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HU USD AY EVENING THE DAVENPORT DEM)/Local Pioneer, Captured and Adopted by Indians Dies After Long Illness)!St;tl-itnill-ofer-□doare-10.r»;e.»n-asri-I,Ivw-IV'rr.adi.;•-tteatofhed-chinDili!?At 4:20 p. pi.. Wednesday, occurred the death of Mrs.^AmamU Cook, one of Davenport's pioneer residents, and whose life was full of colorful ihudenf.s, stranger than fiction. She died at the old Cook homestead. 2378 Rockingham road, which is reported to be 107 years old and which she had Jived tn fur the last fib years. She was in her 81st year.Mrs. Cook whs born in Dcrben-cbirc. England, on Aug. IV. 1847. She cam* to America with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Fletcher, in I860.Captured by Indians.The family was traveling from Illinois to California in company with an ox train of 73 wagons. They were attacked by a war party of 300 Cheyenne Indians. Tbe men escaped to the wagons but the women were captured.Mrs. Cook saw her mother speared to death before her eyes, and her little sister. Lizzie, carried off by au Indian brave. She herself was carried off as a prisoner and adopted as an Indian girl. That night was the last she saw of her sister.After she was forced to watch a scalp dance and a skirmish with soldiers she was painted red with stripes of black and green and her hair colored.Sold for $1,600.In the spring of 1S€6. not quite a year after her capture, she en-jtered the tent of Charles Hanger, a kind-hearted Indian trader who had visited the camp near Fort Dodge on the Arkansas river. She spoke to him in English. That night, he bought the girl and re^ turned her to her home in Illinois. Me was later reimbursed for the sum spent by the government. *In later years Mrs. Cook kept up r constant search for her little sister. At one time she thought she had located the missing woman who was supposed to be living among the Indians and refused to leave them to return to civilization. However, no absolute proof was ever established that it was the sister of Mrs. Cook.Early Pioneer.Mrs. Cook was married to the!fMRS. AMANDA COOK.late William Ebeoezcr’1 Cook on Dec. 31. JSC7 Mr. Cook wan the son of Judge William L. Cook who with Anton LeCiaire Snd Col. George Davenport were the first while men to settle in this community. The family is closely connected with the history of Scott countyThruout her long period of tail-ing health Mrs Cook was a patient sufferer and maintained her courage to the end. She was the possessor of a lou'ng and cheerful dis-j positiou and was beloved by all i who knew her.Surviving are the following children: Mrs. W. M. Purse. William | L. Cook and Charles H. Cook of [Davenport: add Dr. F. S. Cook of EftU Claire. Wis. Three grandchildren also survive. Mrs. H. H. Hilcb-icock. Los Angeles. Calif-; Miss t Mary Elizabeth Cook of Ban J Claire.. Wis. and Wit ford Cook of i DavenportThe body was removed to tbe M. V. Boies mortuary and was returned to the late home. Funeral services will be held in the old homestead at 2 o'clock Friday afternoonand will be restricted to relatives and old friends of the family. The Rev. Giles H. SbaTpiey and the Rev. W. M. Purse, n son-in-law of the deccaFCd. will officiate Burial will he made in Oakdale cemetery.QIfccriiliPale
Newspaper Details
Davenport Democrat and Leader
Davenport, Iowa, US
Thu, May 10, 1928
Page 17
Full Page
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Anonymous
KS, USA 14 Dec 2018
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