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About Rev. Thomas Boyd Cooke
Buried in the cemetery in Athens, Mercer Co., WV. He moved to Mercer County in 1876. He was ordained on November 3, 1896 in Rockcastle Baptist Church, Wyoming Co., WV, as pastor. In 1903 Thomas Boyd Cook was active in the organization of Spruce Grove Baptist Church in Wyoming Co., WV. This church was a charter member of the Rockcastle Association.
The following was written by his grandson, William W. Lyons:
"Thomas Boyd Cook was born May 8, 1859, at Rockview, Wyoming County, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was the son of Thomas Munsey Cook and Rebecca Sizemore and died March 1914.
His father and mother were God-fearing people and his mother spent much time in prayer. When she began to worry about the perplexing problems that faced her in the domestic life, she would grab up her little boy (little Boyd then about twelve months old) and hasten down to her favorite prayer place behind a large rock at the lower edge of the lawn. There with her baby in her arms, she would kneel and pour her whole heart out to God, dedicating her child to God to be used in His service.
The Rev. T. B. Cook had a limited education which he received mostly in the Wyoming County schools around 1871. His father moved to Mercer County when he was a teenage boy and settled on Widemouth Creek where he met and married Nancy McCommas. He was twenty-one, when he met and married Louisa Estus Thompson, a daughter of Gordon Thompson, a Civil War Confederate soldier. She was born April 19, 1861.
At the age of twenty-five he felt keenly the call to the ministry. Before he was twenty-five there was an epidemic of smallpox in Mercer and the edge of Wyoming Counties which took its toll of human lives before it ended. There were so many deaths that it was hard to get people buried and it was impossible to get anyone to wait on the sick. The entire Cook family, the father, mother and three children were down at the same time. No one would come into the home to help the sick on account of the fear of taking the disease. The neighbors would prepare the food and place it where the family could get it. They also prepared wood for the fire. Old Dr. Carr, the grandfather of Daniel Carr, was the only available doctor for this epidemic, who would venture into the homes and treat the sick.
After the epidemic, Thomas Boyd Cook obeyed his call to the ministry. The mantle of some departed soul-minister had fallen on his shoulders and he began preaching like a whirlwind. In early ministry he let his beard grow long as was the custom in those days, but in later years he was smooth shaven with a mustache. During his lifetime he baptized, married and preached the funerals of hundreds of people.
In 1898 - 1902, he served as Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff under the late James "Jim" White who died about the middle of his term of office, at which time the Rev. Cook was appointed to fill the unexpired term by the Mercer County Court. At that time there was only one Deputy Sheriff in the County and he did the collections of taxes and served as a Peace officer.
After his term of Sheriff was over, he settled down to farming and preaching. He owned a farm at Pinoak near Matoaka where he lived all of his life. He also owned quite a boundry of surface land over the Springston mines where he did most of his farming. The Springston Coal Company in mining out the coal and water broke the surface in many places; consequently he was instituting suit against them for damages and at which time the Pocahontas Land Company came to their rescue and paid Reverend Cook $10,000. for his farm.
In 1907, he moved to the town of Athens for the purpose of educating his children. He bought a home in Athens at the North end of State Street and a farm of 103 acres where the Brunks now live. Here he settled down again to farming and preaching. The great burden of his life was the saving of his children. Out of his large family he only saw three of them baptized. Thomas Boyd Cook is buried in the Athens Cemetery with his wife and five children near him.
Thomas Boyd Cook and Louisa Thompson were married on October 27, 1877. They were the parents of Forest P., Wayne M., Jay, Ted B., Dale, Gester, Mrs. Effie Oaks, Mrs. Robert Campbell, Mrs. Emerson Walker, Mrs. John Lyons, and Lake W."31
The following is a prayer he wrote:
Our moments together in this life is not to be compared to Eternity, may God's Blessings follow us and prepare us for the duty Enjoined on Father and Mother to raise their children in the nuture and admonition of the Lord; May this Blessed book be our guide; his will ours to do and when Life is over and the Master calls us home to Glory, May we together with the offspring which God has given us; all get home to be with the Lord God and the Blessed is my prayer for Jesus' sake."
