Crook Genealogy by Lola McFarland Hill

Lola McFarland Hill.

Legend: (according to Dr. Isaac Crook, University of Weslyn)-

"Four Crook brothers, originally Scotsmen, went to Ireland, then to West England and two of them went to Boston, and too went to Virginia. When they came from England, they had only the clothes on their backs, a family Bible, and hour-glass and a demi-John." - from Mrs. Paul Weaver, (Anna Crook) Falls City, Nebraska.

JOHN CROOK the "first" - all that we know of him is that he lived in Virginia and died at the age of 55, and he had a son named John who is our ancestor.

JOHN CROOK (we will call him SR.) was born in Virginia in 1741 and died in Tennessee in 1838. 97 years of age. He was married three times. By his first marriage he had a daughter Jane who married Wyatt Goolsby. By his second marriage he had two children: Elizabeth who married a man named Yount and they had a daughter Nancy who is buried in Lovelady Cemetery near Doyle, Tenn. and a son John Crook, (whom we will call Jr.) His third marriage was to Rebecca Robinson-Hill, who was the widow of Richard Hill who was great-great-grandfather of Mattie Lee Hill Gwinn on her father's side. Richard and Rebecca had three children, James, William and Margaret Chisholm.

     Much information about John Crook is to be found in the Court House at Sparta, Tennessee, among other things his will in which he gave to his wife Rebecca and his too children, John and Elizabeth the entire estate. Two of his slaves, Phyllis and Charity were sold to Sevier Evans who was the father of "Granny" Hill's first husband. He also bequeathed to his grand-son, John III the negro boy slave, named William to him and his heirs forever, because of his name-sake's kindness to him.

JOHN CROOK JR. - born in 1779 in Virginia and died In Tennessee in 1859. 80 years old. He married Mary Lee in Rowan county N. C. who died in 1863 - 79 years of age. Mary Lee was a Quaker and was ex-communicated when she married outside the church.

     In the 1790 Census of the U. S. for the State of Virginia,

     In the l830 census -

     In the 1840 census -

     The first Census Act was passed at the 2nd Congress and was signed by President George Washington. The population was then was 3,231,553 in the United States. Women were not listed nor counted in the census.

     "John Crook was a Tennessee planter owning many slaves. He lived to be 97 years of age." - Jesse Crook, Falls City Neb.

     "I remember seeing my grandfather, John Crook only twice when I was a small boy. He came to Tennessee from N. C. and settled where Cookeville now stands." - Calvin Crook as told to his daughter, Kitty Hudgins 6-1-02 and by her to Lola Hill in 1954. John Crook Jr. and Mary Lee had 10 children.

     These are the children or John Crook Jr. and Mary Lee Crook - the brothers and sisters of Elizabeth Crook Harper-Clark.

I. NANCY CROOK-HOWARD. 1805-1852 or 1889. She was the mother of 10 children. Among them was Robert Howard who married Julia Harper. He lived with J.F. and Mary Jane McFarland when he was a youth and drove the "hack" with the children to school. He and Julia lived in Dodd City, Texas where he was post-master and minister of the Church of Christ for many years. They had three sons - Dodd, Sam, and Tom.

II. JOHN CROOK III. 1809-1889. He married Sallie Brown who was born in 1809. He lived to be 80 years of age. Their children were: Crockett, Calvin, Belle (Simms) Nannie (Cass), Jane (Truett), Lizzie (Kenner), Sallie (Mitchell), __(Fooshee).

     Calvin Crook had a daughter Kitty (Mrs. Monroe) Hudgins of Sparta, Tennessee. She has a daughter, Christine Hudgins. (I Visited her in Sparta, Tenn. in 1955 and she looked very much like my Mother, Mary Jane McFarland. - She told me that she thought that I had "the Crook build.")

     Calvin Crook told this to his daughter when he was 84 years old in 1922 --

     "John Crook III was the eldest son, born 1809. Married to Sally Brown. Her mother was a Ramsey. He never left Tennessee. He was a great stock man and owned large bodies of land on the Cumberland Plateau, where he reared his family - that section of land was part of White County at that time. He moved near Sparta, Tenn. about the close of the Civil War, where he lived making sunshine in the lives of others. Though the last seven years of his life was spent on the bed of affliction, due to a paralytic stroke, he was never heard to murmur or complain, but was always ready with a joke or smile for others.

