Mrs. Josephine Leeson, Descendant of Pilgrims

Josephine Adelia Cook was the daughter of Dr. Thomas M. Cook, who was the surgeon of the 101st Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. The Cook family traces its roots back to Francis Cooke, who came to America on board the Mayflower. (Through the years, some family members dropped the final letter “e” on the surname Cooke.)

Josephine Cook married Joel Byington Leeson about 1874. In the 1880 U.S. Census, J.B. Leeson and Josephine Cook Leeson were residing with her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Cook. In the 1880s, J.B. Leeson was associated with the Sandusky Wheel Company, and later the American Wheel Company.

By 1900 the Leeson family moved to New York State. Joel Byington Leeson died in Cleveland, Ohio on October 30, 1922. He was buried in the Whitney Cemetery in Ontario County, New York. When Mrs. Josephine Lesson died in 1929, an article in the March 2, 1929 issue of the Sandusky Register reported on her death

Mrs. Leeson was buried next to her husband in the Whitney Cemetery. She was survived by two sons and four nephews. She had been on the Board of Trustees of the Sandusky Library from 1888 to 1891. When she lived in Sandusky, Mrs. Leeson sang in the choir of Grace Episcopal Church.

Israel Cook, Postmaster at Four Corners

Israel Cook was appointed Postmaster at Four Corners on January 25, 1831, by William T. Barry, then the Postmaster General of the United States of America. Four Corners was the name of the community now known as North Monroeville, located close to the intersection of State Routes 99 and 113 in Huron County, Ohio.

Israel Cook was a son of Asaph and Thankful Parker Cook. He was a brother to Eleutheros Cooke, Sandusky’s first lawyer. (Some family members spelled their surname Cook, and others spelled the name Cooke.) Israel Cook was born on December 4, 1801. He moved with his family to Huron County in 1818, and he died on January 28, 1854.

The tombstone of Israel Cook is pictured below, between that of his father, Asaph Cook, and his sister, Sarah Cook Farwell, the wife of former Sandusky Mayor Moors Farwell. They are buried at the North Monroeville Cemetery.

Oscar F. Cook Majestic Stock Company

From about 1905 to 1908, Oscar F. Cook operated a stock (theater) company in Sandusky, Ohio. The May 15, 1905 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal reported that the Oscar F. Cook Stock Company performed a play entitled The Convict’s Sweetheart, in a large tent at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Monroe Street in Sandusky.  This small advertisement announced a play performed in May of 1905. The four act comedy-drama offered “polite vaudeville” between each act.

In September of 1905, the company appeared at the Cedar Point Theater. During the winter of 1905-1906, the company was to open a winter season in Piqua, Ohio.  By February of 1907, Mr. Cook announced that he had leased Link’s Hall on West Washington Street. He planned to put on stock company performances at that location, to be known as the New Family Theater. 

On January 7, 1928 the Sandusky Star Journal  reported that Mr. Cook and his family had moved to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where he had been named president of the Colonial Coach Lines, which operated buses in Kingston and Ottawa, Ontario. Oscar F. Cook passed away at his home in Kingston, Ontario on March 28, 1947. His remains were brought back to Sandusky, Ohio for burial in Oakland Cemetery. 

Dr. Alta F. Cook

Alta Fremont Cook was born in Huron County, Ohio in 1850 to Dr. Thomas M. Cook, and his wife the former Mary L. Cole. Dr. T.M. Cook had been a regimental and brigade surgeon with the 101st Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Alta F. Cook followed in his father’s steps, and he too became a physician, having graduated from the University of Michigan in 1881. The 1888 Sandusky City Directory listed both Dr. T.M. Cook and Dr. A.F. Cook, physicians and surgeons, as having offices in the Sloane Block in downtown Sandusky. After the elder Dr. Cook’s death, Dr. Alta F. Cook relocated his medical office to the Odd Fellows’ Temple on Washington Row (shown below, circa 1965). For several years, Dr. Alta F. Cook served as the Acting Assistant Surgeon for the Marine Hospital Service in Sandusky. The Marine Hospital Service had locations in cities with ports throughout the United States, to provide medical service to sailors in the Merchant Marines, Coast Guard, and other federal workers working as seamen.

In 1881, Dr. Alta F. Cook married Alice Gilmore in Ypsilanti, Michigan. They were the parents of a son named Ralph C. Cook. After Alice passed away in 1898, Dr. Cook married Miss Etta Zimmerman. They also had a son, Kenneth Cook. On May 14, 1909, Dr. Alta F. Cook died suddenly at his office from heart disease. He was only 58 years old at the time of his death. Dr. Alta Cook had been prominent in the medical profession in Sandusky for many years. He had been active in the Erie County Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Dr. Alta F. Cook was buried in the family lot at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.