~ COOK FAMILY HISTORY

By Erma Frances Cook Mustar
As told to her brother Jack
August 2005
Dear Jack:
I really do not know where to start; you probably do not know that when our Dad was 14 or so, his father Rollin Cook left home, so the story goes. He took two of the best horses, sold some and maybe other things, to get money to start a new life. He was never heard from again. Cleve said Dad told him they were never allowed to mention his name again. I guess Grandmother Cook did not want to hear his name. He left her the farm and the five boys to raise.
We think when Dad was in his 20's he went to Lamar, Colorado and worked on ranches. He also worked on ranches in Idaho Falls, ID. Dad also worked at the beginning of the building of Twin Falls, ID. Dad worked for two years in Yellowstone National Park; he drove a carriage taking tourists through the park. We think he was out there away from Kansas for five or six years. Dad came back to the farm and met Mom at a dance at Hall's Summit. Mom's parents lived only about two miles from the Cook farm when Mom and Dad were married.
Dad had always wanted to go back to Idaho and when Helen was small, maybe six years old, Mom and Dad got ready to go back to Idaho. Helen remembers they had taken up the rugs and had done some packing when Grandmother Cook talked them into staying on the farm. (She indicated) that it would belong to Dad & Mom when she was gone. It didn't work out that way, and when Grandmother Cook died, the will had never been changed so the farm had to be sold. That was in 1932. I remember because it was my first year of high school. Dad didn't think we should move because he had lived there so long and it was promised to him. I came home from school one day and our sofa was moved out of the house by the sheriff. We moved south of the farm so the smaller children could finish school and I could finish my (high school) year. We moved again near Waverly where I went to school; I went a half a year and we moved to Ottumwa, KS. I finished my second year of high school at Strawn, also my third year. My last year was at Burlington High.
When I was about ten years old, the house on the farm burned to the ground and we moved to Halls Summit as Grandmother Cook had a house there that we lived in for probably two years while Dad, Cleve, Wilfred and a helper rebuilt the house on the farm. Bill was born in Halls Summit. You (Bill) were born in the new house, the rest of us were born in the old house. I think Dr. Kersner delivered all of us.
The move to California was hard on Dad as he had been on the farm so long. Dad worked on a ranch out from Salinas until he retired. Mom loved it in California. She worked for a number of years at Browns Department Store doing alterations. They finally had a house again in Salinas. They had a big garden and Dad worked there; Mom had lots of flowers.
The move to California was the best thing that ever happened to us siblings; I don't know what we would have ever done in Kansas. The way we came to California was that Wilfred was the first to leave home; he came to the state of Washington first and eventually ended up in Salinas, CA. Dad and I came out in the fall of 1936, in October, I think. In December, Mom, Gene, Nolan, Marge, Bill and Jack came out. Helen and a girlfriend came out in early 1937; they came out by train.
The way we came to California was the man Cleve worked for sent cars to California to be sold and we came out with the driver of the car.
Jack, I am sure there is more but for now, this is all.