The Jones Family of White County, Tennessee

Such is the case with the family of Thomas Jones and his wife, Rebecca Hitchcock, who raised their large family in District 6 of White County, Tennessee, near the community of Peeled Chestnut. Rebecca Hitchcock was a daughter of George Hitchcock and Milly Riddle whose families have lived in the upper Cumberland area since the early 1800s. .Notably, the special census records explicitly state that Thomas and Rebecca were first cousins prior to marriage—a crucial detail for resolving early Hitchcock and Jones brick walls. George Hitchcock was the brother of Rebecca Hitchcock Jones, Thomas’ mother, though the schedule does not explicitly say that.

Among their twelve children (three of whom were deaf, nine who could hear, and one who died under the age of two), the three deaf daughters became the focal points of this article: Catherine, Omelia (frequently recorded as Amelia), and Almedia.

Catherine Jones Bronson: Institutional Connections and Shared Paths

Catherine Jones was the first of the sisters to marry and leave Tennessee. Identified as a pupil at the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville as early as 1851, her institutional enrollment likely provided the direct social network that led to her marriage.

In 1856, Catherine married Charles Bronson, an Ohio native who was also deaf. This union raises an immediate geographical question: How did a young woman from rural White County, Tennessee, meet a man from Ohio in the 1850s?

Solving the Connection

While initial hypotheses might suggest Charles traveled south independently, an analysis of local records and institutional staff lists provides the answer:

• George E. Bronson, an older brother of Charles, was employed as an instructor at the Tennessee School for the Deaf from 1849 to 1853.

• The 1850 Federal Census reveals that the broader Bronson family which was headed by Connecticut natives Elijah and Fannie Bronson had already relocated to White County, Tennessee, by 1850, living in close proximity to the Hitchcock and Jones families.

By 1860, Charles and Catherine Bronson were living in White County, near her parents. They later migrated northward, appearing on the 1870 federal census in Franklin, Johnson County, Indiana, with their hearing children. Catherine passed away around 1874 or 1875. The depth of her family’s record footprint is clear in the 1888–1895 Special Census, where Charles’ file spans twelve pages across multiple record numbers (including entries for his second marriage to Sarah Willhartz), preserving Catherine’s vital details posthumously.

Omelia Jones Fuller: From the Upper Cumberland to the Coast of Maine

Omelia Jones followed a remarkably similar institutional and migratory trajectory to her older sister. Born in White County, she attended the Tennessee School for the Deaf during the 1855–1856 term, and returned for further instruction following the Civil War in 1866.

In October 1875, Omelia married Octavus W. Fuller in Peeled Chestnut, Tennessee (though special census returns mistakenly note the year as 1874). Octavus, deaf from birth, was a native of Maine. In 1870, he was working as a shoemaker in San Francisco, California, while Omelia was living in Indiana with her sister Catherine.

By 1880, Octavus and Omelia had relocated to his childhood home in Paris, Oxford County, Maine. Here, they were enumerated on the 1880 Supplemental Schedule of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes, which documented their status alongside the notation that they were raising two sons, both of whom could hear.

Following Octavus’s death from liver cancer in 1911, Omelia moved to Chicago to be near her younger sister, Almedia. She remarried to Richard Tracy in 1915 and resided in Illinois until her death on December 24, 1924.

Almedia Jones Bassett: Continental Mobility

Almedia Jones, born September 25, 1847 (or 1851, per conflicting notes on the form), lost her hearing at age eight due to a severe childhood illness or medication reaction (noted alternately as a “poisonous cold remedy” or eating “poisoned gr_____”). Like her sisters, she entered the Tennessee School for the Deaf from Sparta, Tennessee, in 1855, receiving four years of instruction.

By 1870, Almedia and two siblings Hugh Gracy Jones & Omelia had been living with their older sister Catherine & family in Indiana, Following Catherine’s death, Almedia married James A. Bassett in September of 1874 in Franklin, Johnson County, Indiana. James, a carpenter born in Pennsylvania, had lost his hearing at age five due to scarlet fever and had attended schools for the deaf in both Wisconsin (Platteville) and California (Santa Rosa).

