Paul Cook--Sugar Refiner in Louisiana in the 1800s

Paul Cook is my husband's great-great-great grandfather. Born in 1808, he was married to Elizabeth Simmons (born 1814), who is recorded to have died in Salem, Virginia, in 1886. He died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on February 4, 1893. The obituaries reveal a few more details about Paul Cook. Somewhere in the family letters there may be more information, and I'll provide it as I find it. For a better view, click on the images.  

Years ago, I went searching for the grave of Paul Cook and found it in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a serendipitous discovery. In one of the family letters, someone mentioned the grave's being in Baton Rouge, and the writer included descriptions of how to get to the grave from one of the gates to the cemetery--but the name of the cemetery was omitted. I guess the recipient of the letter already knew what cemetery to go to, just not how to locate the grave once she arrived. My best friend and I decided to begin with one of the oldest cemeteries in Baton Rouge: and we struck gold... or dirt....or something. Somewhere in the boxes of my own stuff, there are pictures of me posing at the grave in a cemetery on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge.

 

UPDATE, 28 February 2013:

 I discovered the photos I had taken of Paul Cook's grave. The grave is located in Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, located at 422 North 19th Street, bordered on the north by Main Street and on the South by Florida Boulevard. When my friend and I went looking for the Cook cemetery site, we had only some vague directions in a letter from 1946; the cemetery was not identified. We decided to begin with one of the oldest cemeteries in Baton Rouge, Magnolia Cemetery. Following the directions in the letter, we were surprised to discover the grave immediately. 

Cook cemetery lot, Magnolia Cemetery, Baton Rouge, LA

Magnolia Cemetery, Baton Rouge, LA, Paul Cook's grave

These were the directions we followed, from that 1946 letter to my husband's great-aunt, Mary ("Mimi") Armstrong, from Kitty Cook (Mrs. B. W. Cook, Baton Rouge, LA): "....if you will enter the cemetery, pass one water faucet near the entrance and go until just before you reach the second faucet, get out, turn right, the Cook lot is about the second one. Next to the Paulsen lot. Mrs. Cook's name is on the tomb, at the left is Grandfather Paul's grave, at his feet is Mr. Cook's and his daughter Sally in the same tomb--at Mrs. Cook's feet is Vaughn Wax, two years old, son of Maud Cook Wax, who is Bennie's sister."

Paul Cook's wife, Elizabeth Cook Simmons, is buried in Salem, Virginia, where she died while visiting their daughter (and my husband's great-great grandmother) Amanda Maria Keep Cook Nugent.