     Calvin Crook also told this to his daughter about his brother, David Crockett Crook. -

     "During the Civil war, Crockett Crook and I, Calvin, served as officers in the Confederate Army. Crockett went out as Captain, but was promoted to Colonel and was said to have been one of the most gallant officers of the South. During the Battle of Atlanta, he was shot almost entirely through his body, and was left for dead on the battlefield, but a wealthy lady, Mrs. Grant, going over the wreckage, discovered life in his body, and ordered her coachman to carry him to her home where she nursed him back to life, and while he was never very strong, he lived and preached in the Methodist church for 20 more years. His obituary is now on file at the Museum at Nashville, along with clippings which were published about him. As with most Southerners, Mrs. Grant's wealth was swept away and it was the privilege of my brother to send her a monthly allowance as long as she lived. A statue to him now stands at Chickamauga Battle field, Chattanooga.

     Belle Sims had a son, Jeff Sims, who was County Clerk at Sparta, Tenn. for many years. He died about 1950. His son married the daughter of Mrs. Mitchell in Sparta and in 1962 he was in the Diplomatic Service in Trieste.

     Calvin Crook told his daughter Kitty this about himself: "As for myself, I was only 2nd Lt. and was taken very ill and had to be retired for a while, which I regretted very much." He lived to be 95½ years old, dying in his sleep' just as an apple, ripened drops from a tree.

III. ISAAC CROOK 1812-1884.

Isaac Crook was an early northwest Missouri settler and came to Nebraska in 1856, died at Mineral Springs, Mo., at the age of 72. He had 11 children. He had three wives.

His first wife was Sallie Brown - their 3 children were:

His second wife was Nancy Julian.

His third wife was Lucinda Kirby (Alabama)

     Cousin Anna Weaver says: "I do not have a 1ist of all his descendants, but he had three wives. When he was 40 he married a 16 year old girl. He lived in Mo. just one year, but set out an apple orchard. Then was one of the first settlers in Nebraska."

IV. ALLEN CROOK - 1814-1896
Lived in Tenn., and Colorado. Relatives in Denver.

V. CHARLES CROOK 1814-1882 lived in Tennessee. Had a wife and one child. Died at age of 65. "Charles bought the land of Jesse Crook in White County, Tenn., which is now Putnam County and sold it for town lots in Cookeville, Tenn.

VI.WILLIAM CROOK 1820 - 1841 - Died at 21 years in Missouri.

VII. RUTHA CROOK -GILLIAM 1822 - 1907 Lived in Tennessee 97 years
     (Rutha Tennessee McFarland was her namesake.

VIII. MARY CROOK-McBROOM 1824 -1884 Died in Tennessee at age of 60. Had ten children

IX. JESSE CROOK 1826-1908 born in Tennessee, moved to Missouri for one year and pioneered in Nebraska where the town of Falls city is now located. He married Eliza Whitaker, and died in Falls City Neb at age of 82.

     Because Jesse Crook and his brother Isaac and Isaac's sons and daughter were real pioneers, a biography of Jesse Crook published in "Southeastern Nebraska, in 1902 is here quoted in Full.

     "Jesse Crook, born in White County of the old Commonwealth of Tennessee, Sept. 12, 1826. On Aug. 28, 1854 he came to Nebraska after having, spent a year in Andrew County, Missouri. His brother Isaac Crook and family joined him later. At this date he located on his 150 a. of land 1 mi. N of Falls City, Nebraska, making the first farm settlement on the prairie of Richardson County. He made the Journey from his native state to Missouri with 3 yoke of oxen, arriving in Andrew County. He had two prairie schooners, and during the six weeks journey from his native state he camped out all of the time, making a veritable picnic of the affair, and living high on various kinds of wild game. He had sold his land in Tennessee and come to this country with some capital. While in Andrew County, Mo., he worked on one of his brother Isaac's farms and on arriving at his place in Nebraska, he built a rough log house, with a stick and mud chimney, puncheon floor and shook roof, being 16 by 18 feet in dimension and with a small "lean-to " for a bedroom. During his first year's residence he split enough rails to fence in forty acres, which land he broke and raised 25 bu. corn from each acre.

