Obit: Cook, Margaret Elizabeth (1866 - 1943)

Contact: Crystal Wendt
Email:  crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Cook, McDonald, Garvin, McGuine, Ralston, Fralick, Baumann

----Sources: The Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 6 May 1943

Cook, Margaret Elizabeth (6 July 1866 - 4 May 1943)

Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Cook passed away at her home in the town of Hewett at 9:30 a.m. May 4, 1943, after a long period of illness, being confined to her bed most of the time since last fall.

The departed was born July 6, 1866, at Waukon, Iowa, the daughter of Richard and Helen McDonald, natives of Scotland. Most of her younger years were spent at Valparaiso, Ind., where she worked with her grandfather in the bakery business. All of the work at that time, including the kneading of bread, was done by hand.

She was married in 1892 to Samuel J. Cook, who also was a baker. They conducted a bakery for a time after their marriage. Thirty-four years ago the Cook family came to Clark County. They lived for a time on the old Garvin farm, just west of Neillsville, later purchasing a farm in the town of Hewett, which remained Mrs. Cook’s home for the balance of her life time.

Mr. and Mrs. Cook were the parents of six children, the eldest of whom, Mattie, died in 1936. Another daughter, Ruth, was killed in a school bus accident in 1911. The surviving children are: Mrs. Alice McGuine, Harvard, Ill.; Mrs. Helen Ralston, Rockford, Ill; Orin J. Cook, St. Paul and Leslie Do. Cook, Neillsville, Wis. There are eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Mr. Cook died Oct. 18, 1923.

She also leaves three brothers and a sister, namely: James McDonald, Wanblee, S. D.; Charles, Valparaiso, Ind.; William, Chicago, and Mrs. Jessie Fralick, Academy, S. D.

Mrs. Cook was a woman of high moral character. The example of her daily life could not but guide aright the lives of those for whom she was directly responsible, winning, at the same time, the admiration and respect of her neighbors and friends. Throughout her entire lifetime, she met with hopeful faith and trust the fortunes and misfortunes of life.

Funeral services will be held today (Thursday) at 1:30 p.m. at the Jaster Funeral home, followed at two p.m. by the service at St. John’s Lutheran Church, of which she was a member. The Rev. William A. Baumann will conduct the rites. Interment will be made in the Neillsville cemetery.

All of the children were here for the funeral.