An Impressive Geographic Trail

Almedia and James demonstrated an extraordinary degree of mobility for a late-nineteenth-century family:

1874(Sept): Married in Indiana.

1876–1880: Relocated to California; enumerated in Sonoma County for the 1880 census with their eldest child.

1880s: Returned briefly to Tennessee, where another child was born, before returning to Indiana.

1889: Settled in the Chicago, Illinois area, where their records were captured by enumerator J.C. Balis for the Special Census.

The special census notes that the couple had eight children, all of whom could hear and remarks that they were “bright, vigorous children,” though the family was “not very well off.” James’s sister, Jane Bassett Atkinson, was also deaf and traveled in tandem with or near the family, creating a dense, supportive kinship network spanning from the Midwest to the Pacific coast.

Conclusion and Methodological Insights

For researchers focused on the Upper South and “burned counties” of Middle Tennessee, specialized federal schedules offer an invaluable substitute for missing local records. The data preserved by these special schedules does more than just fill in blank spaces on a family group sheet; it clarifies migration patterns that otherwise seem inexplicable.

The Jones sisters did not move randomly across the American landscape. Their migrations were dictated by institutional access, kinship networks established at schools for the deaf, and economic opportunities shared with extended in-laws. By combining these separate data points, we discover not just a list of names, but a much clearer map of their lived experiences.

The two special census schedules mentioned in this article are available at Ancestry with a subscription or thru your local library if it carries the Ancestry Library subscription for its patrons.

Links to the Ancestry Databases mentioned in the article

U.S., 1880 Federal Census Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes

U.S., Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives, 1888-1895

Links to my blog posts from 2017

https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/09/us-special-census-find.html

https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/09/us-special-census-find-part-2.html

https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/10/catherine-jones-bronson-us-special.html

https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/10/making-connections-how-charles-met.html

https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/10/omelia-jones-fuller-us-special-census.html

https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/10/almedia-jones-bassett-us-special-census.html

Disclaimer: This article is based on a series of blog posts I made about my research on this family in 2017 and has been combined with the additional information that I’ve found since that time. While Gemini was utilized to help organize and format the underlying research data, the final text, logic, and conclusions are entirely my own.

Oscar Roy Ashley (1906–2001) is my cousin thru 3 ancestor couples: James Morrow & Margaret Sutton, James Jakes & Nancy Harger, and James Knox & Elizabeth Craig. Born in Bedford County and raised in Murfreesboro, Oscar never married or had any known children. Instead, the record trail shows a life completely dedicated to literature and education. Oscar pursued his love for words at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, graduating in 1927 with a BA in English. The census records map out his decades in the classroom:

1930: Back in Bedford County, working as a local schoolteacher in Shelbyville.

1940: Relocated to Chattanooga, where he joined the faculty of the prestigious Baylor School.

1950: A brief stint in New York City working as an instructor before returning home to Tennessee.

He also served in the US Army Air Forces during World War II

He spent decades mentoring young minds, eventually retiring in Chattanooga where he lived to be 94.

While Oscar left no known descendants to carry on his name, his final act ensured his passion for education would live on. In his will, he left his estate to his alma mater to establish the Oscar Roy Ashley Graduate School Fellowship at UT Knoxville. Today, this permanent endowment funds a $4,000 annual fellowship for talented, returning graduate students who show exceptional academic performance.

From the UT Knoxville Website

https://gradschool.utk.edu/

Also see the Oscar Roy Ashley Papers

The census records simply list him as “never married, but Oscar’s legacy is clearly written in the fellowship that still bears his name.

Sources Consulted:

Oscar Roy Ashley Graveside services for Oscar Roy Ashley, 94, formerly of Murfreesboro, who died Monday, July 16, at his home in Chattanooga, will be 2 p.m. Thursday at Chattanooga National Cemetery. The Rev. E. Lane Alderman Jr. will officiate. He was the son of the late Edgar Leander and Mary Elvira Stephenson Ashley.

