Harmon Cook was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia,
September 5, 1825, the son of Thomas Cook and Nancy Ann Bolling and the great
grandson of Harmon Cook, Sr., who brought settlers from Pennsylvania to Pittsylvania Co. Virginia in
the 1760’s.
Harmon Cook, a Virginia planter, enlisted in the
Confederate Army at the outbreak of the war.
He served four years in Co. E, 6th Virginia Cavalry under
General Fitzhugh Lee. He took part in
the battles of Manassas, Five Forks, Petersburg, Richmond, and Gettysburg and was at the
surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appamattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865.
Mr. Cook, accompanied by his second
wife, Matilda, three daughters, Nannie, Fannie and Vivian, and two sons, Harmon
W. and James Witcher, came to Keller,
Texas in 1882. They first lived at the old Joe Price place
on what is now So. Main Street. Later, a home was built on the first block
just east of Main on the north side of what is
now Vine Street. After the children married, Mr. And Mrs. Cook
built a home on what is now the site of the home of a grandson, Lester F.
Wallace on Elm Street.
Harmon Cook III, the son, died soon
after coming to Keller. Nannie married
John H. Wallace, the son of an early day physician and lived in Keller until
her death. Fannie married Wade H. Tanner
of Fort Worth
where they lived. Vivian married Valter
Lee Gilbow and moved to Henrietta,
Texas. James W. was a long time grocery man in
Fort Worth and was married to Miss Fannie
Broiles.
Mr. Cook operated on of the first,
if not the first, livery stables in Keller and also had a boarding house for a
number of years.
He died at Keller in October 1915
and is buried in Bourland
Cemetery. His wife, Matilda, died in February 1924.
Harmon Cook, Sr. was born in 1730
and died in 1810. There is no record of
his wife. He brought settlers from Pennsylvania to Pittsylvania County,
Virginia and purchased large tracts of land on
the Creek and Pigg
Rivers. He petitioned the General Assembly in 1788
for a town to be established on his land. The town was to be called Cooksburg.
Harmon Jr. was one of six children. They were John, a captain in the Militia
(1767-1770); Abraham; Catherine, who married a man named Wright; Mary, who
married Paul Razar; and Nancy who married Abram Rorer. Harmon Jr. married Susanna Ramsey.
Thomas, son of Harmon Jr. and
Susanna Ramsey was one of three children.
They were Harmon and John. Thomas
married Nancy Ann Bolling. She died
April, 19, 1869. They had nine children: Harmon III, Thomas,
George, William, Jack, Lucinda, Narcissus, Martha, and Mollie.
Harmon III, born in 1825, married
Sarah Jane Wright. They had eight
children; John Thomas who married Sallie Polk Witcher; Mary Elizabeth who died
in Mississippi; Harmon Wesley who died in Keller, Texas;
William Lewis who married Wilma Brothers; Sarah Margaret who married Fuller
Ramsey; Nancy Anderson who married John Wallace; James Witcher who married
Fannie Broiles; and Fannie who married Wade H. Tanner.
After the death of Sarah, Harmon III
married Matilda Mahan. They had one
daughter, Vivian Cook who married Valter Lee Gilbow. Matilda Cook died at the
home of her son, Albert Mahan, on February 4, 1925 and is buried in the Wellington Cemetery
in Wellington, Texas.
