Generation 1

FRANCIS COOKE (d. 1663) of Plymouth

Parents:

Francis Cooke died on 7 Apr 1663 in Plymouth. [Ref] He married Hester Mahieu. Edward Winslow said of Hester, 'the wife of Francis Cooke being a Walloon, [who] holds communion with the Church at Plymouth, as she came from the French... .' [Ref]

Francis Cooke and his son John sailed on the Mayflower. [Ref] His wife and other children came afterward.[Ref]

Francis received two lots of land to the south side of the brook to baywords and four lots of land beyond the brook to Strawberry Hill in the 1623 Plymouth land division. [Ref] Francis, his wife Hester and his children John, Jacob, Jane, Hester and Mary were in lot one of the 22 May 1627 Plymouth cattle division. [Ref]

On 2 Jan 1632/3 and on 2 Jan 1633/4 the General Court asked the colonists to pay taxes, in grain or the equivalent. [Ref,Ref] Francis was assessed relatively low taxes in both years. [Ref]

He is in the Plymouth section of the 1643 list of those between 16 and 60 able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony, but his name is crossed out in the original. [Ref]

William Bradford [Ref] writes, "Francis Cooke is still living, a very old man, and hath seen his children's children have children. After his wife came over with other of his children; he hath three still living by her, all married and have five children, so their increase is eight. And his son John which came over with him is married and hath four children living."

Francis mentions his wife Hester and his son John in his will. The will, written on 7 (10) 1659,was witnessed by John Howland and John Alden. Inventory on his estate, taken on 1 May 1663, amounted to £86.11.1. [Ref]

In 1664, land was laid out near Namasket (Middleborough) for Francis Cooke. [Ref]

Children of Francis Cooke:

1. John Cooke died on 23 Nov 1695 in Dartmouth, the last male survivor of the Mayflower. [Ref][Ref says that he was still alive in 1694, not written in Bradford's hand.] He married Sarah Warren on 28 Mar 1634. [Ref] Sarah, the daughter of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren and his wife Elizabeth, was born in England and came to New England with her mother and sisters on the Ann. [Ref]
   On 2 Jan 1632/3 and on 2 Jan 1633/4 the General Court asked the colonists to pay taxes, in grain or the equivalent. [Ref][Ref] John Cooke, Sr. was assessed relatively low taxes in the second year. [Ref] John volunteered for the Pequod war on 7 Jun 1637. [Ref] Also in 1637, his mother-in-law conveyed land to him at Rocky Neck and on 11 Nov 1637 he exchanged it with his brother-in-law Richard Bartlett. [Ref] John is in the Plymouth section of the 1643 list of those between 16 and 60 able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. [Ref] He was a represetative to the General Court from Plymouth in 1638-9, 1641-4,1647 and 1653-6. [Ref]
   John was a deacon of the Plymouth church, but after disagreeing with pastor John Reyner he moved to Dartmouth. [Ref] He was selectman there in 1670, 1672-3, 1675 and 1679-83 and representative to the General Court in 1666-8, 1673-5, 1679-82 and 1686. [Ref] He became a Baptist minister. [Ref]
2. Jacob Cooke
3. Jane Cooke
4. Hester Cooke
5. Mary Cooke married John Tomson. [Ref]

Generation 2

MARY COOKE 1

Parents: Francis Cooke and Hester Mahieu

Mary Cooke married John Tomson.

Sarah Cook married Arthur Hathaway on 20 Nov 1652 in Plymouth. [Ref]

Elizabeth Cook married Daniel Wilcox on 28 Nov 1661 in Plymouth. [Ref]

References

Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Vol. 1-3. Boston, MA, USA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995, entry for Josiah Cooke.

Bradford, William, Of Plymouth Plantation, Alfred A. Knopf , New York, 2001, with an introduction and notes by Samuel Eliot Morison.

Hayward, Elijah, "Plymouth Colony Records," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 9, 1855, 313-318.

Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men. Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1884. Online database: Ancestry.com.

Roebling, Mrs. Washington A., "Richard Warren of the Mayflower and some of his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 55, 1901, 70-78.

Winsor, Justin, "Abstract of the Earliest Wills in the Probate Office, Plymouth," New England Historical and Genealogical Register

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., "Plymouth Colony Rates," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4, 1850 252-3.

Stratton, Eugene Aubrey, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620 - 1691, Salt Lake City, Ancestry, 1986.