoiled because it was in the middle of July and just
too hot for the meat to keep for very long.
They traveled at nights some of the time because of the extreme heat of
the sun on the prairie.
They arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley about noon on 2 October
1850. They had traveled a total of 1075
miles in 107 1/2 days. They had rested
for a total 26 days leaving 81 and half days of traveling. Many were out or nearly out of provisions by
the time they arrived in the city and had been living on bread and water for a
few weeks.
They
rested a few days in Salt Lake City, bought more supplies and then traveled to
the settlement in Tooele. They worked at odd jobs. Daniel Cook selected
building lots, but some of the family continued living in their wagon boxes for
the next year. They worked and did odd jobs; they also sold coal in Salt Lake
City.
1850 Territorial Census
They
didn’t stay long in Tooele. In late March and early April of 1851, Daniel Cook
moved his family to Provo. Then, in
July of 1852, the Cooks moved again, this time to present-day Nephi.
1860 Census
1870 US Census
A
letter from Hannah Elizabeth Cook Hoyt (Daniel and Mary Maria’s ninth child),
17 May 1865:
“Father
and Mother are living here in one of our rooms. He is almost blind and she is
not well. Has been very sickly here this last winter. All of the children and
myself have had the measles. I lost a baby ten days ago. He was born the 12th
of February. Brother James is living at Chicken Creek but is going to move here
soon.
October
1868 29th, Mother Mary Cook died in Nephi.
February
1874 5 or 6th, Father Daniel Cook died in Salina, Sevier, Utah. He had been
blind for several years past and lived with his son Isaac. He is buried in the Salina Cemetery.
