The Cook Household was Happy and Full of Fun!

Clifford Cook

Clifford and Paul Cook
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I had already written briefly about Clifford Cook when I posted a photo of her and her brother Paul earlier this year. However, an excerpt from a letter and one more photo of Clifford prompted this post. 

The letter was written by Lillian Hudnall Freeland on October 21, 1985 to the Richard Warner family about her family history. She wrote the following about the Cook family.

You asked if I knew Marguerite Clark and her sister Clifford Shelby. Their maiden name was Cook and they lived next door to Aunt Sallie and Uncle Wesley in Ringgold. It was their mother who was connected to the Bryans. They should be able to help you. I remember them well and I think there were two other children. Marguerite was a bit younger than I and Clifford a bit older. Clifford was a real beauty as a young girl. I haven't seen them since we were all young. I'm not sure how their mother is related to me but I knew it was as some degree of cousin. Marguerite and Clifford's dad was the town dentist in Ringgold at the time I remember them. I was sometimes allowed to spend a night over there and I would sleep with Clifford in her cute attic room. Their house was happy and full of fun. My Aunt Sallie had raised my mama (who was her baby sister). Aunt Sallie always told us that we should love her best because she felt more like a grandma to us then an aunt. She was very jealous when soon after we'd arrive to visit we'd want to go next door to be where it was more lively at the Cooks.

All of those mentioned in this portion of the letter were descendants of Reddick and Elizabeth Regan Bryan.

Lillian was the daughter of Jewel Antoinette Bryan and James Hudnall.  Jewel and her sister, Sallie Bryan Hammett, were the daughters of Tilman Bryan and Mildred Manning. Tilman was the son of Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth Regan Bryan. 

Charles and Marguerite Cook
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Mary Marguerite "Maggie" Martin Cook and Dr. Edward Clifton Cook were the parents of Clifford, Marguerite, Paul, and Charles Cook. Maggie was the daughter of Laura Bryan and Thomas J. Martin. Laura Bryan was the daughter of Joseph Bryan and Sarah Wimberly. Joseph was a son of Reddick and Elizabeth Regan Bryan. 


Sallie Bryan, daughter of Tilman Bryan and Mildred Manning, married Wesley Hammett, son of Robert Hammett and Dollie Bryan. Dollie was a daughter of Reddick and Elizabeth Regan Bryan.  

Thank you to all of my sources listed below. Without your willingness to share, this memory and others would not be preserved. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2016

Brittain, Julia and McMichael Frances. "Descendants of Reddick Bryan." Houston, Texas.
2 February 1999. 

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014 and September 14, 2014. Used with permission.

Family photographs and documents from the Frye Family collection. Accessed June 6, 2916. Used with permission.

Lillian Hudnall Freeman Letter from the collection of Richard Warner. Accessed September 16, 2014. Used with permission.