John Cooke
Family Background
John Cooke is an ancestor of the Hurlburt family and susequently an ancestor to our McClelland's in Canada.
John arrived in the United States on the Mayflower in November 1620 at Cape Cod, Massachusetts with his father Francis. His mother and other siblings would arrive later. They settled near Plymouth, Massachusetts in the spring of 1621. He was born in 1607 in Leydon, Netherlands. His mother and sisters came over on the ship Anne in 1623, along with his future wife Sarah Warren. He married Sarah Warren, on 28 March 1634, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They would go on to have five children, all born in Plymouth over the next twenty years. John would become a deacon in the Plymouth Church.
John became a respected leader in the community. He acted ten times as deputy to the general court, and for many years held the office of deacon in the church. His record proves him to have been a man of education. By order of the court he established a ferry between Dartmouth and Rhode Island, or Aquidneck. He was also appointed by the Plymouth colony to attend the Quaker meeting "to endeavor to seduce them from the error of their ways." He became convinced, however, that they were grossly wronged by the authorities, and was a deep sympathizer with them. Because of this he was excommunicated by the church. On the resettlement of Dartmouth in 1676, following Indian depredations, he became religiously associated with Obadiah Holmes, of the Baptist church at Newport, and himself sometimes preached at Dartmouth.
The link between John Cooke and the Hurlburt's is with Hannah Mosher, wife of Heman Hurlburt (1773-1853). John Cooke is my 10th great granfather.
A good deal of the family tree was document by Henry H. Hurlbut in 1818. It was a massive undertaking in that day and age. Most information was gathered by a few helpers who travelled throughout New England, visiting every family member they could find. The book is titled The Hurlbut Genealogy and can be found on-line in various forms. In the early years, most of the family went by Hurlbut, but later on it became Hurlburt in some areas.