Rowland Cook, you had mail.

In my study of the lines of Shem Cooke (brought about by the results of my brother's YDNA test) I've noticed several names which are used frequently by his descendants.  Shem/Shemuel/Isham, Rowland and Claiborne are very common in his line so I've been collecting and studying each of those including all of the spelling variations of both the given and surname.   I found mention of a Rowland Cook in a listing of persons with letters remaining at PO in Cedar Bluff Alabama(Cherokee Co.)  This would be Rowland B Cook, son of Shem Cooke and Temperance Blackwell. Why was his mail not picked up?  Maybe he was away on business in 1841 or had just lapsed on picking up his mail.  He was enumerated in Cherokee Co Alabama in the 1840 AND 1850 Federal Census. This branch is covered in Many Cookes and their Broth (see Ancestry Message board post about book) published in 1967 by Charles G Cooke, which is a self described  "genealogical outline of the Cooke Family of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama."  The author mentioned that he had been unable to place where Rowland B. Cook was during the 1870 census. According to records within the churches where he attended and preached, he had removed to Giles Co TN and been there during that time.  Improved search and indexing in recent years has allowed us to see that he was enumerated  in Madison County Alabama with his wife(30 yrs his junior) and their children.  Amazingly in this entry he is only 5 years older than she. Given the names and ages of his children and wife I can tell this is him.

Sources:

Jacksonville Republican (Jacksonville, Alabama) 01 Dec 1841, Wed • Page 4  (https://www.newspapers.com)

Year: 1830; Census Place: Fayette, Georgia; Series: M19; Roll: 17; Page: 196; Family History Library Film: 0007037.  Search on Rowland B Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8058)

Year: 1840; Census Place: Cherokee, Alabama; Roll: 3; Page: 132; Family History Library Film: 0002332.  Search on R. B. Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8057)

Year: 1850; Census Place: District 26, Cherokee, Alabama; Roll: M432_3; Page: 53B; Image: 112.  Search on R. B. Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8054)

Year: 1860; Census Place: Bowdon, Carroll, Georgia; Roll: M653_113; Page: 552; Family History Library Film: 803113. Search on R. B. Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7667)

Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 3 Range 1 Subdivision 53, Madison, Alabama; Roll: M593_27; Page: 102A; Family History Library Film: 545526.  Search on Bryant Cook (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7163)