Last week, I was in Indianapolis, Indiana, with my daughter, for the 10th Annual Eucharistic Congress. Indianapolis is a one-hour drive from Alexandria, Madison, Indiana. Alexandria, the home of the Alexandria Paper Company, the Cook House on South Park, and the portrait of Jennie Cook.
Samuel A. Cook, 1896
I have known about the portrait of Jennie since 2001, when my mom contacted the Alexandria-Monroe Township Historical Society via email. I do not have a copy of Mom’s email to the society, but she kept a copy of the response. The response states: “We have a large picture of Mrs. S. H. Cook [sic], painted in 1917.”1 In 2016, a cousin visited Alexandria and took a photo of the portrait that she shared with me, telling me that she had been told that the portrait had been saved from the dump and was then donated to the historical society’s museum.2 “The back of the 1917 painting indicates the portrait was created from a photograph.”3
Other than comparing the image to the only known image we have of her daughter, Maud. I filed the electronic image for later consideration.
The time for further consideration has come. On Wednesday, 17 Jul 2024, we traveled to Alexandria to see the portrait that now hangs in the Alexandria-Monroe Public Library.
The following are my thoughts, musings, speculations, my considerations.
Samuel Andrew Cook, the husband of Jennie Christie Cook, a serial businessman, had his first taste of politics in 1889 when he was elected the mayor of Neenah, Winnebago, Wisconsin. He went on to serve in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1891 and 1892 before being elected on the Republican ticket to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897). In other words, we have many images of S.A. taken through the years but no image of Jennie or their children, Henry Harold (Harry) and Maud Cook Lancaster.
Walking into the library, we were met by board members Vickie and Jenny and were led upstairs to where the portrait was hung. There she was—Jennie Cook, or as she is labeled, Mrs. S. A. Cook. The portrait is large, about 3 feet wide by 4ish feet long. She stares out at you with a bit of a side-eye. The artist has chosen to color her dress black; her face glows out from her black dress and background. The frame is beautiful. Elaborate in a refined sort of way.
I am speculating that the original photograph was taken in 1895, possibly in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, while she was visiting Yule relatives.4 It was during this trip that she fell ill and passed away on 19 Sep 1895 at the age of 46. Her body was brought back to Neenah, Winnebago County, where she was buried on 23 Sep 1895 in Oak Hill Cemetery. She left behind her husband, Samuel, age 46, daughter, Maud, age 17, and son, Harry, age 14.
Maud Cook Lancaster, 1924 Passport photo, age 46Jennie Christie Cook, ca 1896, approximately 46 years old
If the painting was made from a photograph in 1917, this date coincides with Harry’s marriage to Martha Wheeler Paine on 30 Jun 1917. While the couple had grand plans to enlarge the house beyond the expanded footprint that was achieved through the remodel that Edwin Yule had done at the time of his marriage to Georgina Lemon, the current living room at 28’x 15’5 was large enough for entertaining, and to support a large portrait.
If Harry had commissioned a portrait of his mother for his home, then it stands to reason that he would also have commissioned a portrait of his father – the founder and head of the Alexandria Paper Company. I imagine the two portraits hung side by side in the living room.
Harry contracted sleeping sickness in January 1920 and never returned to Alexandria to live full-time. The house sat empty for almost a decade. In early 1925, it was broken into, and “every room had been entered, and the contents of all drawers, wardrobes, closets, pantries and even the attic had been rummaged.”6 In 1928, Harry and Martha divorced, and Martha received a “portion of the furnishings.”7
There is no record that Harry returned to the house. He passed away on 25 Jan 1931 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. We know that at some point, the house was cleared of its contents, as in June 1934, the home opened as the Colonnade Inn.
I would like to add one additional speculation. It is just a thought. In September 1931, Maud presented “a large and beautifully done oil portrait” to the S. A. Cook Armory board. The portrait was hung in the main hall of the armory.8 No image of the portrait was included in any of the newspaper accounts telling of the donation. Could this have been the companion piece to the portrait of Jennie? Had Maud removed both portraits, hanging her mother’s likeness in the Ed Yule home and donating her father’s to the Armory? Was it at the time of Ed’s death in December 1970 that the portrait made its way to the dump? We may never know.