     Such was the advent and the first settlement of this venerable old settler. Since those early days, he has been the owner of ten thousand acres or Nebraska soil, taken altogether. He purchased 10,000 acres from the Sauk Reservation, having bought it from the government in sealed bids from $1.25 to $1.40 per acre. He has disposed of all his farm lands, and his realty property now consists of a block of lots and a business block in Falls City. His life throughout has been marked by industry, thrift, keen and sagacious management, and most honorable and upright methods of dealing with his fellow-men. His solid ability achieved success regardless of the fact that he was without advantages in his youth, and only six weeks were taken from his years as a farmer boy in Tennessee in attendance at the rudest kind of log school house, with a dirt floor - beside which, the country school of today would seem a palace.

IX. ELIZA WHITTAKER- CROOK wife of JESSE CROOK.
Since the women in the pioneer group were such a vital part of the experience, herewith a biography of this good woman, taken from the Falls City newspaper of Aug. 1910.

     Eliza Whitaker was born May 1, 1830 in North Carolina. She moved to Cookeville, Tennessee with her parents when she was a small girl, and there she met and married Jesse Crook in 1846. In 1853, Mr. Crook got the "Nebraska Fever", and along with a number of relatives and friends, among them, William Goolsby, Faragus Pollard who was married to Isaac's daughter Sally, Elijah Mitchell, Isaac's son John, and a half-dozen others started by ox team to Nebraska in October 1853. Mrs. Crook drove one of her husband's teams that contained three children, John, Sarah, and William H. and the cooking utensils and supplies.

     On reaching Andrew county, Missouri, they discovered much to their regret that the negotiations with the Indians had not yet been completed, and that the Indian title had not yet been extinguished. Nebraska was not opened for settlement for eighteen months after their arrival in Missouri, so they remained there until the fall of 1854, when the country in Nebraska was opened for settlement. Mr. Crook and a party came over to look over the land. He selected for himself the land on which Napoleon DrMers now resides and in 1855 the family removed to that homestead where they lived before moving to Falls City. -(Anna Weaver-" Uncle Jesse who was venturesome and my grandfather Isaac left the apple bearing orchards of Missouri and went to Nebraska and selected 2 sections of farm land. Uncle Jesse made the selection. Then Isaac got there he saw that he had no water on his part and he wept for the orchards of Missouri. Uncle Jesse divided the property equally so that they both had water. The airport at Falls City is now on the land first owned by Jesse Crook.)

     In the early days of the settlement of this country, there were real dangers to be encountered, such as Indians, drought, famine. Lack of food to eat was the greatest danger to poor settlers, many of them so poor that they had to be helped over the hard winters. The generous impulse of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Crook caused them to befriend many of the early settlers in this way. Mrs. Crook helped her husband and family by also running a hotel, and she was known far and wide as one of the best cooks in the country and also one of the most hospitable citizens. She was by mutual consent put in charge of the cooking arrangements for public picnics, house-raisings, and at the opening of a bridge across a stream or the building of the new court house or a church, or any occasion when the settlers came together for a celebration.

     Her many friends and relatives knew that the latch string was hung on the outside of her door - and certainly, no one in Richardson County had more relatives.

     At her funeral was Frank Leachman, the first white child born in the County. she had assisted at his birth. She lived longer on the townsite of Falls City than any other person. In the latter years she and Mr. crook made their home in a cottage on the block with their son and his wife, William H. and Lydia Crook.

     Eliza Whittaker Crook died August 10, 1910 at 80 years of age.

IX JESSE CROOK (continued)

Descendants:

X a ISAAC'S daughter. SALLIE CROOK POLLARD - Pioneer Settler in Neb -from Falls City newspaper.

