The John Lewis Cook and Mary Anna (Polly) Coffey Family

John Lewis Cook was born in Lincoln Co., NC on Jan. 14, 1823 and died Jan. 27, 1883 in Eagleville, Harrison Co., MO. He and Mary Anna (Polly) married in Morgan Co., IN on Dec. 15, 1842. She was born Dec. 13, 1824 in Pulaski Co., KY, the daughter of Lewis Moses and Delilah Turpin Coffey. Polly died Nov. 23, 1878 in Harrison Co.


John and Polly were in Morgan county at least until the mid-to-late 1850s. Their first four children were born there. By the time of the 1860 census in June, the family was in Harrison Co., where they remained until death. Both are buried at the Hoffman/Hobbs/Edwards Cemetery in Harrison Co.


Over their 40+ years of marriage John and Polly became parents of 11 children, seven boys and only four girls.


They were:


Catherine, born 1843 in Morgan Co., IN and died Apr. 22, 1895 in Harrison Co. She married William Asberry Lack c1860. He was born Feb. 7, 1837 in Illinois and died Mar. 13, 1910 in Harrison Co. They are buried in the Hobbs Chapel Cemetery at Ridgeway in Harrison Co. I know of one child, Nancy Missouri, born 1862, died 1940. Nancy married James Buchanan Cook, born 1857 in Clark Co., IL, died 1927 in Harrison Co.


Nancy Ann, born 1846, married Daniel B. Miller.


John Lewis, Jr., born Jul. 27, 1848 in Martinsville, Morgan Co., IN and died Jan. 31, 1924 in Ridgeway. He married Sarah Margaret Riffen, who died Nov. 30, 1927 in Harrison Co.

Update Aug. 5, 2009

Many of the Cook family are buried at Hobbs Chapel Cemetery at Ridgeway, Harrison Co., MO.  This is the headstone for John, Jr. and wife Sarah Margaret Riffen Cook:

Philip, born Jan. 13, 1850 in Morgan Co., died Apr. 19, 1924 in Logan Co., KS. He married Lucinda O'Neal on Dec. 25, 1871 in Harrison Co. They had at least nine children: Ollie Arthur, Sarah Ann, Lawrence Matis, Bertha May, George Martin, Maude Francis, Lora Jane, Clarence Marshall and Jacob.


Christopher Columbus (Lum), born Dec. 5, 1852 in Indiana (probably Morgan Co.) and died Aug. 24, 1940 in Harrison Co., MO. He married first Rebecca Jane O'neal on Oct. 19, 1873 in Harrison Co. She was born in Indiana c1845 and died in Oct., 1882. His second wife as Jesse Belle Fowler, born May. 27, 1858 in OH, and died Apr. 11, 1892 in Harrison Co. His third wife was Mrs. Sarah Lacy Spurgeon to whom he was married c1903. She was born in Mar., 1843 in Missouri.


Delilah, born Mar. 7, 1855 in Marion, Harrison Co., married Alonzo Hugh O'Neal on Dec. 31, 1873 in Harrison Co. He was born c1851 in Marion. Their children were seven: Aden Lewis, born Mar. 6, 1875, died in Otoe Co., NE; Gilbert, born c1877; Charles, born c1879; George, born c1881; Annie, born c1883; Mary Alice, born Aug., 1886, died Oct. 3, 1957, and Ethel, born c1887.


Jacob Granville, born 1857, married Adelia Josephine Hughes.


William Martin, born 1859, married Mary Alice Gant.

Update Aug. 5, 2009:

Here is William's headstone:

George Washington, born 1862, married Ida Allen Cook.


James Thomas, born 1866, died 1950, married Fidella Florence Best, born 1868, died 1950.


In 1870 Polly's mother, Delilah Turpin Coffey, was enumerated as a widow in the Cook household. According to one source, Delilah died in Morgan Co., IN in 1873. Also in the household that year was Lewis Coffey, Polly's brother, age 25 and Susan C. Coffey, age 11. I have not yet identified the parents of Susan. Neither have I found the family in the 1880 census.


Please contact me with additions and/or corrections at the e-mail address above.