George J. Cook
George J Cook.
The only proper way to measure success in life is to
estimate the obstacles overcome. Measured by these
standards, there are few more successful men in Texas
than George J Cook, of Eustace. Some of the details, of
his business career to be set down in a later paragraph,
illustrate how men may often gain an exceptional success
at a vocation for which they have absolutely no previous
training, and in which apparently all the probabilities
are against them.
The Cook Family have been residents of Texas for many
years, and was founded in this state by Joab Cook a
Hardshell Baptist preacher in Rusk County. He
subsequently moved further to Henderson, where he was
also a pioneer, and died in Athens before the Civil war.
He was the father of twenty-two children by two wives.
Several of the children of his first marriage died before
maturity, and the others are mentioned as follows:
Thomas, who died in Henderson county, leaving a family;
George, who also left a family at his death; John, who
died in Texas with a family; Francis M., Mentioned in the
following paragraphs; Becky, who married James Simmons,
and died in Navarro county, Texas; Hettie, twin sister of
Becky, who married Dr. Glover, and is now deceased;
Emily, who married a Crosby, and died in Nacogdoches. By
the second wife of Joab Cook, the following children were
born: Benjamin, who died in Hill county, Texas, left a
family there; Stephen, who has his home in Nacogdoches
county; Joseph, who died and left a family; Margaret,
wife of William Box of Henderson county; Cumile, who died
the wife of Mr. Jess Davis in Henderson county; and
Hannah, who married Amos Etheridge and resides in Navarro
county.
Francis M Cook was born in 1831. The circumstances of his
childhood and youth prevented his getting even the first
elements of book learning. He went through life without
knowing the letters of the alphabet or being able to
write his name. Notwithstanding that handicap he competed
successfully with his fellow men, and at his death,
November 21st, 1910, left a good estate. He was very
sagacious in the barter and exchange of commodities, and
by close attention to details gained a generous
prosperity. He brought under cultivation some two hundred
acres of land in the vicinity of Eustace. He was a
staunch Democrat and stood for righteousness in business
as well as in society. Because of physical weakens he was
unable to carry a musket during the war, but he was loyal
to the Confederacy and did some important work within the
boundaries of the state. He never missed an election and
voted the Democratic ticket from early manhood until late
in life. Francis M Cook married Miss Catherine Starr, a
daughter of John Starr, who came from Illinois to Texas.
Mrs. Cook having been born in the former state in 1839.
The Starr family moved to Texas in 1843 and settled in
Cherokee county. Francis M Cook and wife had the
following children: Thomas, who died in childhood; Jane,
who married F M Leach, and resides in Henderson county;
Catherine, who died in infancy; Ellen, who married John A
Owen, and lives in Henderson county; M W Whose home is in
Navarro count; Henrietta, who married James E Rogers of
Henderson county; John, whose home is in Navarro county;
George J, of Eustace; Robert, who died in childhood;
Albert J, of Eustace; Cora, wife of R S Carpenter, of
Jones county, Texas; Edward, also in Jones county; Edgar,
a twin of Edward, who died as a child; Emily Ann, who
died in infancy, and Jesse C, whose home is in Jones
County.