     Mrs. Faragus Pollard, aged 86 years, answered the final summons at the home of her son, Perry, who lives northeast of Humbolt. The death of "Grandma" Pollard marks the passing of the last of the sturdy little band of pioneers who, under the leadership or "Uncle" Jesse Crook, crossed the Missouri River at St. Stephen, (an obsolete village a short distance north of Arago) on the evening of April 17, 1855 at sundown, to found a home in Richardson County, Nebraska.

     They were the first bonafide settlers to come into this part of the state and when they got here no plow had ever yet been used to stir the Richardson County soil. She saw the virgin land when it was only the home of Indians, and roving bands of wolves, and she lived to see it acknowledged as one of the very best agricultural sections of the world.

     Mrs. Pollard is survived by four sons, Perry, Lum, Ike and Jesse, and a daughter who lives in Eldorado, Kansas. Her husband, Faragus Pollard, joined the Nebraska Regiment during the war between the States, and was sent North against the Indians in Minnesota. He contracted an illness from which he died.

     Mrs. Pollard was praised for her high character and her lovable traits.

IX a JESSE'S grand-daughter, Edna Crook Hurst, dau. of Wm. H. Crook.

     Miss Edna Crook became the bride of Edward K. Hurst. Ceremony read by Rev. C. A. Mastin. The bride looked beautiful, wearing Liberty satin over white silk. The design was princess in effect and trimmed in hand-embroidered Paris net. She carried a shower bouquet of white roses and wore roses in her hair. A four-course breakfast followed.

ELIZABETH CROOK - youngest child of John Crook Jr. and Mary Lee Crook born March 25, 1831 in White County, Tennessee. There were twelve children in the family. It was said that when she was about 16 years of age, she rode off on a horse behind her sweetheart, George Washington Harper, and they were married. They went to Knight's Prairie, near McLeansboro, Ill. and lived for a few years before coming to Ellis County, Texas in 1861. Their first daughter, Mary Jane Harper was born in Illinois, Feb. 26, 1852.

     Mark Harper, a brother of George W. Harper was appointed guardian of the minor children of John Crook Jr. and Mary Lee. According to his will, their grandfather, John Crook Sr. left. His daughter, Elizabeth Yount, received $5565.95 and the children of John Crook Jr. received $410.42 each. He also provided for the grandchildren of his wife, Rebecca and their grandfather, Richard Hill. At the time of her grandfather's death, Elizabeth was only 7 years old.

     Elizabeth Crook Harper left Illinois with her husband and four small children, her father-in-law, George Harper and others to move to Texas. This was at the beginning of the War Between the States, when Lincoln of Illinois was the president. As they passed through St. Louis there was a "skirmish" taking place. Another frightening experience was the crossing of the South Canadian River at Eufala, Indian Territory, when the river had risen out of its bank. Several wagon loads of people were on the banks waiting for the water to recede. George Crook devised a plan to float the wagon beds with the women, the children and some of the belongings in them, and the men and horses swam across. The family settled in Ellis County just as Joe Hill's grandparents were leaving Texas to go back to Tennessee. Having left most of their belongings in Illinois, which were later confiscated by the Northern Army, they bought some furniture from Joe Meredith at Waxahachie. A little "bureau" which had been crafted by either Elisha or Martin Meredith was among the purchases. (Since it was made by Joe Hill's ancestors and purchased by Lola McFarland Hill's grand parents, it became theirs at the request of Lola's Aunt Rado Bartley - it is still in her possession.)

     After about a year in Ellis County the Harpers moved to Fannin County to the Bartley place. There were too more babies born there and when the youngest was 8 months old, George Washington Harper was conscripted in the Confederate Army. Elizabeth and six small children were left to fend for themselves. Times were very hard - food was scarce and they looked in vain for a letter from their loved one. Soon after his return from the army, Geo. W. Harper died and within a year his father also died.

     Her oldest daughter, Mary Jane helped all that she could. and when she was nineteen years old she married James F. McFarland. She and her mother spun the yarn, wove the cloth to take to Bonham to exchange it for material to make Mary Jane a trousseau. After her marriage, the youngest child, Washington Allen (Uncle Doc) Harper spent much time with her and as he grew up he almost like a brother to the McFarland children.

