Our information on the burial of two slave children on the James Cook, Jr. farm is meager at best. Kristen Kalen Morrow in OzarksWatch, Summer 1988, explains in "A Swan Creek Survivor: The James Cook, Jr. House" that, "Like his father before him, James Cook, Jr. owned slaves- three, according to the 1860 census.
"Legend has it that two slave boys were buried outside the family cemetery, north of the Cook house, after they were poisoned 'from sipping brandy through a barrel quill'."
In that era, feathers from geese and turkeys were used as writing implements. Dipped in an ink well, the device functioned as a pen. In this instance, it most likely was used as a straw, the children consumed toxic levels of alcohol and died.
They most likely were the children of Hannah Cook, a family slave who continued living on the farm after the Civil War and was annotated in the home of a neighbor (James and Sarah McVey) on the census of 1880. Several years ago, someone kindly purchased the stone in remembrance of the two children.
A separate oral legend contends only one child died while the other, Jesse Cook, sickened from the experience survived. Jesse later moved to Springfield, was a blacksmith owning his own shop in the city, married Diana Murphy around 1900 and was subsequently buried near his wife in the 1920's in Hazelwood Cemetery when the couple died about a year apart.
A square sandstone outside the current perimeter of the Cook Family Cemetery on the northeast of the graveyard may mark the grave of Hannah Cook.
"Legend has it that two slave boys were buried outside the family cemetery, north of the Cook house, after they were poisoned 'from sipping brandy through a barrel quill'."
In that era, feathers from geese and turkeys were used as writing implements. Dipped in an ink well, the device functioned as a pen. In this instance, it most likely was used as a straw, the children consumed toxic levels of alcohol and died.
They most likely were the children of Hannah Cook, a family slave who continued living on the farm after the Civil War and was annotated in the home of a neighbor (James and Sarah McVey) on the census of 1880. Several years ago, someone kindly purchased the stone in remembrance of the two children.
A separate oral legend contends only one child died while the other, Jesse Cook, sickened from the experience survived. Jesse later moved to Springfield, was a blacksmith owning his own shop in the city, married Diana Murphy around 1900 and was subsequently buried near his wife in the 1920's in Hazelwood Cemetery when the couple died about a year apart.
A square sandstone outside the current perimeter of the Cook Family Cemetery on the northeast of the graveyard may mark the grave of Hannah Cook.
Our information on the burial of two slave children on the James Cook, Jr. farm is meager at best. Kristen Kalen Morrow in OzarksWatch, Summer 1988, explains in "A Swan Creek Survivor: The James Cook, Jr. House" that, "Like his father before him, James Cook, Jr. owned slaves- three, according to the 1860 census.
"Legend has it that two slave boys were buried outside the family cemetery, north of the Cook house, after they were poisoned 'from sipping brandy through a barrel quill'."
In that era, feathers from geese and turkeys were used as writing implements. Dipped in an ink well, the device functioned as a pen. In this instance, it most likely was used as a straw, the children consumed toxic levels of alcohol and died.
They most likely were the children of Hannah Cook, a family slave who continued living on the farm after the Civil War and was annotated in the home of a neighbor (James and Sarah McVey) on the census of 1880. Several years ago, someone kindly purchased the stone in remembrance of the two children.
A separate oral legend contends only one child died while the other, Jesse Cook, sickened from the experience survived. Jesse later moved to Springfield, was a blacksmith owning his own shop in the city, married Diana Murphy around 1900 and was subsequently buried near his wife in the 1920's in Hazelwood Cemetery when the couple died about a year apart.
A square sandstone outside the current perimeter of the Cook Family Cemetery on the northeast of the graveyard may mark the grave of Hannah Cook.
"Legend has it that two slave boys were buried outside the family cemetery, north of the Cook house, after they were poisoned 'from sipping brandy through a barrel quill'."
In that era, feathers from geese and turkeys were used as writing implements. Dipped in an ink well, the device functioned as a pen. In this instance, it most likely was used as a straw, the children consumed toxic levels of alcohol and died.
They most likely were the children of Hannah Cook, a family slave who continued living on the farm after the Civil War and was annotated in the home of a neighbor (James and Sarah McVey) on the census of 1880. Several years ago, someone kindly purchased the stone in remembrance of the two children.
A separate oral legend contends only one child died while the other, Jesse Cook, sickened from the experience survived. Jesse later moved to Springfield, was a blacksmith owning his own shop in the city, married Diana Murphy around 1900 and was subsequently buried near his wife in the 1920's in Hazelwood Cemetery when the couple died about a year apart.
A square sandstone outside the current perimeter of the Cook Family Cemetery on the northeast of the graveyard may mark the grave of Hannah Cook.
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