While the portrait of Jennie now hangs safely in the library, her husband’s portrait is missing. In 1970, the S. A. Cook Armory was sold and became a mini-mall known as The Armory Shops. The portrait stayed with the building “mounted on the main floor…near the North Commercial Street entrance.” About 18 Aug 1982, the portrait was stolen. I find the following statement odd. The “Cook portrait was taken about a week ago. The theft was reported to police on Wednesday.” This newspaper report was dated Thursday, 26 Aug 1982. Why did they wait a week to report the painting stolen? The portrait was described as being 3’ x 5’, believed to date from the early 1900s. No image of the portrait was included in the report of the theft. The frame was estimated as weighing 25 to 35 pounds and was “constructed of heavy ornately carved wood painted over gold. The carving includes scrolls and other designs familiar to the early 1900s period.” “Despite intense efforts…the Cook portraitist has never been identified.”9 The portrait was never recovered.
I am grateful to the Alexandria-Monroe Township Historical Society for their care and consideration of Jennie Cook’s portrait. It would have been so easy to set her aside. Rightly asking why they should care about this large image of a woman who never lived in Alexandria and whose family’s impact on the community is but a distant memory? Thanks must also be given to the Alexandria-Monroe Public Library for agreeing to prominently hang the painting at the top of the stairwell. The Cook family thanks you.
Nancy Draper, “Cook Family,” email (Alexandria, Madison, Indiana, United States), to Emmie Lou Sternitzky, 23 Mar 2001. ↩︎
Sharon Cook, “more from Alexandria,” email to Susan Sternitzky Fassbender, 29 April 2016. ↩︎
“Alexandria-Monroe Township Historical Society portrait hung in Alexandria-Monroe Public Library,” Jenny Corbett, Editor, T he Alexandria Times-Tribune, 3 May 2023; digital images, (alexandriatimes-tribune.com : accessed 2 Jul 2024), a CherryRoad Media Newspaper. ↩︎
CarolAnne Prentice Chepurny, “Jennie Cook,” email, to Susan Sternitzky Fassbender, 9 Jul 2018. ↩︎
“Bold Thieves Break into The Cook Home,” The Times-Tribune, 10 Jan 1925, p. 1, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 May 2016). ↩︎
“Life Insurance Policy $25,000 to Mrs. Cook,” The Times-Tribune, 21 Feb 1928, p. 1, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 May 2016). ↩︎
“Cook Portrait is Given to Armory,” TheDaily Northwestern, 25 Sep 1931, Friday Evening, p. 16, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 Jun 2016). ↩︎
“Historic Cook portrait stolen,” Neenah-Menasha Edition of The Post-Crescent, 26 Aug 1982, Thursday, p. 1, col. 1 and p. 3, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 9 Jul 2024). ↩︎
A week ago today the weather was miserable in Wisconsin. After two days of 65° degree weather we woke to temps in the 30s, and an expected snowfall of 2-5”. Not the weather we had hoped for as we laid my mother to rest in Neenah’s Oak Hill Cemetery.
We met at the cemetery at 11:00 and headed to what shelter a nearby mausoleum entrance could provide from the snow and sleet. It was a beautiful service with readings and intentions from some of her oldest friends.
Upon leaving the cemetery we headed back to our hotel at the Home2Suites in Appleton. We had two rooms that were adjoining, and so allowed the 12 of us ample seating and room to move around. Mom loved a grazing meal in front of the fire in the library, a glass of wine in hand. We couldn’t provide the fire or library, and we didn’t offer wine, but we had warm coffee, cupcakes, and all the cheeses and charcuterie meats she loved.
As a genealogist, I love to tell stories. As the keeper of the photos, my mother loved to identify, date to the best of her ability, and gather them into an album of sorts for all to view. Last week we played on the room’s massive TV a slideshow I had put together of her life.
In the past, we have done photo boards where pictures are randomly tacked to foam core sheets, and placed along the receiving line. For my mother-in-law, I created a movie using actual footage from their wedding and adding images of her and my father-in-law through the years. I was a bit ahead of my time as it didn’t transfer to a form that would play well at the dinner after the funeral.
This time we had a bit more control as we sent the slideshow from my laptop to the Apple TV.