     After a few years, Elizabeth was married to Mr. Elijah Clark, widower with six children. They needed each other and as he was very kind to her and her children, so was she to him and his children, and they always lovingly referred to her as Mother and was "Grandma" to the little ones. To her own grandchildren she was either "Little Grandmother" or Grand mother Harper."

     She was very small of stature, but had a very gentle, loving disposition and manner. She smoked a little corn-cob pipe which she carried with her tobacco in a little black taffeta bag. After Mr. Clark's death, she moved to Ladonia and spent her last years in the home of her daughter, Rado Bartley. In her last illness, she was tenderly nursed by her granddaughter, Tennie McFarland, who had accompanied her to Nebraska to see her brother, Jesse Crook, whom she had not seen for 53 years. She was a life-long member of the Baptist Church, though she had attended the Methodist Church with Mr. Clark all through their married life.

     She lived 82 years and though her life had been full of many trying experiences, she always retained a calm and loving spirit and was dearly loved by all who knew. She died in Ladonia, Jan. 15, 1913. She is buried beside her daughter Rado Bartley and near her daughter Mary Jane McFarland. Her gravestone simply says ELIZABETH CLARK 1831-1913, but her life-story could fill a large sized volume.

"As I Remember the Nebraska family of Crook"

Lola McFarland Hill.

     One of my earliest recollections is of the summer of 1899 when my mother, my Sister Bettie and I were making preparations for a trip to Falls City, Nebraska, to visit my grandmother's brother, Jesse Crook and his wife E1iza, their children, grand-children and relatives. My sisters, Tennie and Mary, who were 19 and 17 at that time made my clothes for the trip. One of the dresses was of pink organdy. My mother took me to Miss Mollie Griffin's Milenery Shop and I wanted to buy a little sailor hat with a daisy on it. Mother bought the hat but my teen-age, style-conscious sisters persuaded me to take it back and buy instead a little pink organdy bonnet which was much more suitable and I am sure much more becoming.

     We went on the train - my first train trip, and my first time to ride on a "sleeper", a Pullman car. Looking out the window of the train, I exclaimed, "Look, Mama, there is a Christian Church" I thought all little white steepled churches were the Church of Christ or Christian church. I did not know what made them smile, but since I have had grand children, I know that almost anything a four year old says can provoke a smile.

     My little Grandmother, Elizabeth Crook Harper-Clark had said the she knew that her brother Jesse would be too fat for me to hug him all at once, so for me to tell him that his little sister (whom he bad not seen for over 50 years) told me to hug him, first on one side and then go around and hug him on the other. We were met at the train by Uncle Jesse's son William H. Crook and his wife Lydia and take to their home. Uncle Jesse and Aunt Eliza occupied a small cottage on the same lot. When I saw them I fell in love with them at once and felt perfectly at home with them. Mother and Sister Bettie went with the Wm. Crook's to Lincoln, on a sight-seeing trip and I stayed with cousin Sarah Schoenheit. There was a typical Nebraska hail storm that night and we brought in hail stones as large as baseballs in a coal scuttle and kept them to show to the others when they returned.

     We spent the entire month of July with them. We were entertained by all the relatives, especially well do I remember spending the day with Cousin Jack Crook who had a daughter, Anna. He took me to a photographer and had a picture made of me reading a book. To this day, it is my most flattering picture. We came home to the homestead, north of Ladonia and learned that Father had bought a "cut-away" buggy for Mary and Tennie as a reward for their having stayed at home and had not had any dates while their Mother was away. The horse they drove was a high-spirited one and our Uncle Bob Bartley thought he was too dangerous for the girls to drive, so he gave them a very gentle but not so attractive horse, "Old Dan", and persuaded them to be more safety conscious. I can see them now in their Gay-Ninety outfits as they drove off to town to "show - off"

     There followed a series of visits between the cousins in Nebraska and Texas. The first visitor to Texas was Will Crook Jr., who came to visit us at the old home place. He had a weeping eye from an operation he had for a sinus condition. This was very fascinating to a little child who had never seen a grown man weep.

