Samuel Calvin Cook was one of Wilcox County, Alabama's most unique, remarkable citizens

Samuel Calvin Cook

Today – June 8 – will mark 119 years since the passing of one of Wilcox County’s most remarkable men, Samuel Calvin Cook. Cook passed away at the age of 66 on June 8, 1904 at his home near Dry Forks. Cook was born at the “ancestral home” of his father, Daniel Cook Sr., at Possum Bend on Nov. 6, 1837, and he was buried in the Cook Ancestral Cemetery not far from where he was born.

To say that he was one of the most remarkable men to ever call Wilcox County home would be an understatement. After attending school in Wilcox County, he went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in 1859 from Howard College, which was then located in Marion. He began training as a lawyer in 1861 and that same year he married Miss Mary Harsell Gullette in Mobile.

When the War Between the States began, he joined Co. D of the Third Alabama Cavalry, a unit known as the Wilcox Dragoons. “He was delegated by his company to receive the beautiful silken flag, presented by Camden ladies to the Troop, just as it was leaving to defend our Southland,” according to his obituary. “With the Troop, he participated in many important battles, under the command of brave General Hagau and the fearless Joe Wheeler.”

Cook was later assigned to Wheeler’s staff and remained in the army until April 29, 1865. He arrived home the following month. When the Wilcox Mounted Rifles re-organized in the 1890s, Cook was selected to present, on behalf of Camden’s ladies, the “Silken Banner” to the descendants of the “brave men” of 1861.

Cook joined the Missionary Baptist Church early in life and served as a deacon in that church for many years. He was also a Justice of the Peace for many years at Black’s Bluff. In 1902, he was elected to represent Wilcox County in the State General Assembly.

He served as a trustee of the Second District Agricultural School in Evergreen. (This school later became Evergreen High School, whose mascot was the Aggie, a nod to the old days of the agricultural school.) Cook also owned a large farm, and his obituary described him as a horticulturalist, that is, an expert in garden cultivation and management.

At the time of his death, The Wilcox Progressive Era described Cook as having a “reserved disposition. He was gentle, but as firm as a rock when his conclusions were formed as to the right course to pursue. He was genial, and the visitor and stranger always felt their presence welcomed at his house. He was cordial. He was among our best citizens and his death will be sorrowful news to his home people and his friends in the state.”

At the time of his death, Cook had 14 living children, so he doubtless has many living descendants today. If anyone has any additional historical information to share about Cook, please let me know. No doubt there is much information left to be documented about this truly remarkable man from Wilcox County’s past.