As people entered the room, the kids had it playing and the coffee brewing (we brought a 12 cup pot from home, along with a favorite flavored decaf). The images stopped people in their tracks. 51 images with captions flowed across the screen. Mom and her brother as young children, mom as a teen in red shoes, a 1947 selfie stating “Me ’47 taken by me,” when she was 14. An image from her days studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, graduation from Drake University in 1955. Her summer trip to Europe where she and two college friends traveled 2900 miles over 31 days in a small Renault, visiting France, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, back to France, London, Scotland, back to London then the ship back to New York. Her days working at Quaker Oats in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, meeting my father, their marriage and move to New York City. The birth of their first child, me, and the second, my brother. Images of us as a family, and her days working as the secretary at First English Lutheran Church in Appleton. Images through her life. A snapshot of time. A life. My mom’s life.
Because of COVID and distance, it took a year for this to happen. But I think she would have been pleased with how the day came together. Rest in peace mom.
I would bet that every family has one, a group photo that family members keep poking at, working to positively identify every single person. We have such a photo in our Cook family collection. It is a photo that was taken in August 1906 on the steps of S.A. Cook’s home in Neenah, Winnebago, Wisconsin, during the famous family reunion. I have written about it before in my blogpost Feeling Thankful.
Many family members have worked to identify this photo, the most recent documentation I have is from 2015, and I am pleased with my 2015 self for taking the time to write a research report stating why I was identifying each person as I was. Wrongly identifying, but I did take the time document my “why.” Well, and even my “when” as this photo has also been attributed to a reunion held in 1911.
Who is in the photo? The newspapers of the day tell us: “Present in birth order were: Kate Healy, and her husband, Conner Healy, Unity, Wisconsin; Watson H. Cook, Washington, DC; Loretta Elliott, Toronto, Canada; Jacob H. Cook, and his wife, Anna Cook, Appleton, Wisconsin; Sarah Drake and her husband, Isaac P. Drake, Stanley, Barron County, Wisconsin; James M. Cook and his wife, Helen Cook, Baker City, Baker County, Oregon; S. A. Cook, Host, Neenah, Wisconsin; Alfred Cook and his wife, Amanda Cook, Unity Wisconsin; and Albert Cook, Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho.”[1]
Why am I taking yet another look at this photo, another stab at it, what was wrong with the first few attempts? FamilySearch. The ease of uploading images to the family tree located on FamilySearch has prompted Cook descendants to do just that, and oh my gosh, what a game changer this has become. Also since 2015, I have met descendants who have weighed in on the identification, and so I present my 2020 view of this image, with no commentary on past identification.
So, there you have it, the 2020 view – hmmm pun intended? – of this family photo taken on a very special day in August 1906. Comments, corrections, questions? Please feel free to contact me.
[1] “Family Reunion,” Marathon County Register, (Unity, WI), August 3, 1906, p. 1.
Through an email conversation with a distant cousin, the question arose as to whether or not there would have been a barn on Samuel A. Cook’s property on Commercial Street, Neenah, Winnebago, Wisconsin. Knowing that he lived in the city of Neenah, I said that I did not think that would be likely. Hmmm, let me see what I can find.
Photograph courtesy of the Neenah Public Library. WI.np100161.bib; accessed 10 Mar 2020
This past weekend I spent some time with the Neenah Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the Library of Congress webpage, and made a really fun discovery. I have used and referenced these maps many times over the years, but till now, had not come across an ancestor’s home that was relevant enough to be included.
We have photographic images of the home before/or about the time it was sold to the YWCA in 1934, and before it was demolished in 1965. Three neighboring homes were also demolished to make room for the new YMCA building.
Funny side note. According the Neenah-Menasha Y page, “His [S.A’s] wife at the time, Jennie Christie is to be know [sic] for donating the home to the program, but little is know [sic] as who she is.” Jennie passed away in 1895 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. [1] Samuel died in 1918 and is buried next to his wife. [2] It would have been their daughter, Maud Christie Cook Lancaster who donated the home to the YWCA.
The Neenah Public Library has another image of the house in their collection, looking at the home from the north along what is now known as North Water Street.