The Daily News-Journal, July 18, 2001, Page 11; image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-news-journal-oscar-roy-ashley/197716870/ : accessed May 17, 2026).

1910 United States Federal Census: Civil District 1, Bedford County, Tennessee. Status: Single, Son.

1920 United States Federal Census: Murfreesboro Ward 1, Rutherford County, Tennessee. Status: Single, Son.

1930 United States Federal Census: Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee. Status: Single, Boarder; Occupation: Teacher.

1940 United States Federal Census: Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee. Occupation: Secondary School Teacher.

1950 United States Federal Census: New York, New York, New York. Status: Never Married; Occupation: Instructor.

Tennessee, Delayed Birth Records, 1869–1909: Confirming birth on September 26, 1906, in Bedford County.

U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880–2012: Documenting his education, including his 1927 graduation from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007

U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014

The Daily News-Journal (Murfreesboro, TN): Obituary published on July 18, 2001, page 11.

U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946

U.S., WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940–1947: Showing his employment at the Baylor School in Hamilton County, Tennessee, dated October 16, 1940.

U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s–Current: Documenting his burial at the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Hamilton County, Tennessee (Memorial ID 64920975).

Disclaimer: This blog post was originally published on May 17, 2026 at my blog hosted at Blogger.com. (Direct link to original: https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2026/05/triple-cousin-lifelong-teacher-legacy.html )

Today I found a death notice / tribute for my great grand aunt, Minerva Cook Boyce. It was published in a Church organization’s publication in 1900 and she was listed as Mrs. William Boyce. While her given name was never mentioned, the article did mention her maiden name. You can read the full article about Minerva on my blog at MarieB’s Genealogy Blog.

On September 9, 1866, Gideon was married in Williamson Co. TN to Mary S. Hamer by Park Street. Mary was the sister-in-law of Gideon’s brother, James Polk Cook who had married Harriet Hamer in October of the previous year. When he made application and bond for the marriage on September the 8th, his brother James was his bondsman. Mary Hamer Cook was the mother of Robert L. Cook, Gideon’s oldest child who was born on the May 16, 1868. The information on Robert’s death certificate and in his obituary supports that. Both Hamer sisters were gone by the 1870 census. I have not found divorces for either from the Cook brothers and feel it is likely they both left their marriages by death rather than divorce If anyone that has researched this family knows I’d love to hear from you.

By the time of the 1870 census, a female named Martha Cook was listed in the household with Gideon and his young son. While I have not found the marriage book listing for Gideon and Martha, I did find their marriage in a Tennessee state-compiled index at Ancestry from the Rutherford County Tennessee record books. The date given is 30th of October 1869 and that adds credence to my thinking that this is his wife and not a lady by that name living there to care for the young Robert. I had considered both scenarios. Further, Martha Ann Hale is listed as J. G. Cook Jr.’s mother as well as the mother of Gideon’s daughter Martha Ann Cook on each of their death certificates. The fact that Gideon was the informant on his daughter Martha’s death certificate while terribly sad, gives me confidence enough to conclude that Martha was the daughter of Gideon and Martha A Hale Cook. Perhaps the elder Martha had died in childbirth or from complications soon after. Sometimes when that happens the surviving child is named after its mother and that might have been the case with Martha as well. In total Gideon and Martha had 4 children: Jefferson Gideon Cook Jr, John R. Cook, Cass B. Cook, and Martha A. Cook.

Faced with the prospect of raising his young family alone, on the October 14, 1884, Gideon married to Mary J. Elliot in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Mary is enumerated with him in the 1900 US Federal Census in Rutherford Co TN and her entries say she has been married for 15 years and is the mother of one child who is alive at the time of the 1900 census date. That child was Ollie Mai Cook. Ollie’s year of birth varies over her lifetime but I believe that her actual year of birth was 1885.

