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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Mrs. Sarah Cook, of Cedar township, is numbered among the few remaining old settlers of Mahaska county, dating her residenhaska co from June, 1853. A native of Indiana, she was born in Tippecanoe county, near Lafayette, the 15th of December, 1834. Her father Benjamin Eastburn a native of Pennsylvania, whence he removed to Ohio and was there married in Highland county to Miss Elizabeth Haigh, whose birth occurred in Washington, D. C. Her father, Job Haigh, was a native of England. In early life he became a mechanic and worked on the capitol building in the city of Washington. Subsequently he removed to Ohio, where he resided for several years and afterward took up his abode in Tippecanoe county, Indiana. Benjamin Eastburn became a farmer of Indiana, where he carried on general agricultural pursuits for a number of years and in 1853 came to Iowa, settling in Cedar township, Mahaska county. Here he purchased land, becoming the owner of six hundred acres, which he cultivated and improved, transforming the property into a good farm. For a long period he was numbered among the prosperous and enterprising agriculturist of his township and upon the old homestead he reared his family and spent his last years, his death occurring on the 20th of March, 1873. His wife survived him for some time and passed away on the 24th of March, 1882. Mrs. Cook is one of a family of four sons and three daughters, of whom two sons and the daughters are yet living. Her brother, Job Eastburn, was a well known stock-buyer and shipper of Mahaska county for many years and a partner in that business with Philip Akerman until the death of the latter. Mr. Eastburn has now for a number of years been a prominent live stock commission merchant of Chicago. The other living brother is Minor Eastburn, of Hillsboro, Iowa. Her sister, Mrs. E. J. Stockton, has resided upon the same farm for over a half century. The other sister, Mrs. Hattie Davis, is living in Mississippi. Mrs. Cook spent the first eighteen years of her life in Tippecanoc county, Indiana, and with her father came to Iowa in 1853. Here she gave her hand in marriage on the 3d of April, 1854. to Dr. S. S. Cook, who was also a native of Indiana, born near Richmond, in which locality he was reared and educated. Following the completion of his public-school course he took up the study of medicine and as a young physician came to Iowa, entering upon the practice of his profession in Keokuk county, where he remained for ten years. He then came to Mahaska county. In 1863 he enlisted in response to the country's call for aid, joining the army as a surgeon, in which capacity he rendered valuable service to his regiment until his death on the 15th of January, 1864. He was a prominent and well known physician in this part of the state, his ability winning him high rank, while his professional service was of inestimable value to his patients. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, taking the decrees of the blue lodge, and his life was in many ways exemplary, winning for him the respect, confidence and good will of those with whom he came in contact. After her husband's enlistment for the war Mrs. Cook returned to her father and resided with him for a number of years. At the death of Dr. Cook she was left a widow with three children. The eldest, Albert N., reached mature years, was married, began farming and carried on agricultural pursuits until his death, October 27, 1870. Rose, the only daughter, who was a teacher in Harrison and Cedar townships before her marriage, is now the wife of Dr. Bear, of Des Moines, Iowa. The younger son is S. S. Cook, who is represented elsewhere in this work. After the sons were old enough to operate a farm Mrs. Cook purchased a tract of land of forty acres adjoining Fremont, whereon she now resides, her sons beginning the task of cultivating and improving the fields. At a later day she purchased forty acres additional and now owns a valuable farm of eighty acres just north of the corporation limits of Fremont. She has added to and rebuilt the house and now has a good, neat, frame residence. There are also substantial out buildings upon the place for the shelter of grain and stock and in the management of her property Mrs. Cook has displayed excellent business ability and enterprise. She is a member of the Baptist church, to which her daughter-in-law, Mrs. S. S. Cook, also belongs. Mrs. Cook has resided in Iowa for fifty-three years, either in Mahaska or Keokuk counties and has therefore been a witness of much of its growth and development. She has seen the founding of towns, which have grown into thriving cities, has watched, the transformation of wild land into productive farms and has been interested in all that has been accomplished in the way of general progress. In social circles she has won many warm friends and she is greatly esteemed and beloved throughout the community in which she has now long made her home.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy