Lewis Cook (historian)
Lewis Keith Cook (July 29, 1899 – November 19, 1961) was an authority on the history of his hometown of Basil (now Baltimore), Ohio, and the surrounding area. He was a correspondent for such regional newspapers as The Columbus Dispatch, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette (Ohio). He was also considered an expert on the town of Baltimore, Ohio; the abundant covered bridges located in Fairfield County, Ohio; and the extensive Ohio canal system.
Life
Family
Cook was born on July 29, 1899, in the town of Basil, Ohio, to parents David Sappington "D. S." and Grace (neé Lewis) Cook.[1] His father, who was born in 1861 and died in 1939,[2] was the owner and proprietor of D. S. Cook & Co., a milling company dealing in "hay, grain, seed, lumber and builders' supplies."[3] His mother lived from 1872-1953.[4] Cook was the eldest of eight children, and his siblings were as follows: Joseph Wilmot (1903-1975); David Paul (1906-1999); Anna Elizabeth (1907-1999); William Henry (1909-1987); Margaret Henrietta (1913-2010); John Merton (1915-2016); and Thomas Edwin (1917-1991).[5]
Education
Cook attended Liberty Union High School and was a member of the first graduating class in 1917.[6] He later enrolled in free courses offered by the Ohio State University College of Agriculture, followed by English classes at the freshman and sophomore levels at the University of Wisconsin, and, later, a cousin taught him a non-credit course in American literature, and he also took a distance education course in legal education under the tutelage of attorney James Pickering; however, the Ohio bar examination had an "in resident" clause to which Cook could not adhere.[7]
Accident and recovery
On his eighteenth birthday, just after graduating from high school, Cook suffered an accident while diving in Pawpaw Creek that broke his back and paralyzed him, leaving him able to move only his head and arms.[8] The Twin City News published a report[9] of his accident, stating that Dr. H. C. Ashton, a local physician, came to the boy's aid, and that Cook was taken to see Dr. Cassius Shepard, an orthopedic surgeon at Grant Hospital.[10] Once there, surgery revealed that "the injury was about the sixth and seventh vertebrae" and that "an operation would bring doubtful relief."[11] The same article stated that "the only thing to do was to make him as comfortable as possible and wait on Nature to see what she might do."[12] In a letter to Dr. Ashton dated August 1, 1917, Dr. Shepard stated that everyone expected Cook to pass away if he had not already.[13]
According to Cook himself, he "slowly recovered [the] ability to speak, to move [his] head and shoulders, and gradually to control arm action."[14] When he was once again able to speak, he said, one of the first things he asked for was a copy of The Saturday Evening Post; however, he grew tired of his family reading to him, so they helped him devise a method involving clothespins and string to help him read more independently.[15] Cook soon became frustrated, and taught himself how to read another way: "...I learned to roll my head off the pillow, turn the page by nose or tongue, hold the page down by face until it would stay in place, then roll back on the pillow."[16] Cook soon taught himself how to eat on his own, as well; his mother was often occupied with caring for Cook's younger siblings and was unable to stay at his side for extended periods of time.[17]
After only a year of recovery and self-teaching, Cook was once again able to grasp a writing utensil and compose letters.[18] His uncle then purchased an Underwood Model 3 typewriter for Cook, who taught himself how to type using rubber-tipped wooden pegs, "shaped like inverted pop bottles, with a collar that prevented the hand slipping down," in lieu of his immobile fingers.[19]
Later in his life, Cook had this to say regarding the assumption that he would die as a result of his injury:
It depends upon the patient, his family, his friends and his community... I was fortunate to belong to a large and active family — active mentally as well as physically; to have a variety of friends; to live in a friendly community.[20]
Career and hobbies
For several years following his accident, Cook operated a grain-pricing service for a dozen grain elevators operating within Fairfield County.[21] In the morning, Cook listened to Chicago's grain market quotations via radio, then relayed the information to the grain dealers with whom he worked.[22]
After relearning how to write, Cook became a magazine agent for several publications, including the Curtis Publishing Company, conducting his business via mail and telephone.[23]
During World War II, Cook taught an adult class in photography.[24]
Cook enjoyed riding in his aunt Jennie's automobile, which he referred to as "Naomi."[25] He enlisted the help of his family and community members, including the local Boy Scout troop, to drive him around the surrounding area.[26] At one point, he made a journey to Florida with his sister Anna in the back of a station wagon.[27] He also traveled to Washington, D.C., and through the Great Smoky Mountains.[28] It was on these numerous excursions and through the stories of his many visitors that Cook developed a deep passion for the natural world; he arranged nature tours of several local destinations, including the Hocking Hills.[29] Cook's love of nature led him to take up birdwatching, and he "had a long list of rare varieties he had sighted."[30]
Cook was also involved in the Basil Methodist Church, serving as a Sunday School teacher for seventeen years and then as the superintendent for two years.[31]
Local history
While bedridden after his accident, Cook developed a keen interest in local history, due in part to his frequent visits from town elders who possessed a surplus of knowledge to hand down.[32] These visitors shared their experiences with Cook, who, unable to write due to his condition, retained this plethora of information within his memory.