Ollie’s Birth Year

Source----------—--Year

• 1900 Census 1885

• 1910 Census 1885

• 1920 Census 1888

• 1930 Census 1888

• 1940 Census 1886

• 1950 Census 1885

• Soc. Sec. Rec. 1884

• Gravestone 1886

• Death Cert 1888

Mary J Elliot Cook died on March 23, 1915 from pulmonary tuberculosis. Gideon outlived her by almost 16 years, passing on January 18, 1931 from chronic fibroid tuberculosis

Sources:

1900 U.S. census, Davidson County, Tennessee, Nashville, Ward 4(part of), enumeration district (ED) 101, sheet 4-A, house 27, Family 30, J G Cook household; imaged, “United States Census, 1900,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS8W-XQH : accessed 20 February 2024).

“Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKHS-XP1N : accessed 10 February 2024), Entry for J G Cook and Miss Mary S Hamer, 08 Sep 1866(bond date).(notation on bond says marriage was solemnized on the 9th)

“Tennessee, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com) Martha A Hale and J G Cook 30 Oct 1869 Rutherford Co. TN, citing Rutherford County, Tennessee Marriages, 1851-70. FHL Film #0379649.

“Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKHS-66RD : accessed 20 February 2024, Entry for Jefferson G Cook and Mary J Elliott, 14 Oct 1884.

“Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NSWT-VJF : accessed 20 February 2024), Entry for Jefferson Gideon Cook, 18 Jan 1931.

“Funeral for Confederate Veteran to Be Today,” The Tennessean, 20 Jan 1930, p. 5, col, 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 Feb 2024).

“United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007”, database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KQB-1YTY : 10 February 2023), Ollie M Cook,

“Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966”, index only, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6JCS-JWHF : accessed index only 20 February 2024), Entry for Ollie Mai Cook, 10 Apr 1968. (Digital image forthcoming which will then change the range of years covered in the record set)

“Robert Lee Cook”, Nashville Banner, 12 June 1954, p. 2, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com(https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 February 2024).

“Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NSV9-P79 : accessed 20 February 2024), Entry for Robert L. Cook 11 Jun 1954.

“Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014,” online database, Ancestry.com; entry for Ollie M Cook 413-84-1422.

1910 U.S. census, Davidson County, Tennessee, Nashville, Civil District 6, ED 93, Sheet 2a, Dwelling 27 Family 27, Household of Jefferson G Cook; unaged “United States Census, 1910,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TXC-9SG : accessed 20 February 2024).

“Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N91N-Z68 : Fri Oct 13 18:15:23 UTC 2023), Mary Jane Cook, 23 Mar 1915.

1920 U.S. Census, Davidson County, Tennessee, Nashville, Civil District 6, ED 111, Sheet 7b, Dwelling 135, Family 147, Household of Jefferson G Cook; imaged “United States Census, 1920”,database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN51-8KR : accessed 20 February 2024),

1930 U.S. Census, Davidson County, Tennessee, Nashville, Civil District 6, ED 19-214, Sheet 15b, Dwelling 321, Family 337, Household of David Cook; imaged “United States Census, 1930”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SPWK-CXB : accessed 20 February 2024).

1940 U.S. Census, Davidson County, Tennessee, Woodbine, Civil District 6, ED 19-19, Sheet 9b, Household 195, Household of David S Cook; imaged “United States Census, 1940”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K44V-5YX : accessed 20 February 2024).

1950 U.S. Census, Davidson County, Tennessee, Woodbine, ED 19-37, Page 8, Dwelling 63, Household of Stahl D Cook; imaged “United States 1950 Census”, database with images , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6NTM-JT2D : accessed 20 February 2024).

“Mrs. Mary J Cook”, The Tennessean, 25 March 1915, p. 14, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com(https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 February 2024).(Death announcement for Mary who died on the 24 of March)

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/215649022/ollie_mai-cook: accessed February 21, 2024), memorial page with gravestone image for Ollie Mai Cook (1886–1968), Find a Grave Memorial ID 215649022, citing Triune Cemetery, Triune, Williamson County, Tennessee, USA; Maintained by Tammy Vermillion (contributor 49014485).

Disclaimer: This is a rewrite of an article I wrote for my research which I posted to my blog at Blogger on February 21, 2024. My original post is located at https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2024/02/gideon-cooks-wives-and-children.html.

