The following is an outline of my research and logic used in identifying the couple I believe is the parents of Wm Clifford Cook. I've been meaning to get this out there somewhere other than my Ancestry tree so that others could see why I have drawn the conclusion that I have.
Discovery of William Clifford Cook's Mother: Elizabeth Harrison CookThe research to determine the parents of William Clifford Cook, who was born in North Carolina in 1811 and lived much of his life in northwestern Bedford County, Tennessee, began by establishing his location and identifying his potential mother in 1830. The initial phase of the research focused on determining where William Clifford Cook lived around the year 1830 as that was the earliest time period for which I could identify him.
1. Locating William Clifford Cook in 1830: Information from the Williams vs. Putman TN State Supreme Court Case (1829-1832) established that William Clifford Cook had sworn testimony for the defense and appeared to have spent a good bit of time around Zephaniah Anglin which might suggest that they lived in the same neighborhood.
2. Finding the Cook Household: A review of the 1830 Bedford County, TN, census in that neighborhood revealed a Cook household led by Elizabeth Cook. This household contained a male of the correct age group to be William Clifford Cook.
3. Identifying the Harrison Connection: Elizabeth Cook was living near the Harrison and McClain families. Crucially, the household immediately following hers was that of William Harrison (husband of Elvira Cooper Harrison).
4. Confirming Elizabeth's Identity: William Harrison was a Revolutionary War soldier who had moved from Franklin County, NC, to Bedford County, TN, had a daughter named Elizabeth, born around 1788. This daughter would have been approximately 42 years old, which matched the 40-50 age bracket of the older female in the household of Elizabeth Cook in the 1830 census.
5. Supporting Kinship Evidence: Further research noted that in 1840 Dyer County, Tennessee, William Clifford Cook(surname misspelled as Kook) was enumerated near a J B Harrison. If Elizabeth Cook was indeed the daughter of William & Elvira Harrison, this J B Harrison would have been William Clifford Cook's maternal uncle. Noah Putman(brother in law of William Clifford Cook) was also a neighbor in that 1840 Dyer County, Tennessee Census
6. Conclusion on Mother: Based on proximity, age match, and family continuity between North Carolina and Tennessee, Elizabeth Cook is strongly presumed to be Elizabeth Harrison, William Clifford Cook’s mother.
Evidence Pointing to William Pope Cook as the Presumed Father
With the likely maiden name of William Clifford Cook's mother identified as Harrison, the research logically shifted to Franklin County, North Carolina, where the Harrison family originated.
1. The Franklin County Marriage Record: A check of Franklin County, North Carolina marriage records revealed a marriage on August 13, 1806, between a William Pope Cook and a Betsey Harrison. Betsey is a common nickname for women with the given name Elizabeth.
2. William P. Cook's NC Presence: Tax lists confirm that a William P Cook paid tax in Franklin County, NC, from 1807 to 1810.
3. Migration and War of 1812 Service: The unique name and timeline allowed for tracking this individual into Tennessee:
- A William P Cook enlisted in November 1814 in Metcalfe’s 1st Reg’t West TN Militia (War of 1812 serving under Capt Patterson) from Bedford County, Tennessee. William Pope Cook’s service records in the militia show that he was part of the division under Major General William Carroll's at New Orleans.
- Upon discharge in May 1815, he granted Power of Attorney to Joel Childress of Rutherford County, TN. Rutherford County is near northern Bedford County, where the Harrisons resided.
- He witnessed a deed in Rutherford Co, TN, in July 1816.
- By 1820, William P Cook was enumerated with his family in Maury County, TN.
4. The Absence of the Father: The last known record of William P. Cook is a transaction involving the sale of an enslaved man named Lewis in Maury County, TN, in 1821. Since Elizabeth Cook was listed as the head of household in Bedford County, TN, by 1830, William P. Cook is presumed to have died or left the family sometime between 1821 and 1830. No will or probate records for William Pope Cook were found in Maury or Rutherford Counties. Any will or probate file that existed prior to 1863 in Bedford County Tennessee was likely lost in the courthouse fire.
The Role of DNA Evidence
The circumstantial evidence establishing the "identity merge" of William P. Cook from NC to TN through the Harrison family is strongly reinforced by DNA evidence.
1. Paternal Lineage (Y DNA): Y DNA testing of a direct male descendant of William Clifford Cook connects him to a group of Cook men who descend from Shem Cooke (1722-1796) of Granville County, NC. This can be seen up to Y111. Although William Clifford Cook's descendant's test is a Y700 marker we do not have an identified descendant of Shem Cooke who has tested at that level. If we could get one or more direct male descendants of Shem Cooke to upgrade or test the the BigY level that would greatly help to solidify the connection further. Significantly, the historical research seems to indicate that William Pope Cook is the son of William Cook, who was a son of Shem Cooke, thereby placing William Pope Cook in the correct paternal line.