OBITUARY - March, 1914, The Bluefield Daily Telegraph:
"REV. T. BOYD COOK VICTIM OF PNEUMONIA
End Came at His Home at Athens Last Night After an Illness of Only Six Days
Rev. T. Boyd Cook, aged fifty-six years and father of eleven children, died at his home at Athens last night, after an illness of six days of pneumonia. Mr. Cook's illness had scarcely been heard of outside of Athens and his death will be the source of general surprise and regret to his friends throughout the county. Rev. Mr. Cook was a man who had affiliated himself with public affairs of the county and had formed a wide and popular acquaintance. He was ordained into the ministry of the Missionary Baptist denomination about twenty-five years ago and his church work throughout this course of time has extended pretty generally all over the county. At the time of his death he held under his charge the church work at Dunns, Little Bluestone and Daniel, this county. Aside from his church work he took a deep interest in the county's affairs, once having served as deputy sheriff of the county and performing other duties in a public way.
Rev. Mr. Cook was the father of five daughters and six sons - Mrs. Effie Fulton of Colorado; Mrs. Bertha Campbell , of Kentucky; Mrs. Barty Wyatt of Pineville; Mrs. Emerson Walker, of Lashmeet, this county, and a single daughter at home, Miss Winnie; Forest Cook of Pin Oak, this county; and Edgar Cook of Athens, both married, and Jay, Wayne, Theodore and Dale Cook, of Athens. His widow, who was a Miss Thompson, of Lashmeet, also survives him, as do two brothers and two sisters, Senator William H.H. Cook, of Wyoming county; Ollie Cook, of Giatto; Mrs. A. Bailey, of Dott, and Mrs. Hartless, of Godfrey.
The funeral services will be held at Athens at noon Saturday, internment following at that place. The deceased was member of both the Odd Fellows and Masons, but whether these fraternities will conduct the burial rites was not known at the midnight hour, at which time the news of Mr. Cook's death was received by the Telegraph."
FROM A COPY OF A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE - date and paper unknown (probably after 1938):
"The late Rev. Thomas Boyd Cook, who died in Athens in 1914 was one of the well known and interesting characters of Mercer county a half century ago. He was a brother to the late Rev. W.H. Cook, Pineville, and came to Mercer county in 1876 where he married the late Louise Thompson and became a Baptist preacher and one of the latest circuit riders.
Cook built a home on the headwaters of Rich Creek, near the Pinoak post office. Part of the building is still standing; although it has been remodeled and is at present occupied by one of his eldest daughters, and husband Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Walker.
During Cook's ministry he became a deputy sheriff for a four year period from 1896 to 1900 under County Sheriff James White. While he was in office and while conducting a meeting in Spanishburg, he arrested a man charged with disturbing public worship, handcuffed him - then brought him to the front of the church and resumed the services.
In 1908, Cook bought property in Athens and moved his family there for the purpose of educating the younger children at Concord College. The move was ill-fated in one respect. One son, Jay "Red" Cook attended school there and became a popular baseball and football player. During a football game; his neck was broken.
The offspring of the Cook family, part of whom are still living, are: Forest P. Cook, Wayne M. Cook, Jay Cook, Ted B. Cook, Dale Cook, Geter Gook, Mrs. Effie Oakes, Mrs. Robert Campbell, Mrs. Emerson Walker and Mrs. John Lyons, and Lake Wyatt.
Cook numbered among his closest friends J. Sam Bennett of Princeton and the late H.W. Straley of Princeton and Dr. Sam Holroyd of Athens."
Rev Thomas Boyd Cook
BIRTH 1859
USA
DEATH 26 Mar 1914 (aged 54–55)
Athens, Mercer County, West Virginia, USA
BURIAL
Athens Cemetery
Athens, Mercer County, West Virginia
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52834596/thomas-boyd-cook
Children
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Effie Cook Oakes
1878–1935
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Bertha Cook Bailey
1880–1935
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Lake Erie Cook Wyatt
1885–1918
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Brada Evona Cook Walker
1887–1955
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Forest Parr Cook
1889–1967
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Jay Cook
1894–1915
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Winnie H. Cook Lyons
1896–1979
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Ted Boyd Cook
1900–1976
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Dale M. Cook
1902–1918
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Rev. Thomas Boyd Cooke's Timeline
| 1859 |
May 8, 1859
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Rockview, Wyoming County, Virginia, United States
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| 1878 |
September 12, 1878
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Mercer County, West Virginia, United States
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| 1880 |
1880
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Mercer Co., West Virginia
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| 1883 |
1883
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| 1885 |
September 13, 1885
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Mercer Co., West Virginia
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| 1887 |
August 30, 1887
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Mercer County, West Virginia, United States
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| 1889 |
August 24, 1889
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Mercer Co., West Virginia
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| 1892 |
March 6, 1892
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| 1894 |
June 2, 1894
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Mercer Co., West Virginia
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