Establishing the Mother: Elizabeth Harrison Cook

The research began by anchoring William Clifford Cook in time and place around 1830 — the earliest period for which I could identify him directly. From there, the evidence pointed clearly toward a woman named Elizabeth Cook as his mother.

Testimony from the Williams vs. Putman Tennessee State Supreme Court case (1829–1832) established that William Clifford Cook had sworn testimony for the defense and appeared to have spent considerable time in the company of Zephaniah Anglin, suggesting they lived in the same neighborhood. A review of the 1830 Bedford County, TN census in that area turned up a household headed by Elizabeth Cook, which included a male in the correct age range to be William Clifford Cook.

Elizabeth Cook was living near the Harrison and McClain families. The household immediately following hers belonged to William Harrison, husband of Elvira Cooper Harrison. William Harrison was a Revolutionary War soldier who had relocated from Franklin County, NC, to Bedford County, TN. He had a daughter named Elizabeth, born around 1788, who would have been approximately 42 years old at the time of the census which is consistent with the 40–50 age bracket of the older female in Elizabeth Cook’s household.

Further support comes from the 1840 Dyer County, Tennessee census, where William Clifford Cook (surname misspelled as “Kook”) was enumerated near a J. B. Harrison. If Elizabeth Cook was indeed the daughter of William and Elvira Harrison, J. B. Harrison would have been William Clifford Cook’s maternal uncle. Noah Putman, his brother-in-law, also appears as a neighbor in that same enumeration.

Taken together — the proximity to the Harrison family in 1830, the age match, the family continuity from North Carolina to Tennessee, and the autosomal DNA evidence showing kinship between William Clifford Cook’s descendants and the Harrison and Cooper families — Elizabeth Cook is strongly presumed to be Elizabeth Harrison, daughter of William and Elvira Cooper Harrison.

Identifying the Father: William Pope Cook

With Elizabeth’s likely maiden name established, the research shifted to Franklin County, North Carolina, where the Harrison family originated.

Franklin County marriage records show a marriage on August 13, 1806, between William Pope Cook and a Betsey Harrison. Betsey is a common nickname for Elizabeth. Tax lists confirm that a William P. Cook paid tax in Franklin County, NC, from 1807 to 1810, and the 1810 federal census places him there.

From there, his movement into Tennessee can be tracked through a combination of military and legal records. A William P. Cook enlisted in November 1814 in Metcalfe’s 1st Regiment, West Tennessee Militia (War of 1812, under Capt. Patterson), from Bedford County, Tennessee, serving under Major General William Carroll at New Orleans. Upon discharge in May 1815, he granted Power of Attorney to Joel Childress of Rutherford County, TN — a county adjacent to northern Bedford County, where the Harrison family had settled. He witnessed a deed in Rutherford County in July 1816, and by 1820 was enumerated with his family in Maury County, TN.

The last known record of William P. Cook is a transaction involving the sale of an enslaved man named Lewis in Maury County in 1821. By 1830, Elizabeth Cook was listed as head of household in Bedford County, indicating that William P. Cook had died or otherwise left the family sometime between 1821 and 1830. No will or probate records for him have been found in Maury or Rutherford Counties. Any Bedford County records predating 1863 were likely lost in the courthouse fire.

The migration path of William P. Cook from Franklin County, NC (1806–1810), through middle Tennessee (1814–1821), aligns closely with that of the Harrison family. His marriage to Betsey Harrison in 1806 and the subsequent appearance of Elizabeth Cook as a widow or single head of household near the Harrison family in Bedford County makes for a continuous and coherent chain of evidence.

DNA Evidence

The circumstantial case is further reinforced by DNA testing on two fronts.

Y-DNA testing of a direct male descendant of William Clifford Cook connects him to a group of Cook men descending from Shem Cooke (1722–1796) of Granville County, NC. This connection holds up to Y111 markers. Historical research suggests that William Pope Cook was the son of a William Cook who was himself a son of Shem Cooke, placing William Pope Cook squarely in that paternal line. Upgrading one or more direct male descendants of Shem Cooke to BigY testing would help solidify this connection further.

