Henry Francis Cook built many antebellum homes and churches in Wilcox County, Alabama

Back in the 1930s, The Wilcox Progressive Era would occasionally publish short biographical sketches of Wilcox County citizens under the heading of “Childhood Memories of Prominent Citizens of Half a Century and More Ago.” I ran across one such sketch the other day in the Aug. 10, 1933 edition of The Progressive Era. This sketch detailed the interesting life of a man named Henry Cook.

“Henry Cook was a man of only medium height and a stocky build but not fat,” the sketch said. “He had dark hair and dark whiskers and mustache. He was born and grew to manhood in Connecticut and some years before the outbreak of the Civil War he came here to be a millwright for the W.T. Matthews mills.

“When the war came, he espoused the cause of the South and fought on that side for the entire duration of the war. This gave him the nickname of ‘Citizen’ Cook, and he was known as such as long as he lived. He was an architect and builder of the best merit and built many of the best of the old homes that now stand in this and adjoining counties.

“He was a kindly old man with a great liking for toddy but not to excess and was very fond of horses, hogs and was extra fond of a good game of cards when there was a little bet on the table. He was slow of speech and movement, but had a violent temper when aroused. He lived to a ripe old age and died after the beginning of this century.”

I believe this Henry Cook to be Henry Francis Cook, who is buried in the Camden Cemetery. Cook was born in Wilimatic, Conn. in 1829 and died on Feb. 12, 1907 at the Mountain Creek Soldier’s Home in Chilton County. According to his obituary, he moved to Camden in 1850 to work as a contractor and builder and lived for many years with Major Felix Tait.

During the War Between the States, Cook enlisted in Co. D of the 3^rd Alabama Cavalry, known as the Wilcox Mounted Rifles. This regiment fought in numerous engagements, including the battles at Perryville, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Chickamauga, Knoxville and Atlanta. Only a few members of this regiment were present when the Army of Tennessee surrendered in April 1865.

Cook was apparently a highly skilled architect and carpenter. “He was a man, who was scrupulously honest, and many of the elegant homes, churches and business houses that have been erected in Wilcox County in the last 50 years, have been constructed by Mr. Cook,” newspaper accounts said. “He would never permit indifferent or shoddy work to be done, and therefor none will deny, and all will admit his work was good work, true and square.”

Cook was a faithful member of Dale Masonic Lodge in Camden and according to his obituary, he was the lodge’s oldest living member at the time of his death. Cook was also a devoted member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Camden. He never married.