A homestead with
many interesting family associations is the Willow Branch Farm in Union
Township. It has been owned by members of the Cook family for more than a
century. It has responded to their care and management, and is not only a
landmark but for generations has been a center for some of the most productive
farm and stock raising operations in the county. Its present owner is Isaac
Scott Cook, who was born there, and who since an early age has been identified
with its active management.
Mr. Cook is a
descendant of the Connecticut branch of the Cook family. His first American
ancestor was Henry Cook, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, before 1640, from
Kent, England. Two of Henry Cook's sons, Henry and Samuel, settled at
Wallingford, Connecticut, and became the ancestors of most of the Connecticut
branch of the family. In the next generation was Samuel Cook, who was born in
March, 16—. and married Hope Parker. Isaac, a son of Samuel, was born January
10, 1681, and died at Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1712. He was married in 1705
to Sarah Curtis. One of their children was also named Isaac and was born July
22, 1710, at Wallingford, and died March 16, 1780. He married Jerusha Sexton,
of Wallingford.
A son of Isaac and
Jerusha was Colonel Isaac, who was born July 28, 1739, and died in 1810. He
served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. His wife's name was Martha.
They were the great-grandparents of Isaac S. Cook, of Ross County.
The founder of the
family in Ohio was Judge Isaac Cook, who was born in Wallingford, Connecticut,
in 1768. Soon after his marriage he started with his wife and household goods
in wagons to find a home in the great unclaimed West. They went as far as
Pittsburgh, and leaving his wife there, Isaac Cook continued on a prospecting trip
to the Northwest Territory in 1795, going as far as Greenville. He was present
there when General Wayne made his treaty with the Indians. After seeing peace
secured with the Indians he returned, and in the following year settled in the
rich and beautiful valley of the Scioto. He had taken with him from Pittsburgh
a commission from General Neville to sell the latter's land grant in the
Virginia Military District. This trust he performed with such satisfaction to
his employer that the latter presented him with 400 acres of land which had
been unsold. Judge Cook added to his nucleus by purchase, and developed a
splendid estate before his death. He named the old farm the Willow Branch Farm
and by that name it is still called. Under his energetic management the soil
yielded of its fruits and the log cabin home was soon supplanted by a two-story
frame house. Judge Cook was one of the very able men in the early life of Ross
County. He was appointed associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1803,
and filled that position with splendid dignity for twenty-seven consecutive
years. He was also elected several times as a member of the State Legislature,
and while in the Legislature was a member of the committee on legislation and
introduced the bill for the establishment of a public school system in Ohio.
Another fact of interest concerning him is that he was a pioneer advocate of
temperance at a time when little thought was given to such a cause. He drew up
a pledge for his own children and that pledge contained the names of all his
grandchildren, their respective parents vouching for them. Judge Isaac Cook was
a resident of Ross County upwards of half a century, and died in 1842.
In 1792 ha married
Margaret Scott of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Capt. Mathew and
Elizabeth (Thompson) Scott, Mathew Scott was first lieutenant in Miles
Pennsylvania Regiment in 1776, and a captain in the Pennsylvania State Regiment
in 1777. Judge Isaac Cook and his wife, Margaret, reared eight children: Isaac,
Mathew Scott, Elizabeth, William, Joseph, Lucy, Maria and Margaret. The oldest
daughter, Maria, married Dr. James Webb, of Kentucky, and was the mother of
Lucy Webb, who subsequently became the wife of Rutherford B. Hayes, afterwards
President of the United States. After the death of Doctor Webb, his widow and
her three children lived at the old homestead. Willow Branch Farm, in Ross
County.
On the Willow Branch
Farm, William Cook, father of Isaac S., was born in 1807. He grew up on that
farm, and eventually succeeded to its ownership. He was a man of fine
character, of great industry, and his tastes and inclinations led him to spend
his years in the quiet pursuits of agriculture. Very successful as a farmer, he
at one time owned 1,500 acres. A desire for public office never came to him,
and he was content to do his duty as a private citizen. He was first a Whig and
afterwards a Republican. His death occurred September 4, 1892, at the age of
eighty-five years. Many years ago he erected a substantial brick house on the
Willow Branch Farm and it is still the residence of his son, Isaac S. William
Cook married Mary G. Hough. She was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1811, daughter
of Benjamin and Catherine (Carrell) Hough, both of whom were natives of
England. William Cook and wife reared five children, Ellen Hough, Isaac Scott,
Ada, Margaret Scott and Catherine. The daughter Margaret S. is now deceased.
On the farm where he
was born and reared, Isaac Scott Cook has worked out his own individual destiny
in life. He attended the public schools in the country district and also at
Chillicothe. His youth was spent in the dark and forbidding years of the Civil
war, and on August 13, 1862, he responded to the call of patriotism and
enlisted in Company D of the Eighty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was with
this regiment in its various movements until September, 1863, when, being taken
ill, he was placed in a hospital, first at Nashville and afterwards at
Louisville, and from there was sent to Cincinnati, and in November, 1863, was granted
an honorable discharge from the hospital and the army and then returned home.
As soon as sufficiently recovered, he went to Pennsylvania and entered the
Pennsylvania Military Academy, then located at Westchester, but now at Chester.
He remained there until completing a two years' course.
He then returned to
his father's farm, and was its responsible manager for a number of years. Later
he succeeded to its ownership, and has done much to make it both a profitable
and attractive homestead. Some years ago he formed a corporation, whose members
were himself and his sons and daughters, and this corporation now owns the '”Willow
Brook Stock Farm,” so named by his grandfather. Since 1891 Mr. Cook has been a
director of the Chillicothe First National Bank.
He married Rowena
Nye. Mrs. Cook, who died in 1911, was a daughter of Spencer and Martha (Jacobs)
Nye, both of whom, were of early Connecticut ancestry. Mr. Cook has five
children: William Hough, Spencer Nye, Margaret Scott, Isaac Scott, Jr., and
Edward Tiffin. All these children received the best advantages of local schools
and higher institutions. William H. graduated from the University of Minnesota
at Minneapolis and is now a successful mining engineer. Spencer Nye is also a
mining engineer and a graduate of the Ohio State University. Margaret Scott
graduated from Wheaton Seminary at Norton, Massachusetts. Isaac S., Jr., is a
graduate of the agricultural department of the Ohio State University. Edward
Tiffin is a graduate of Cornell University, made a record as an athlete while
in school, and is now manager of the Willow Brook Stock Farm. The oldest son,
William H., married Clara Tandy, and their two children are Margaret Scott and
William Hough. Edward Tiffin married Mary Virginia Wilson, who was born near
Winchester, Virginia, of colonial ancestry. They have a son, Edward Tiffin,
Jr., making the fifth generation on that farm.
SOURCE: Lyle S. Evans, Editor, A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio, Volume 2, p. 496-8
