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A
B R I E F H I S T O R Y
O F T H E
C O O K M A N F A M I L Y
P A G E
T H R E E
M E L B U R N C
O O K M A N
Melburn Cookman (s/o Parker Cookman and Elizabeth Post) was
born on May 19, 1845, and died on April 5, 1920. He was the second
son of Parker B. and Elizabeth Post Cookman, and grew up on the home farm
on Jesse's Run, Jane Lew, WVa.
He spent four years in the Confederate Army, enlisting when he was sixteen
and receiving his discharge in 1864. He was wounded only once, when a piece
of wood, knocked by an enemy bullet, flew from the log he was shooting
over and struck him. During the war (like the other soldiers) he
lived off the land, fought in many battles and was more than glad when
the awful war was over. He was discharged about two months before
its end due to a severe attack of pneumonia, and made his way home one
evening, gaunt and emaciated, on a poor old horse. The family had
not heard from him for months and had feared the worst; what a reunion
that must have been!
Right after the War, on Oct. 12, 1865, Melburn married Olive Edmonds (see
her photo). Olive was born in 1845, the
daughter of John Edmonds and Hannah Straley (d/o George Straley and 1st
wife; 2nd wife was Margaret Roby). John and Hannah Edmonds had a
large farm only 1.5 miles over the mountain (but six miles to walk around
to it) on which they used only oxen to work it, no horses. John Edmonds
owned slaves and gave each of his children a slave before the Civil War.
Olive's "Aunt Moll" [one of these former slaves,
we think] stayed with her until the family
left West Virginia and helped her raise her family. After the war
Aunt Moll lived with Olive's family and helped care for them, not as a
slave, but for pay and a place to live.
John Edmonds was a tall slender man, 6ft.2in., and lived to be 102, though
he spent his last four years in a wheelchair due to illness. He was
a good friend of Stonewall Jackson, and supposedly told many tales of their
days together.
Melburn
and Olive lived on the farm on Jesse's Run, Jane Lew, a farm of 400-500
acres which he worked with his father Parker and his brother George.
Farming those days was difficult, as the weeds had to be grubbed by hand
and the sprouts had to be cut twice a year. The average wage for
a farm laborer at the time was .75 cents a day.
Melburn
and Olive's first house was made of logs, and their first child Arminta
(see photo) was born there in 1867. They
added on to this house and lived there until 1881, when it was moved to
the back and a new, larger house was built in its place.
Their first
home had a lean-to kitchen and a barn and "spring house" nearby.
The spring house was approximately 8'x10' and enclosed a cold spring, making
a nice cool place where the family kept milk, cheese, and butter on large
rock slabs.
Their
second house was a big Colonial type, two stories with a two story front
porch common to the design. There were six fireplaces and all the
rooms had high ceilings. A large stairway to the second floor was
in the entry hall. The house was in excellent repair when visited
by the author J.Howard Cheuvront in 1964. Two chimneys and four fireplaces
had been removed, and a basement with a furnace had been added, but all
the rooms still had their original ceilingboard interior. The original
18" ribbed metal roofing was in place, as were the original porch columns.
[J. Howard thought that] the house was in such good shape it was hard to
believe it had been built in 1881.
Between
1885/86, conditions took a turn for the worse for the Melburn Cookman family.
The farm work was hard and money was scarce, and in addition Melburn still
owed on his land. He had signed a note for a friend, George Goodwin,
which George had defaulted, and after paying his friend's note Melburn
decided to leave West Virginia and move to Missouri. Friends of the
family George and Phoebe Wolf Cheuvront and
her parents had gone to Missouri a decade before, so Melburn sold his farm,
cashed in everything of value, and moved the next year.