     About 1906, Grandmother Harper's second husband, Mr. 'Lige Clark passed away. Grandmother was always very grateful to him for giving her a good home, and she repaid him by being a very faithful wife and a real mother to his six children. To this day their children refer to her as grandmother and loved her dearly. After her responsibilities were over, she moved to Ladonia and made her home with her daughter Rado Bartley. One day, she expressed a desire, to see her brother, Jesse who was just older than herself, and whom she had not seen since he sold his land in Tennessee, which was later the townsite of Cookeville, to his brother Charles, and left for Nebraska.

     It was arranged for my sister Tennie to accompany her, and together they made the train trip and spent three happy months in Falls City, This niece was very devoted to her and in Grandmother's last illness nursed her and gave her every possible kind attention.

     In the summer of 1908, my sister Bettie was married to Edgar Fuller. She had a beautiful church wedding at the First Christian Church in Ladonia. The dresses for her and her bridesmaid were made by Mrs. Harris of Bowling Green Kentucky. - a real status symbol in those days before there were any ready-made clothes for women. Among the out of town guests were two of our Nebraska cousins, Sally Schoenheit, dark, large, hilarious, and who played the piano with all the enthusiasm of a Liberace, and Edna Crook, who was slight, blond, gentle, and sang popular songs like Patti Page. Edna had packed her beautiful graduation dress in her suit-case, and for convenience had placed a shoe-box with a lunch in it for them to eat on the train in the suit-case also. By mistake, someone picked up her suit-case and it was not until several days, after the wedding that it was recovered, and the beautiful dress was ruined. Edna was not the type of person who would let one ruined dress spoil a wonderful vacation. For their entertainment, father sent the two visiting cousins, my sister Tennie and my brother Sam and his wife Jewel to Galveston on an "excursion". The next fall, Edna came to Sherman, Texas to attend Kidd-Key College and we enjoyed several visits from her.

     Other visits included - a Christmas holiday for Sam and Jewel in Nebraska, a visit from Guy Crook, while we still lived in the country, and a few days which I spent in Cousin Will's new home after I had attended John R. Mott's Student Volunteer Convention in Kansas City as a delegate of the Y. W. C. A at Texas Christian University. As always, they were the most delightful hosts, as well as pleasant house-guests.

     At one time, when my brother Sam was in New York for some surgery, John Crook's wife, Minnie was there at the same time. She was very thoughtful of my Sister Jewel and my brother Doc. In 1920, when our Jane was a baby, my mother and I took her and Louise Jennings and a Negro nurse, Hazle to Manitou, Colo. for the summer. At the same time the Nebraska relatives were visiting John and Minnie Crook in Denver. Cousin Will, and Cousin Lydia, Minnie and Edna drove over to see us, and invited us to come to Denver to see them. The John Crooks lived in a very expensive home and seventy-three houseguests had preceded us there that summer. John was a handsome, lovable man and passed away soon after that visit we had in his home. They had one daughter, Constance.... Some years later, Guy and Florence Crook and their two sons, Bill and Bob, who were about 13 and 15, spent one night with us in Dallas and went by Ladonia to see mother. They spent many vacations in Mineral Wells at the Crazy Hotel.

     In April 1953 while Joe and I were attending an American Bar Regional Convention in Omaha, Neb. we phoned to Guy at Falls City and he insisted we come over and spend one night with them. They were living in the old home that was the new home in 1914, and as always, they were charming hosts. We realized however, that they were not well, Guy had previously had a heart attack and Florence had had one recently. Their sons and wives came by to see us and Guy took us to see cousin Anna (Mrs. Paul Weaver. We enjoyed seeing the loved ones and the old familiar places, but saddened to know that so many of the relatives had passed away. We went next door to see Marion who was Will Jr.'s widow. They were given her every kind attention possible.

     On Jan, 4, 1955, a telegram came from one of his sons stating that Guy A Crook had passed away.

     A letter from Anna Weaver said that the boys, Bob and Bill are the only living descendants of Cousin Will and Cousin Lydia. At that time the doctor, Guy A Crook Jr. (Bob) was living in Houston and Bill is an engineering contractor some were in the Pacific Northwest. Her daughter, Doris Weaver is married to Dr. William V. Glenn in Falls City and before Bob moved to Houston they were partners in the practice of medicine.