Mrs. Erastus Cooke

Fannie Anderson, born in New York in 1807, was the sister of pioneer Sandusky physician Dr. George Anderson. On November 1, 1826, she married Erastus Cooke; they had three children, James, George and Emma. 

By 1829 the Erastus Cooke family was residing in Sandusky, Ohio; Mr. Cooke served as Sandusky’s postmaster from 1836-1841. During the cholera epidemic of 1849, Mr. Cooke died of the dreaded disease (the same illness that had earlier killed her brother, Dr. Anderson), leaving Fannie a widow with three children. Shortly after Mr. Cooke died, both of Fannie’s sons became sick with cholera, but they both survived. 

According to an undated newspaper clipping, Mrs. Fannie Anderson moved from Sandusky to Fremont in 1869. Later she moved to Saginaw, Michigan, where she resided with her daughter Mrs. William H. Mills. In 1879, Fannie Anderson Cooke passed away in Saginaw, Michigan at the home of her daughter. Her remains were brought back to Sandusky, where she was buried in Block 61 of Oakland Cemetery. An undated Memorial said about Mrs. Cooke, in part, “She was identified with every good work: well may they say: She stretcheth out her hand to the poor. Yes, she reacheth forth her hand to the needy. Through many trials she came out triumphant.”