1st wife of Aaron Cook

Not the same as Mary Ford , who many people thought had to be his first wife due to a misreading of her father Thomas's will (and presumably lack of any confirmation that Mary had married anyone else). Thomas referred to Aaron as his son-in-law. But it was later found that Aaron's mother, Elizabeth, married Thomas Ford after Aaron's father died. Aaron was the son-in-law not because Aaron married Thomas' daughter but because Thomas had married Aaron's mother.

Unknown Cooke

• formerly [surname unknown]
• Born about 1612 in England
• Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
• Wife of Aaron Cooke Jr — married about 1636 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut
• Mother of Joanna (Cooke) Wolcott, Aaron Cooke III, Miriam (Cooke) Leeds and Moses Cooke
• Died 16 Nov 1645 at about age 33 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Unknown-197787

Caution: Some believe she was Aaron's step-sister, Mary, dau of Thomas Ford by his first wife, Joane Way, but "Torrey had earlier presented evidence on Aaron Cooke which showed that he was a stepson rather than son-in-law of Thomas Ford TAG 11:179-80." Therefore, until further evidence surfaces, she is Unknown Unknown.

Whoever she was, she married Aaron Cooke about 1636, probably in Hartford Co, CT. She died in Windsor, Hartford Co., CT in 1645.

Andersons Great Migration Study: https://search.ancestry.com/collections/2496/records/45663

AARON COOKE ORIGIN: Dorchester, Dorsetshire MIGRATION: 1630 on Mary & John FIRST RESIDENCE: Dorchester REMOVES: Windsor 1637, Northampton 1661, Westfield 1668, Northampton 1678

BIRTH: Baptized Bridport, Dorsetshire, 20 March 1613/4, son of Aaron and Elizabeth (Chard) Cooke [TAG 11: 179-80). DEATH: Northampton 5 September 1690 . MARRIAGE: (1) By 1638 ___ ___ ; she died by 1650. [Probably did not exist. See Comments below.] (2) By 1650 Joan Denslow, daughter of Nicholas Denslow; she died Westfield in April1676. (3) New Haven 2 December 1676 Elizabeth Nash [NHVR 1:43]; she died by 1688. (4) Hadley 2 October 1688 Rebecca (Foote) Smith [Pynchon VR 224], widow of Philip Smith, daughter of Nathaniel Foote [Wethersfield Hist2:328); although not mentioned in the will of her second husband, she survived him and died 6 April 1701

CHILDREN: With first wife

i. JOANNA, bp. Windsor 5 August 1638 [WiVR 33; Grant 29]; m. Windsor 19 March 1656 Simon Wo'olcott [WiVR 42].

ii. AARON, bp. Windsor 21 February 1640[11 ?] [WiVR 33; Grant 29]; m. Hadley 30 May·1661 Sarah Westwood (Pynchon VR 223].

iii MIRIAM, bp. Windsor 12 March 1642[/3?] [WiVR 33; Grant 29]; m. Dorchester 8 November 1~61 Joseph Leeds [DVR20].

iv MOSES, bp. Windsor 16 November 1645 [WiVR 33; Grant 29]; m. Windsor 25 November 1669 (as "Moses Cooke of Warronock") Elizabeth Clarke [WiVR 12].

Children with his 2nd wife

v SAMUEL, b. Windsor 21 November 1650 [Grant 29], bp. Windsor 22 November 1650 [WiVR 33);

v1 ELIZABETH, b. Windsor 7 August 1653 [WiVR 33: Grant 29]; by about 1677 Samuel Parsons [NEHGR 148:219].

vii NOAH, b. Windsor 14 June 1657 [WiVR 44; Grant 29];

COMMENTS: Pope suggests that the first wife of Aaron Cooke was Mary, who was a member of Dorchester church in 1636; but the records of the Dorchester church do not include a Mary Cooke. In fact, the alleged first wife of Aaron Cooke (before he married Joan Denslow) may not have existed. There is no record which names the supposed first wife, and especially no death record. The records are consistent with the proposal that Joan Denslow was the first of Aaron Cooke's three wives, and the mother of all his children. The only problem is the will of Joan's mother, the widow Elizabeth Denslow, which names "my daughter Joan Cooke" and that daughter's children Elizabeth, Samuel and Noah. These are the three youngest children, born from 1650 on, after a five-year gap in the birth of children to Aaron Cooke.
The standard arrangement of assigning four wives to Aaron Cooke will be retained here, with the caveat the first two may be only one.

(Pope also gives Aaron Cooke an eldest child Nathaniel, but Nathaniel Cooke of Windsor married in 1649, which would make him too old to be a son of Aaron.)

References

1. Wives of Aaron Cooke (1614-1690) listed in The Great Migration Begins (document attached)