Photograph courtesy of the Neenah Public Library. WI.np100382.bib; accessed 10 Mar 2020
Back to the question that started this process. Would there have been a barn on this property? To answer that, I turned to the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps to see if by chance, this house was included. I was so excited to discover that yes, S.A.’s home was included in a number of the years available on the Library of Congress website. Find them here: https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/?fa=location:wisconsin%7Clocation:winnebago+county%7Clocation:neenah
The oldest maps, August 1884 and September 1887, do not include the block that the home which was reportedly built in 1875, [3] was built upon, but I find it in 1891, 1895, 1900, 1906, and 1913. The Key [4] tells me that it is a Dwelling, Frame construction, two stories, with a shingle roof. There is a “stable”[5] on the property, although it is not very large in relation to the house. The 1906 and 1913 map tell us that the stable is approximately 30’ from the Fox River. Residing with S. A. and his family in the 1900 Federal Census [6] is John Pahlman, a servant, age 26, occupation: care of yard and barn. By the 1905 Wisconsin State Census [7], Enoy Chenett, age 24, had taken John’s place as the “coachman.” In 1910 [8] Enoy had moved on, and John Demandt, age 22, occupation: servant, industry: private home, was residing with the family. So we now know there was a “stable” on the property. S.A. was an early adopter of the automobile, owning one by the August 1906 family reunion, as it was reported by his nephew, L. H. Cook, editor of the Marathon County Register that “Saturday morning S.A. Cook with his touring car and three other like machines that he had chartered left Neenah with the party for a trip around Lake Winnebago.” [9]
18911895190019061913Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps L-R: 1891, 1895, 1900, 1906, 1913
What I find most interesting is the porches, how much they change. Is this the fault of the artist drawing the map, or did S.A. actually change the façade so often? And what is that little nubbin that appears on the south side of the house in 1891 and 1900, on what might have been the fireplace wall?
Taking a look at the change between the 1900 map and the 1906 map, you can see where they closed in part of the original open porch. Moving to the second image of the home from the Neenah Public Library, I have marked in red this part of the home that was enclosed sometime between 1900 and 1906.
The enclosed porch addition
I am very curious as to what the plain small (as shown in the photograph) one story building (as indicated by the number 1 on the maps) at the back of the much more ornate 2 story section, was actually used for – could this have been the kitchen?
Oh to actually see interior images of this home, plus more detailed exterior shots. For now we have the Sanborn maps combined with the few images we have. I guess I should count myself lucky.
Neenah Citizen, News Item, Neenah Citizen (Neenah, Wisconsin), 1998 Calendar produced by the Neenah Citizen, “Lost Neenah ~ Neenah’s architectural heritage, lost but not forgotten.” Cit. Date: 10 Nov 2005.
1900 U.S. census, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, population schedule, City of Neenah, 3rd Ward, enumeration district (ED) 127, sheet 1, p. 141A, dwelling 12, family 13, S. A. Cook household; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Apr 2001); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 1824.
1905 State Census, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Neenah, 3rd Ward, p. 10, family 1, line 1-6, S. A. Cook household; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Feb 2007).
1910 U.S. census, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Town of Neenah, City of Neenah, Third Ward, enumeration district (ED) 126, sheet 5, p. 279A, dwelling 52, family 53, Samuel A Cook household; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 Aug 2004); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T624, roll 1744.
“From The Chilton Times,” (Unity)Marathon County Register, 17 Aug 1906, Friday, p. 2, col. 3. Cit. Date: 18 Nov 2003.
We have attended two funerals this month, both for men gone too soon. Reading through the obituary at the end is the usual statement: “A memorial has been established in his name.” We all want our loved ones to be remembered. As a genealogist, remembering is what I do, and I am working to write about the lives of these family members gone, but not forgotten.
When my father, Robert (Bob) Sternitzky, passed away in 2005, my mother wanted to do something in his memory. “A memorial has been established in his name.” The memorial. I realized that as part of my Library of Artifacts page, I should include these memorials. I will start with my dad.
As I have stated before, Samuel Andrew Cook was the Cook that fascinated my father. He spent years researching him, and documenting his story. One of my father’s “pet” projects was to support Cook Park, a park on Doty Island, located near where S. A.’s home once stood. William E. Dunwiddle wrote about how Cook Park came to be a park, in his book:The Parks of Neenah: An Historical Interpretation.
In 1997 it was determined that Cook Park needed to update its playground equipment. The park became one of four parks participating in the “Buy a Brick. Build a Dream” program sponsored by the Kimberly-Clark Community Playground Project. Each brick cost $30.00, and was engraved with your name, or the name of someone you wanted to honor. My father took on, as his mission, the task of filling Cook Park with the names of Cook relatives. He brought the program to the Cook Reunion that year, and worked to spread the word. At the end of the campaign, Cook Park had new playground equipment, and 161 engraved bricks were set in place. 61 of these bricks honored Cook family members. Dad commemorated this accomplishment by photographing the bricks while standing on a ladder overlooking the bricks; and the park, from the open window of a friend’s Cessna 172, flying at 1300 feet and 75 mph.
