BIOGRAPHY - CHARLES COOK
Charles A. Cook owns and conducts the Pine Grove farm, one of the valuable properties of Pella township. It is situated on section 30 and is improved with all the conveniences and accessories that go to make up a model farm property of the twentieth century. In his business affairs Mr. Cook is thoroughly practical as well as progressive and his strong purposes and well directed diligence constitute the basis of the gratifying success that he now enjoys. His birth occurred on the 3d of November, 1845, in London, Ontario, Canada, and he comes of English ancestry, his parents, Charles and Rosetta (Root) Cook, being natives of England and of Canada respectively. the former came to America when twenty-one years of age and for some time was employed in a wholesale store at London, Canada. He was married there and his wife died in Canada about 1851. Six years later he removed to Chicago, where he conducted a real-estate business for a time and then became a resident of St. Louis, Missouri. Afterward he took up his abode in New York city, where he held the position of superintendent of the Howard Mission. He died in July, 1892. The two sons of the family are Charles and George, the latter a resident of Los Angeles, California.
Charles A. Cook was a youth of twelve years at the time of his father's removal from Canada to Chicago and in that city he started out in life on his own account, when a youth of thirteen years. He afterward went to Samlwich, Illinois, and lived with Robert Dixon until he was eighteen years of age, when he took charge of Mr. Dixon's farm, which he cultivated for seven years, carefully directing his labors as an agriculturist.
On the nth of December, 1870, Mr. Cook was united in marriage to Miss Angeline Dean, a native of Sandwich, Illinois, and a daughter of Nelson and Sarah Dean. In the spring of 1871 the young couple removed to Ford county and Mr. Cook purchased the tract of land which he has since owned and cultivated and which is now known as the Pine Grove farm. After residing in this county for six years he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away in July, 1877. He afterward married Carrie Montelius, a daughter of Ed Montelius, and unto them were born two children: Charles E., who is now in Jackson county, Kansas; and Mary A., the wife of Fred Keyes whose home is in Cass county. North Dakota. The mother died in 1883 and in the spring of 1884, in Piper City, Mr. Cook was joined in wedlock to Miss .Minnie Montelius, who is a sister of his second wife and a native of Freeport, Illinois, although she was reared in Piper City. By this marriage there have been born five children: Anna B., now the wife of Roy Bennett, who is residing in Livingston county, Illinois; Myrtle Blanche, a stenographer in the National Bank of Piper City; Josy Dean; Edith R.; and George Dixon.
In his political views Mr. Cook is a republican, having stanchly supported the party since casting his first presidential ballot for U. S. Grant in 1868. He takes considerable interest in local politics and at the present writing is serving as assessor of Pella township. He has been school director for thirty years and the cause of education finds in him a warm friend, for he believes in the maintenance of good schools and the employment of competent teachers. He has been a delegate to a number of the conventions of his party, was commissioner of highways for thirteen years and has also been township treasurer. His wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. From early boyhood Mr. Cook has depended upon his own resources for a living. He soon realized that there is no royal road to wealth and that there is no excellence without labor. He found too, that honesty is the best policy and that success can he most quickly and surely secured through unfaltering perseverance and close application. These qualities have characterized him throughout his entire life and have made him one of the valued and representative farmers and successful business men of Pella township. His good qualities have gained him popularity and the consensus of public opinion places him with the leading citizens of Ford county.
Extracted 16 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 629-631.
