Hiram Cook (Andrew Jackson Cook’s father) was born in 1800 in North Carolina. He married Roseana Anderson on July 9, 1821, in Lawrence, Tennessee. They were both 21. They had ten children. Four of the children settled in California with the youngest, Andrew “AJ” settling in Orange County.
Roseana died In September 1859 at age 59. Hiram and Andrew moved to Dennison, Texas where Hiram was gored by a bull and died in September 1860 at the age of 60. Andrew was 15 years old.
Andrew Jackson “AJ” Cook (5/9/1846-4/4/1905) enlisted the Army in 1861 and served as a private in the Confederate Army, Company A of the Texas Cavalry Mounted Reserve 26th Brigade, under Brig General H. P Bee, Texas Militia. He was awarded the Cross of Honor. (Not verified)
After the War, Andrew came to Southern California. He married Mary Ann Barker (4/18/1852-4/27/1922) on October 12, 1871, in Downey, California. He was 25 and she was 19. Withstanding an attack by Apache Indians, Mary Ann’s family came to Southern California from Texas by oxen team in 1861. Her father, Julius, was in the Confederate Army. Andrew and Mary Ann had ten children losing one son to whooping cough as an infant.
They moved from Downey to the current Costa Mesa area, then to Casa Grande, Arizona then to the Aliso Viejo Area. Andrew died at the age of 58 and is buried in Santa Ana Cemetery.
They had 200 acres of land where they raised hay and beans. Mary continued to manage the farm with the help of daughter Addie May Cook and son Earl Jackson (Jack) Cook until her death at age 70. Earl and Addie were the heirs to the property.
The life story of their children follows:
John Henry Cook (8/1/1872-2/24/1935) was born in Downey, California. He married Anna “Annie” M. Staples (8/17/1881-1/16/1966) on October 7, 1900. He was 28 and she was 18. Henry and Annie had three children.
Annie was the daughter of Albert W Staples. Her parents were divorced and resided in Orange County. Her father did not remarry. Her mother married James B Kolb who was a beekeeper in the San Juan Township. The Kolb’s later relocated to Oceanside where he was a citrus farmer.
Henry and Annie farmed in Imperial County CA before settling in Anaheim CA where he successfully raised beans along with citrus and cabbage on 68 acres. He was also a tenant farmer on the San Joaquin Ranch where his bean crop covered 1000 acres. While serving his third term on the Anaheim City Council, he died of a heart attack, at the age of 62. Annie died at age 84 outliving her husband and her son Albert. They are buried in La Loma Memorial Park, California.
Their son Andrew Jackson ”Bill” Cook played football at USC and was a long-time football coach and Athletic Director at Santa Ana College. The gymnasium at the college is named after him.
Susanna “Susie” Cook (1/17/1875-11/5/1935) was born in Downey, California. She married Frank Crocker Salter on May 3, 1893, in El Toro, California. He was 27 and she was 18. They had three children. (See Horace Salter File)
James Andrew Cook (5/29/1877-12/19/1947) was born in California. He died at the age of 70 and was buried in Santa Ana Cemetery.
Mary Agnes Cook (10/17/1879-8/25/1969) was born in California. She married William Henry Borden (2/2/1867-1/12/1948) in 1899. He was 32 and she was 20. William Henry was the son of Thomas Henry Bordon from Nova Scotia Canada. The young couple started out living with his parents in Santa Ana. William Henry was a blacksmith, and his father-in-law was a carpenter. They then moved to north Orange County where he worked in the oil fields. They had three daughters. He died at age 80 and she died at the age of 89. They are both buried in Fairhaven Cemetery, Santa Ana, California.
Anna Elizabeth Cook (2/16/1882-8/24/1926) was born in Casa Grande, Arizona. She married Delmar E Woodward (2/2/1869-9/11/1955) on October 5, 1902, in Orange, California. He was 33 and she was 20. They had four children. Delmar was the son of Chesley Woodward who came to Fullerton from Missouri. Delmar was a farmer in the north Orange County area. Anna died in Orange, California, at the age of 44, and is buried in Santa Ana Cemetery. Delmar moved his two youngest children to Glenn CA and remarried where he was widowed again.
Addie May Cook 6/13/1884-2/16/1973) in California. Addie never married and devoted her early life to helping her mother manage her father’s farm in Aliso Viejo with her brother, Earl Walter “Jack” Cook. After her mother died, she moved in with her sister Susie Salter in Placentia City, Fullerton Township. She died, in Santa Ana, California, at the age 88, and is buried there.
Ella Myrtle Cook (1887-2/21/1979) was born in El Toro, California. She married Milo Bennett Stevens (6/4/1885-3/26/1959) of Laguna Canyon on March 20, 1907, in Orange, California. They were both 21. His father George Washington Stevens was a Beekeeper in Laguna Canyon. Ella and Milo had four children.
They were tenant farmers very close to where both their parents lived. Prior to 1930 they purchased a farm in Ventura County. They returned to Newport Beach where he was a tractor driver for the Irvine Company.
Milo died at age 73. Ella died in Orange, California, at the age of 92, both are buried in El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest, California.
George Oliver Cook (2/20/1889-8/24/1960) was born in El Toro, California. He married Florence Lottie Green (11/4/1888-11/6/1918) on 10/27/1909. They were both 20. They had three children. Florence and infant daughter Agnes died of the Flu influenza. After Florence’s death, he then married Jeanette “Nettie” Snow Milstead (3/3/1888-9/22/1952) in 1930. He was 41 and she was 42. He died in Irvine, California, at the age of 71. Nettie died at age 64. Both are buried in Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, California. (See the George Oliver Cook file)
Charles Walter Cook (4/15/1891-3/27/1892) was born in El Toro, California. He died of Whooping Cough within a year of his birth and is buried in Santa Ana Cemetery.
Earl Jackson “Jack” Cook (2/2/1894-7/8/1980) was born in El Toro, California. He married Irene Georgia Newell (4/28/1902-11/12/1972) on June 30, 1919, in Santa Ana, California. He was 25 and she was 17. They had three children. Irene was the daughter of John H Newell, a bean farmer in the south Santa Ana area. The Newell family later relocated to central California.
Besides farming, in 1926, Earl converted a building on the property to a restaurant, operated by his wife, to feed local miners and farmers. It was known as Cook’s Corner in honor of his father “A J”. When prohibition ended, he added a bar. Cook’s Corner is still in operation as a popular place for bikers. Earl sold the bar in 1975. Their three children moved out of southern California.
Irene preceded Earl in death at died at age 70 and is buried at El Toro Memorial Park. Earl Cook died at the Cook Ranch in Aliso Viejo at the age of 66 and is buried in Santa Ana Cemetery.
See Museum file for the sources of this Family Profile
Created 8/26/2021
Researched by Faye Cook Pugh, Great Granddaughter of Andrew Jackson Cook, and Vicki Gray