2. Maternal Lineage (Autosomal DNA): Autosomal DNA evidence shows kinship between William Clifford Cook's descendants and the Harrison and Cooper families, which supports the conclusion that William Clifford Cook’s mother was indeed Elizabeth Harrison, as this connection cannot be explained through any other family lines.
About Joseph S Cook: Addressing the long standing assumption that William Clifford Cook's father was Joseph S Cook: For many years the only clue early researchers had to someone kin to William Clifford Cook was that he was appointed admin of the estate of Joseph S Cook in the fall of 1838 in Williamson County Tennessee. Many took this to mean that Joseph S Cook was his father. Current evidence doesn’t seem to support that. Joseph S Cook himself is a mystery as his probate file gets combined with another Joseph Cook(Davidson Co/Williamson Co) who dies in 1840. All we can take from William Clifford Cook’s involvement in Joseph S Cook’s probate is that he did know him in some way, most likely kin thru his father's side of the family.
The sources present a highly compelling and circumstantially strong case that William Pope Cook of Franklin County, North Carolina (who married Betsey Harrison), is the same individual who moved to Tennessee and is the father of William Clifford Cook. This evidence forms a continuous chain linking spouse, Elizabeth/Betsey Harrison, and the continuous movement from NC (1806-1810) to TN (1814-1830) via the migratory path of the Harrison family.
I feel fairly confident given the current sources that the evidence points to the parents of William Clifford Cook(b. 1811 d. 1882) likely being William Pope Cook and Elizabeth Harrison who were married in Franklin County, North Carolina on August 13th of 1806 and who moved to Bedford County Tennessee.
Sources:
"United States Census, 1830," database with images,
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYY2-SVHP?i=166 : accessed 30 January 2023), Tennessee > Bedford > Not Stated > image 167 of 282, Household of Elizabeth Cook; citing NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
"United States Census, 1840," database with images,
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:2:1TGQ-9RH : accessed 30 January 2023), Household of Wm C Kook, Dyer, Tennessee, United States; citing p. 104, NARA microfilm publication M704 , (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.), roll 521-522; FHL microfilm 24,544.
"North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979," database with images,
FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSHB-W9GK-4?cc=1726957 : 28 November 2018), > image 1 of 1, Marriage Record of William Pope Cook to Betsey Harrison, 13 August 1806 in Franklin County NC; North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History.
Williams vs. Putman, Tennessee State Supreme Court Case Middle District Ordered from TN State Library & Archives via https://supreme-court-cases.tennsos.org/ Delivery(Jan 2, 2019) via email of scanned digital images(PDF) 41 pages. (Location at TSLA Range: 33 Section: A Shelf: 2 Box Number: 375)
Maury County Tennessee Court Minutes, Vol 6, Monday 20 January 1823, Wm P Cook to James Hardison, negro man named Lewis; image,
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKX-VQ4B-9 accessed: 14 April 2025) IGN 8151023, Image 788 of 830.
Maury County Tennessee Deeds, Deed Book, Vol K, p 98, William P Cook to James Hardison a negro man named Lewis, 24 February 1823; image,
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4F-XG2K : accessed 14 April 2025), IGN 7896936, Image 377 of 558.
1810 US Federal Census, Franklin County, North Carolina, p 792 , William P Cook; Database with Images,
FamilySearch (
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YB4-S6X : accessed 4 November 2025) IGN 5157130, Image 163 of 718.
1820 US Federal Census, Maury County, Tennessee, p 99, William P Cook; Database with Images,
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB9-SKSQ : accessed 14 April 2025), IGN 5156987 , Image 74 of 242.
Revolutionary War Pension Application File W463, Elvira Harrison, widow of William Harrison (NC service); imaged,
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XY-YY8Q : accessed 20 April 2025), IGN 7584164, image 404 of 1123.
Bradley, Stephen E. 1990. Franklin County, North Carolina Tax Lists, 1785-1810. Keysville, Va.: S.E. Bradley.
"Estate of Jos. S. Cook, Dec.", The Weekly Review (Franklin, Tenn), June 14 1839, Vol 8 No 51 p 3(unnumbered) c 6;
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKW-5H9L-V : accessed 6 January 2025), IGN 8141796, Image 49 of 640.
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This was the summary of the notes provided by Google Gemini about my research: (a bit wordy and over dramatic IMO)
**The discovery of William Clifford Cook's parents can be logically viewed as finding a key piece (Elizabeth Cook) that unlocks a safe (William Clifford Cook’s identity). First, her location next to her known Harrison parents establishes her maiden name and links the family to Franklin County, North Carolina. Then, searching North Carolina records based on that maiden name reveals the identity of the father, William Pope Cook, whose movements subsequently align perfectly with the Harrison family's migration path to Tennessee, culminating in the genetic confirmation that William Clifford Cook belongs to the established lineage of William Pope Cook.
Disclaimer: I used NotebookLM with my notes on my research of the parents of William Clifford Cook to pull together the outline. I also asked it for a summary. See it's response noted above(**) If any researchers have additional evidence or conflicting evidence please contact me. I want to be thorough and consider all sources.