In 1996, the year before the brick project, a planter had been created in Cook Park, and the front of the box facing the street was formed by the giant “S. A. Cook” concrete piece that once graced the top peak of the S. A. Cook Armory. The armory had been torn down in the late 1980s, and thankfully this piece had been saved, and is now preserved in the park named for him.
Cook Park, 23 Jul 2007
When my dad passed away in 2005, mom wanted to create a memorial that would be placed in Cook Park to honor both my dad and his great granduncle, Samuel Andrew Cook. She worked closely with the Neenah Parks and Recreation department to decide how best to do this, one idea was to place a bench in the park with a plaque bearing dad’s name. One thing that was missing from this park, was information telling the visitor WHO S. A. Cook was, and why would a park be named for him. And in that question came the answer.
A large rock was placed in the garden bed, and attached to this rock is a brass plaque telling the story of S. A., and a smaller plaque honoring my father. My mother wrote the history with input by me, and edited by my brother.
The plaques in place
“DONATED IN MEMORY OF ROBERT D. STERNITZKY”
This story is fully commemorated in my dad’s “Report” created for the Cook family members who supported the brick project. It was privately published in December 2005 as “The Bricks of Cook Park. A Modern History.” The introduction written by my father reads:
“This is not the story of S. A. Cook who was a U. S. postmaster, a mayor, a state assemblyman, a U. S. congressman, a successful businessman. This is the story of the park named for him and the combined efforts of family and friends to fund a patio of bricks engraved with the names of his grandfather, his parents, his siblings, his two wives, his three children and his grandson–plus people I call mother, uncle, aunt, child, grandchild and cousin–many cousins!”
Last week while doing some research on an old home, I turned to the 1884-5 Appleton city directory, which is online at Ancestry.com. As I was formatting the source for the entry that I had found, I turned to the title page and introductory pages. I expected to learn a little about the city in these early years, I did not expect to find that this city directory for Appleton, also included a city directory for Neenah! “We have pleasure in presenting to the citizens of Appleton our initial Directory of their City, including a City Directory of Neenah, which will be found in the rear portion of the work.” [1] Writes the publisher, Wright & Hogg of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I would love to understand the reason they included Neenah in the Appleton directory. They are in two different counties, Appleton in Outagamie, and Neenah in Winnebago, although (according to Google Maps) they are only about 6 1/2 miles apart, Neenah is usually associated with Oshkosh, which is the county seat.
Photograph courtesy of the Neenah Public Library
Knowing that S. A. Cook was living in Neenah in 1884, I quickly looked in the back of the book. And added to my research to-do list. According to other sources that I have come across over the years, S. A. had moved to Neenah in 1881, and at that time purchased home on Commercial Street. But the directory lists him residing on the “n. e. cor. 1st and Forest av.” which is a block away from Commercial. Guess it is time to add a trip to the courthouse land records to my list.
One other mystery resides between the covers of this directory. Listed as living with the Cook’s is “Cook, Christie Miss.” My best guess at this moment is that this entry is for Margaret Christie, the sister-in-law of S. A. Margaret (Maggie) was living with S. A. and his family when the 1880 census was enumerated, [2] and her obituary states that she “came to Neenah with Mr. and Mrs. Cook and lived with them for many years.” [3] I am wondering if it was stated, when asked if there were other adults living in the home, “Yes, Miss Christie.” And so it was written down as Miss Christie Cook.
S. A. has popped into my research a lot lately, it is almost as if he is prodding me – Hey! Pay attention! The time has come to finish your dad’s project!
SOURCES:
Wright & Hogg, Appleton City Directory 1884-5, preface; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Dec 2015).
1880 U.S. census, Marathon County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Town of Brighton, JH Cook Enumerator, enumeration district (ED) 83, p. 6 (penned), 302 (stamped), dwelling 15, family 16-17, Samuel A. Cook household; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Sep 2001); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 1433.
“Resident of Neenah for Many Years Dies at Hotel in Florida,” (Oshkosh) Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, 28 Feb 1938, p. 9. Cit. Date: 12 Aug 2004.