Cook utilized his knowledge of the area's history to become a local correspondent for various newspapers in the area, including The Columbus Dispatch and the Lancaster Daily Gazette.[33] He extensively researched the towns of Basil and Baltimore, covered bridges, the Ohio canal, and Ohio's native plants and animals.[34] Cook recruited his many friends and acquaintances as assistants, having them take photos and perform other tasks relevant for the newspaper article in progress at that time.[35]
Death
Cook died on November 19, 1961, at the age of 62.[36] At the time of his death, he possessed a compendium of over three hundred shoe boxes filled with photographs, stories, and historical data that he had collected throughout his career.[37] Cook is buried at the Basil Memorial Cemetery on Basil Western Road, Baltimore, Ohio.[38] He is remembered not only for his authority on local history, but also for his sense of humor, his constant modesty, and his unfailing optimism.[39]
Bibliography
Cook wrote over two hundred articles and serials throughout his life, mostly focusing on the subjects which he knew best, including the canal system, the region's covered bridges, the "twin cities" of Basil and Baltimore, Ohio, and the natural world.[40] He also composed poems and wrote many papers that were never published.
Articles and papers
- "Up and Down the Ohio Canal" (fifteen-part serial), in The Columbus Dispatch, 1928.
- "The Why And Wherefore Of The Ohio Canal's Deep Cut Near Millersport," in the Lancaster, Ohio, Daily Gazette, May 15, 1928.
- "Old Monument to Columbus' Health Condition Abandoned," in The Columbus Dispatch, September 23, 1928.
- "The Romance of Hocking Valley," in The Columbus Dispatch, May 19, 1929.
- "Bears in Fairfield: With The Bope Family," in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, November 19, 1936.
- "Sights Aplenty," in The Columbus Dispatch, June 9, 1946.
- "Queen of the Valley," in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, June 3, 1950.
- "The Burg On Pawpaw --- Story of Baltimore-Basil," in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, June 10, 1950.
Books and pamphlets
Cook's Dispatch serial on the Ohio and Erie Canal became a book of the same title in 1997; it is available to peruse at the Fairfield County District Library in Lancaster and at the Columbus Metropolitan Main Library. "Sights Aplenty" was also arranged as a pamphlet and is available at the Wagnalls Memorial Library in Lithopolis, Ohio.
Photography
Though he was unable to use a camera himself, Cook collected many photographs during his travels throughout Ohio. Cook "took" these photos "by directing someone else to exactly what views he wanted, and the lighting, timing and shutter manipulation necessary to get the desired results."[41] Subjects included plants and trees, historical buildings, and bodies of water. Below are only a few photos of the dozens Cook accumulated over the years.
References
- ↑ George F. Stilwell, Basil-Baltimore, Ohio: Unofficial and incomplete history (2001), 102.
- ↑ "David S. Cook, 77, Prominent Basil Resident, Dies," Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, June 3, 1939, 1.
- ↑ Advertisement from February 1925 detailing the products available for purchase from D. S. Cook & Co., Millers.
- ↑ "Death Claims Widely-Known Basil Resident," Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, November 25, 1953, 2.
- ↑ Ancestry.com, Relatives of David Sappington Cook; Stilwell, Basil-Baltimore, Ohio, 102.
- ↑ List of students in the Liberty Union High School Class of 1917
- ↑ Stilwell, 101; Relva Jean Blume, "The Most Interesting Person in My Community," 1946.
- ↑ Dr. