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This cemetery is located south of the junction of CR-120 and CR-121 at the edge of a farm field and the adjacent woods.
This small abandoned cemetery is in a good state of preservation as it is located on a concrete slab and enclosed by an iron fence. It has
not been cleaned for years and there are dead, fallen branches on the slab and small trees growing in some of the fence rails. On Nov. 2, 2010, this cemetery was cleaned of branches, a fallen tree, and a number of trees growing in the iron fencing were sawed down and removed and the concrete slab cleaned. The brush around the fence was cut and removed. More trees will be cut down in the future.The contact person for this cemetery is Diane Cooke
. Her email address isdpcooke@sbcglobal.net.John Christeson and his son Eric John Christeson, and Diane Cooke did all this hard work.
Cemetery Has A Historic Texas Cemetery Designation
The cemetery is
maintained by the “ Cemetery Restoration Volunteers ” (CRV) as one of the abandoned cemeteries maintained on a rotation basis of 19 cemeteries in Williamson County. The volunteers are under the direction ofWCHC’s Cemetery Committee Chair, Wayne Ware. In 2019, there are 9 volunteers, using their own equipment. Donations received by WCHC help to defray the costs of restoring tombstones.
Historical Narative by Diane Parmele Cooke.
A Historical Background of the David Sackville Cooke Cemetery -
On February 10, 1859, David Sackville Cooke (born December 24, 1829, in Madison County, Tennessee) and Malvina Marion Lewis (born July 19, 1836, in Rockcastle County, Kentucky) were married in
Williamson County, Texas. They died within three months of each other, and their eight surviving children inherited the Cooke homestead.D.S. Cooke, a farmer, served as Williamson County Chief Justice from 1860 to 1862. On October 1, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate Army. He served as a private in "C 7 Texas Calvary". He served as Williamson County
Judge from 1866 to 1867. His picture is on the third-floor wall of the Williamson County Courthouse.The Cooke homestead was about 5 miles east of Georgetown on the San Gabriel River
, about one-mile past Mankin's Crossing. The first Cooke to be buried on the Cooke homestead, daughter Lucy, died on October 27, 1867, at age seven. Then the following were buried there: David Sackville Cooke (1879) & wife Malvina Marion Cooke (1879); daughters, Mary Cooke Magee (1891) & Minnie Ann Cooke Rogers (1896); and infant granddaughter (daughter of Emily Rebecca Cooke McCormick and James W. McCormick), born and died on August 28, 1896.The property around the cemetery was sold on September 21, 1904, out of the J. F. Ferguson League. The deed is in the Williamson County Clerk's office in
Book 109, page 550. It specifies that A acre of the land surrounding the Cooke Cemetery be set aside forever as the Cooke. Family Cemetery and would belong forever to the heirs of the D. S. Cooke estate.Around
1940, son Melchizedek Cooke had concrete poured over the six graves and the tombstones embedded. He also had an iron fence built around the cemetery.The David Sackville Cooke Cemetery was added
to the website: findagrave.com in 2010.Bibliography
Deed Records, Williamson
County Clerk OfficeDavid Sackville Cooke family bible Letter dated July 6, 1940, from The Adjutant General's Office
, War Department, Washington, D.C. signed by E. S. Adams, Major General sent to Mildred Cooke Clopton (D.S. Cooke granddaughter) to verify D. S. Cooke's war record.National Archives, Washington D.C. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers who served in the Organizations from Texas, 7th Cavalry, A-E
Microcopy 323, Roll 45, Jacket 303-A, "David S. Cooke, Co., C, 7 Texas Cavalry, Pvt. Certificate of Disability for Discharge dated Camp Cleaver, Austin, Texas, January 20, 1863, signed by H. J. Hunter, Asst. Surgeon in Charge, 7th Regt.,Texas Mtd. Volunteers stated that he had examined D. S. Cooke, Pvt., Capt. H. M. Burrows and he had paralysis of the bladder and disease of the kidneys."Inventory of the David Sackville Cooke estate filed on May 31, 1881, in the Court of Williamson County
, Texas, by Sam J. Lewis, guardian Oral history of Melchizedek Cooke in the 1960's to daughter, Mildred Cooke Clopton. Clopton, Mildred Cooke, The Hat Brand, unpublished history of David Sackville Cooke's ancestors and descendants. Written in the 1950s and 1960s.Obituary for D. S. Cooke in The
Sun newspaper titled, "Tribute to the Memory of D. S. Cooke," written by a Committee from the Masonic Lodge, San Gabriel No. 89, A. F. and A. M., September 6, 1879.Williamson County Census of 1880- shows that the D. S. Cooke children were still living on the Cooke homestead with the eldest son , Charles working the farm.
Original document signed by Sam Houston, Governor, and E. W. Cave, Secretary of State, on September 3, 1860, commissioning David S. Cooke as "Chief Justice in and for Said County of Williamson and State of Texas" resulting from an "election held in
the County of Williamson on the sixth day of August 1860.(family owns original document- framed Photostat copy of the
document was displayed in the Williamson County Courthouse in the County Auditor's Office in the 1960s and may still be there.)An oral history of David Glenn Cooke, Jr. to daughter, Diane Parmele Cooke (who is submitting this application) - taken between
the years of 2005 and 2011.Three visits to the D. S. Cooke cemetery
by a great-granddaughter, Diane Parmele Cooke. Numerous visits to the cemetery by a great-grandson, David Glenn Cooke, Jr.