Would someone check the spelling for Major Aaron COOK/COOKE, b. 1613 England, d. 1690 Northampton, MA, m. in Windsor, CT, Mary Ford, b. 1612 England, d. about 1637 Windsor, CT. His son Capt. Aaron COOK/COOKE came to Hadley, MA, about 1659/1660 (b. 1640 Windsor, CT, d. 1716, Hadley, MA) with father-in-law William Westwood and left many descendants in Hadley. I am finding the name spelled both COOK and COOKE and would like to know what is the accepted spelling for this family. I believe the family is listed by Stiles in Windsor Genealogies and by Bolthouse in Hadley Families. I do not have access to either book. Any assistance would be welcomed. Thank you. E. W. Prichard

Mr. Prichard, I think that you will find that there is really no universally accepted spelling of that surname in those days. My original Northampton ancestor was Lt. William CLARKE, and yet the vast majority of Vital Records for Northampton and elsewhere delete the 'e' from the name. I believe that these deletions or additions were due primarily to the vagaries of the town recorders. I copied the following from my database: (Although Aaron Cooke Sr. spelled his name with the trailing 'e', all of the VR's from Northampton have abbreviated the name to Cook. This may have occurred when the records were transcribed, since his autograph which appears in Trumbull's "History of Northampton", clearly shows his name as Aaron Cooke) Aaron Cook may have arrived on "The Mary & John" on it's 1630 crossing. That is very difficult to prove, since ALL of the ships manifests for that voyage are synthetic, and only the 'CLAP MEMORIAL', printed many years later, has a reference to pilgrims who Roger Clap remembered. One of them was 'Thomas Ford, his wife and four daughters, and his son, Aaron Cooke'. The immigrants from that ship founded Dorchester, Massachusetts, and some later were primarily responsible for the founding of Windsor, CT. Aaron Cook took the 'Freeman's oath' in Dorchester, in 1635, later removing to Windsor, where he resided for 23 years. Windsor is also the place where his military service began as a private in the trainband (militia) of that town. In 1653, he was chosen Lieutenant, and two years later, Captain. As Lieutenant Cook, he was appointed to the command of a company of 60 minute men (in 1653), to be ready on a days notice to march against the Dutch. Major Cook's name first appears in Northampton town records in March 1659/60, in connection with the names of two others. Those men were Elder John Strong and David Wilton. All apparently arrived at about the same time, 1659, Strong from Windsor and Wilton from Dorchester. (per Trumbull) - Strong and Cook married sisters, the daughters of Thomas Ford. All were firm friends of Mr. Mather : they came here at his invitation, and to them he 'bequeathed' the meadow land contributed by the citizens. (Cook's first wife, Mary, as a daughter of Thomas Ford, is disputed by many. She may have actually been Mary Cooke, daughter of William Cooke & Martha White) He was not among the settlers who received land in the Manhan Meadows in 1657, when it was purchased from Lampancho, the Sachem of the local Indian tribe. He received "46 & 1/2 acres, twenty-six rods and eleven foot more or less" in the Manhan Meadow, plus a home lot of four acres. These home lots were situated on Main and West Streets. His deed was recorded in April of 1661, but he was probably in Northampton by 1659, although possibly not as a permanent resident until 1661, since his name appears on two town records of Windsor in 1659 & 1660. Aaron Cook was appointed captain of militia in Northampton in 1663, and was selected to represent the town in the General Court, along with Lt. William Clarke, in 1668. He received a grant of 50 acres of land in the new settlement of Warranoco (Westfield) in 1666, on condition of immediate settlement. He failed to comply with the requirements, but the following year, 1667, the grant was renewed, and the following midsummer (1668) he did remove to that town. He resided in Westfield for about 10 years, and had a license to keep an ordinary from 1668 til 1672. For two years was a selectman there. Aaron Cook returned to Northampton in 1678, where he afterwards resided. He was promoted to the rank of Major by Gov. Andros in 1688. He was appointed one of the Associate Justices of Court of General Sessions of the Peace in 1680, and served in that capacity for the remainder of his life. Major Cook was the owner of considerable property, possessing at the time of his death, real estate in four different towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The total inventory of his estate amounted to 526Lbs. His home lot and 36 acres of meadowland were scheduled at 330Lbs, a homestead in Windsor that he had previously given to his son Aaron, and another in Westfield to Noah. Three hundred acres of land in "Hartford Colony" and another parcel at Windsor were mentioned. In his will was mentioned a "silver bowl of 'six pounds price' to be purchased and presented to the 'Church of Christ in Northampton', if continuing in the Congregational way." The bowl was obtained and used for baptisimal purposes for many years. His home lot was situated at the top of the hill above the (present) Baptist Church, and included the site of Forbes Library. Aaron was one of many in towns along the Connecticut River Valley, who died in the years 1689/90. Some sort of "sickness" started in the river towns of Connecticut in late 1689, and by the next year, had spread to Springfield, Northampton, Deerfield and many other towns in the valley. Many of the aged residents of Northampton (including Major Cook and my ancestor, Lt. Clarke), died at this time, but the sickness certainly wasn't confined to the elderly. Twenty-five died in Northampton in 1690, and 23 more in 1691. The loss of so many of it's leading citizens in that short period, must have been devastating to the town. He is buried in Bridge Street Cemetery (also known as 'The Old Burying Ground) in Northampton. His marker reads: HERE LyETH THE BODy OF MAJOR Aaron Cook Aged About 80 years WHO dyed SEP the V. ANNODOM 1690 Dave Clark Belmont, NC