Autosomal DNA evidence shows kinship between William Clifford Cook’s descendants and the Harrison and Cooper families. This connection cannot be explained through any other known family lines, and it independently supports the conclusion that his mother was Elizabeth Harrison.

Addressing the Joseph S. Cook Assumption

For many years, the prevailing assumption among researchers was that Joseph S. Cook was William Clifford Cook’s father. This assumption rested on a single fact: William Clifford Cook was appointed administrator of Joseph S. Cook’s estate in the fall of 1838 in Williamson County, Tennessee. Administering an estate is not, by itself, evidence of a parent-child relationship. It simply indicates some form of connection, most likely kinship through his father’s side.

Joseph S. Cook himself is difficult to trace. His probate file has been combined with that of another Joseph Cook (Davidson/Williamson County) who died in 1840, which complicates the record. The current weight of evidence does not support Joseph S. Cook as William Clifford Cook’s father.

Conclusion

Based on the full body of evidence which includes documentary records, migration patterns, proximity to the Harrison family, and DNA — I am reasonably confident that the parents of William Clifford Cook (b. 1811, d. 1882) were William Pope Cook and Elizabeth Harrison, married in Franklin County, North Carolina on August 13, 1806, who subsequently relocated to Bedford County, Tennessee. If you have additional or conflicting evidence, I would genuinely welcome hearing from you.

Sources

• “United States Census, 1830,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYY2-SVHP?i=166 : accessed 30 January 2023), Tennessee > Bedford > Not Stated > image 167 of 282, Household of Elizabeth Cook; citing NARA microfilm publication M19.

• “United States Census, 1840,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:2:1TGQ-9RH : accessed 30 January 2023), Household of Wm C Kook, Dyer, Tennessee; citing NARA microfilm publication M704, roll 521–522; FHL microfilm 24,544.

• “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762–1979,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSHB-W9GK-4?cc=1726957 : 28 November 2018), Marriage Record of William Pope Cook to Betsey Harrison, 13 August 1806, Franklin County, NC.

• Williams vs. Putman, Tennessee State Supreme Court Case, Middle District; ordered from TN State Library & Archives, delivered January 2, 2019 (PDF, 41 pages). Location at TSLA: Range 33, Section A, Shelf 2, Box 375.

• Maury County Tennessee Court Minutes, Vol. 6, Monday 20 January 1823, Wm P Cook to James Hardison, negro man named Lewis; FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKX-VQ4B-9).

• Maury County Tennessee Deeds, Deed Book, Vol. K, p. 98, William P Cook to James Hardison, 24 February 1823; FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4F-XG2K).

• 1810 US Federal Census, Franklin County, North Carolina, p. 792, William P Cook; FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YB4-S6X).

• 1820 US Federal Census, Maury County, Tennessee, p. 99, William P Cook; FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB9-SKSQ).

• Revolutionary War Pension Application File W463, Elvira Harrison, widow of William Harrison (NC service); FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XY-YY8Q).

• Bradley, Stephen E. 1990. Franklin County, North Carolina Tax Lists, 1785–1810. Keysville, Va.: S.E. Bradley.

• “Estate of Jos. S. Cook, Dec.,” The Weekly Review (Franklin, Tenn.), June 14, 1839, Vol. 8, No. 51, p. 3, col. 6; FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKW-5H9L-V).

• FamilyTreeDNA, Y-700 STR and SNP results for Michael Cooke, kit no. 755076, haplogroup R-BY72556, tested 11 June 2021; results accessed Nov. 2025, personal account of Marie Cooke Beckman, FamilyTreeDNA (https://www.familytreedna.com). Relationship to subject: direct male-line descendant of William Clifford Cook (b. 1811, d. 1882).

Disclaimer: This is a rework of a blog post that I originally wrote and published on 7th November 2025 on my blog hosted at Blogger.com. (Direct link to original: https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2025/11/identifying-parents-of-william-clifford.html)