Taken from Family Search
· 8 May 2015 ·
ELIZABETH COOKE‘s STORY
Elizabeth Cooke was the daughter of Stephen Cooke and Isabella Norris (Cunningham). She had a sister named Margaret Norris Cooke. Both Elizabeth and Margaret went to Nauvoo. Elizabeth was sealed in the Nauvoo Temple to Thomas Kirkpatrick. Of this marriage there were two sons: (1) Robert Kirkpatrick of ___ Pennsylvania and (2) Clement Kirkpatrick of Cloverdale, California.
A Daughters of Utah Pioneers history written by a granddaughter, Halleen Ivie Nicol, states that she was married at age 16 to Thomas Kirkpatrick and that he died at age 19. the two sons that she and Thomas had were supposedly taken by their father's family to raise and never did come west with her, nor did they join the LDS church. Thomas died without a will, so it may have been an unexpected and quick death. The inventory of his estate shows a fairly good estate for a young man in that area.
The 1830 Census shows a widowed Elizabeth Kirkpatrick (marked in the 20-30 age category) with 2 male children under age 5 residing in East Nantmeal Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Residing nearby and listed on the next page of the census are the names of individuals who appear in later records for the Kirkpatrick and Cook families. We find Isaac Hopkins (the first named guardian to the children who died before Mar 1834). Isaac appears to be in the 30 to 40 year old age category. Next door to Isaac resides Simeon Siegfried, who later signed the letters of administration papers. Next door to David is Thomas Lloyd. He was the appraiser of the estate. Down the page a little more we find David Hughes, for whom Elizabeth was later vicariously baptized in Nauvoo, Illinois.
In 1843, Elizabeth identified David Hughes as her deceased "brother-in-law". His wife's name was Mary. Mary is a step-sister to Elizabeth. They both have the same mother but different fathers. Her 2nd marriage was to Evan Evans (in 1834 or 1835) and of this marriage there were 5 children: (1) Susannah Evans, b. 12 Dec 1835 and married James Alexander Gamette; (2) William John Evans (never married); (3) James Washington Evans; (4) Isabelle Margaret Evans (married Dr. Washington F. Anderson, (5) Elizabeth Evans. Evan and Elizabeth joined the LDS church and came to Nauvoo. Records show that they resided in the 1st Ward in Nauvoo, in the Kimball 2, block 19, lot 1.
The Nicol history reports that Evan was a body guard to the Prophet Joseph Smith at Nauvoo. Evan Evans died and was buried in the pioneer cemetery in Nauvoo in Oct 1844. The Nicol history goes on to report that while still in Winter Quarters, Elizabeth was counseled to marry William Clark (brother of George Sheffer Clark) who was a widower with 6 children. She bore him 3 more children and immigrated to Utah in President Canute Peterson's Company. This company departed for the Salt Lake Valley on 27 June 1856 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley between 16-23 Sep 1856.
There were some 320 individuals and 60 wagons in the company. It headed out from Florence, (now Omaha) Nebraska. After arriving in Utah, they went to settle in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Some few years later, William Clark became dissatisfied and returned to the East, abandoning Elizabeth and their children.
Her oldest daughter was married in the East before traveling to Utah and, with her husband, settled in Pleasant Grove. Her son James went with a group of people to California before his family started and was never heard from. It is thought that he was killed by Indians.
From Pleasant Grove, Elizabeth moved to Ephraim with those called to settle there, but soon she took her children and went to Mt. Pleasant Creek, before it was settled, and there she was the first white settler who plowed her own soil and planted her garden. There she remained and reared her family. Elizabeth loved flowers and had a very beautiful garden. Her grandson, Justin Thomas Ivie, when a small boy didn't like her to give so many flowers away, so he cut them all off one year so no one could have any.
Elizabeth was described as a beautiful woman with big brown eyes which were something to look at. An interesting observation is that after William Clark left the family, Elizabeth appears in all of the records as "Elizabeth Evans." Elizabeth died at the home of her daughter, Isabella Evans Anderson, in Salt Lake City, Utah*. She was buried east of the W. F. Anderson family burial plot in the City Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her age at death was recorded as 89 years, 8 months, 2 days, and this was used to calculate her birth date as being in 1809.
Sources: 1. Salt Lake City, Utah Death Register, Evans, Elizabeth: Record of Death (microfilm of original register book), Book B, page 93, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, LDS microfilm # 0026554.
2. East Nantmeal Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth: 1830 US Census (online census image), P. 194, 1830, Ancestry.com.
3. DUP history written by Halleen Ivie Nicol, made available through the courtesy of the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers. It was provided through the Davis County and Kimball Camp Historians.
*The following is a quote from a letter written by Guy Anderson to his sister, Sibyl Anderson on January 17, 1898: “Everyone at home is very well excepting grandmother who has had a hard time of it this winter. She set the bedclothes on fire a few evenings ago and we can’t make her believe she hasn’t just returned from Hades. Mabel was the heroine and ought to have a gold medal. Pat arrived on the scene very late with a bucket of water and nearly drowned us all.”
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