It was in Tarrant county that George J Cook was born
January 18, 1867. His home and business activities have
been centered about Eustace all his career. When a boy he
started in to bear the share of the family burdens, and
he did so much work on the home place that he had
practically no time to attend school, and his education
gave him only the ability to spell out the words and read
very slowly and stumblingly, to work the four general
rules of arithmetic, and display a very poor hand at
penmanship. He had never written a letter when he started
out as a merchant, yet in spite of those adverse
conditions he has made a useful citizen and a financial
success in life. Mr. Cook remained with his parents until
he was twenty-two years of age, at which time he began
farming for himself, and by four crops gained a capital
of five hundred dollars. At Pane Springs, he established
a store with a stock of goods valued at one hundred and
fifty-three dollars. The bills submitted to him by the
wholesale house showing cost of articles and indicating
prices for selling were as so much Greek to him. For a
time he sold goods at half what they cost to him or
double the amount, as the case happened to be. He worked
over his bills, made a study of his business like a child
learning his letters, and mastered the situation after
great mental strain and much embarrassment in
correspondence. He knew nothing of literary composition,
spelled poorly, and his capitalization was in hit or miss
fashion. Persisteney and hard work will conquer many
difficulties. At first his business little more than paid
its way, and he helped out by chopping cotton and pulling
fodder while watching his store and training himself for
merchandising. At the end of ten years he had gained a
success probably much above his original expectations,
and he sold out his stock of goods at five thousand
dollars, that amount representing his net earnings during
his ten years. In 1903, Mr. Cook moved to Eustace, and
established a store there. He was a member of the firm of
Cook & Campbell, whose establishment at the end of
one year burned out with a net loss of six thousand
dollars. With the insurance money of three thousand
dollars the firm resumed business and after several
months Mr. Cook purchased the interests of his partner,
and continued alone for six years. Nearly twenty years of
close attention to business had proved a severe strain
upon his energies, and he then sold out and retired from
general merchandising. In order to get more of outdoor
employment, in November, 1912, he bought the lumber
business of his father-in-law, the enterprise which he
still has. Mr. Cook's net capital when he began business
has already been stated. His preparation for a commercial
life has been briefly suggested, and something of the
success he has attained may be inferred from the
substantial interest he now owns in Eustace. He built one
of the best pressed-brick stores in Eustace, has a home
ample for the comforts of his family, and also
considerable property besides the stock of his lumber
yards. He is vice-president and a director of the state
band of Eustace.
On December 11, 1910, Mr. Cook married Miss Lillie
Melton, a daughter of Joab Melton, who was born on the
site of the old brick hotel in Athens, Texas in 1856, a
son of Josiah Melton, who came to Texas as a young man
and settled in Henderson county. Through several
generations the Melton family have been prominent in
Texas, but the record does not extend back beyond Josiah
Melton, who was an orphan. Josiah married in Henderson
county. Miss Emeline McMannus, a daughter of Joab
McMannus, a pioneer Missouri settler, who lived for a
number of years near Athens, and who died in 1906, at the
age of eighty-seven. Joab McMannus married Rebecca Eads,
and their children were Emeline and Mary, the latter the
wife of John T. Paschal of Murchison, Texas. Josiah
Melton moved to a farm ten miles north of Athens, soon
after the birth of his son Joab, and died there in 1859.
His widow subsequently married Hamp Phillips, and had
children as follows: Thomas, Elijah, Rhoda, wife of O T
Jeter, and Jacob, all of Henderson county. The children
of Josiah Melton were: Leonidas, who died a few years
ago, at Shreveport, Louisiana, Joab, and John--both the
latter of Oklahoma.
Joab Melton grew upon the farm where his mother now lives
and continued farming until he reached his majority, in
the meantime getting a country school education, with
also two or three years of training in the Goshen school,
which was then an educational center of much importance.
He began clerking at Goshen, and subsequently got into
store keeping for himself. After twenty years he moved to
Eustace in 1900, and established the lumber business
which was conducted with much success by him until it was
sold to Mr. Cook, in November, 1912. Among other
interest, Joab Melton has been identified with farm
development and increased the material resources of
Eustace by the erection of a good home, and in other
ways. He served as president of the school board at the
time the new school house was erected, and had active
control of the work as superintendent. He is an elder in
the Christian church, and a Democrat in politices. Joab
Melton was married November 9, 1885, Miss Nannie Whatley,
of Bell county, Texas, and a daughter of William Whatley,
a farmer from east Texas. The Melton children are:
Lottie, now Mrs. Cook; and Clara, wife of Simmons
McLaughlin, of Eustace, the McLaughlin children being
Bueford and Gladys.
To the marriage of George J. Cook and Miss Lillie Melton
were born the following children: Lillian Ruth and Oscar
Branch.
A history of Texas and Texans, Vol. 4 (1914)
by Frank W. Johnson
The American Historical Society
Chicago and New York
1914
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