Saturday, October 26, 2019

Googling Gilford--new clues

While I'd searched on the same terms before, I like to try again after a few months have passed.  Today I ran a Google search for "Gilford Cook" Tennessee and it returned a book listed as

Correspondence of James K. Polk: 1842-1843 (Vol 6)
By James Knox Polk, Wayne Cutler

Page 566 was part of the preview and particularly interesting because it gave me the following information

6th Jan 1840
Letter from H. J. Anderson
Autograph Letter Signed
TN State Library & Archives Governor's Papers
Recommends Commutation of the prison sentence of Gilford Cook.

I thought it odd that it contained information on letters which were outside the time frame that the title suggests.  I might have missed this if I were just pulling books to search within.

This gives me an additional person to add to Gilford's FAN club listing.  I've written about Gilford in several previous blog posts.  What sparks my interest in him?  I've got about 7+ matches to descendants of Garrison King among the DNA matches of me and my siblings.  Garrison's wife is believed to be a Cook(perhaps sister of Gilford).  Our YDNA(111 marker) testing indicates that our Cook(e) line closely matches that of Shem Cooke of Granville Co NC and the surrounding areas. Shem owned land in Franklin Co. NC which is where Gilford was listed as being from and where he married. From information in his State Penitentiary records I also learned that he lived in Wilson Co TN before moving to Dickson TN in 1833 along with the name of a neighbor in each of those locations.  I need to find more on Gilford's descendants to see if they too are among my paternal DNA matches. My paternal Grandfather and his siblings were the products of a Cook & King marriage so they could connect thru either side...maybe---Or an entirely different line although I know the connection is paternal thanks to them uploading to GEDmatch..  Now to find out who H.J. Anderson is and hopefully the full contents of the letter.  More clues!

Previous Posts mentioning Gilford Cook:

Gilford Cook --Dickson Co TN

Garrison King--Dickson Co TN--list of heirs

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