As a young
man Melburn had known George and Phoebe Cheuvront and her parents before
they left Jane Lew for Missouri in 1857. The 1850 Lewis Co. Va Census
#172 lists the following:
John Cookman, aged 31, male,
farmer, b. VA
Eliza, aged 29, female, b. VA
G., aged 6, male b. VA
Mifflin, aged 4, b. VA
Amanda, aged 2, b. VA
George Cheuvront, aged 18, male,
b. VA
Also, on visitation #381, George Cheuvront's
sister and mother Phoebe are listed with the William2
M. Cookman family:
William2 M. Cookman, aged 35,
male, farmer, b. VA
Sarah, aged 31, female, b. VA
M., aged 5, b. VA
Louisa, aged 7, b. VA
John L., aged 3, b. VA
Pheba E., aged1, b. VA
Elizabeth Cheuvront, aged 14,
b. VA
Pheba aged 30, b. VA (see
ref. 6)
In 1887 Melburn journeyed
to Missouri by train and purchased the farm that had belonged to Phoebe's
parents Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, who had since died. He sent for his family,
met them in St. Louis, and accompanied them to their new home in October.
This 240
acre farm was located on West Locust Creek two miles south and one mile
east of the Old Griffith School house, and one mile south of George and
Phoebe Cheuvront's place (George had died in 1882 and Phoebe in 1879, but
the farm was being run by their sons). The West Locust Creek farm
was poor and in bad shape, but with more and more settlers coming in to
the area every week, things were booming, and life was much easier than
in West Virginia.
There was
a store (Cookman's Store, named after a relative), and a post office on
the south-east corner of the crossroads south of the Asbury Church. This
store was a popular gathering place and handy for supplies and mail.
Melburn's
wife Olive Edmonds Cookman died at the home on Oct. 12, 1890, and is buried
in the Asbury Cemetery. The family of Melburn Cookman and Olive Edmonds
included four daughters and one son: (see
photos)
1: Arminta
Cookman, b. Jan 12, 1867
2: Ella Cookman, b. Jan 12,
1869
3: Clara Cookman, b. Feb. 13,
1871
4: Della Cookman, b. June 18,
1873
5: Claget Cookman, b. Dec. 8,
1876
On Feb 4. 1892
Melburn married Barbara Ann Hershman, a widow who lived across the road.
Barbara Ann was born Dec. 12, 1850, and died Dec. 30, 1940. Melburn
and Barbara Ann had one child, daughter Vida, born Jan. 27, 1893.
Melburn,
his son Claget, and neighbors Ed Stuart and Charlie Denison decided in
1901 to go to Claget's father-in-law's home in the Oklahoma Territories
for a hunt. Quail, prairie chickens, jackrabbits, and antelope were
plentiful, but there were few people, and it looked as though the wilderness
would be unsettled forever. The group took one look, then went into
Woodward, Oklahoma, where Melburn and Claget each filed adjoinging 160
acre claims. Afterward they bought 1/2 bushel of sweet potatoes and
1/2 gallon of whiskey, then went back to their hunt. It lasted an
additional 21 days, with wild game at every meal.
At the
time of their claims in 1901, Melburn and Claget had had no intention of
living on their new property, but as soon as they returned to Missouri
the pair sold their farms. In 1902 they loaded their belongings on
freight cars and moved "lock, stock, and barrel" to Oklahoma.
Once in
Oklahoma each homesteaded their 160 acres near the old town of Ivanhoe
in Beaver County. Melburn eventually sold his lot to Claget and bought
another 400 acres two miles south and one mile east, where in 1904 he built
a sod house with 18" thick walls. The house is still occupied (see
ref. 7), and though it has been remodeled several times, was re-roofed
for the first time in 1969.
Melburn
lived in this house until his death on April 15, 1920, having returned
to Missouri only once in 1914. [J. Howard notes that as he had found
Missouri easier than Virginia, he found Oklahoma easier than Missouri.]
the
family of Melburn and Olive Edmonds Cookman, cont'd
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-from A Brief History of the Melburn Cookman
Family in America, J. Howard Cheuvront, 1972
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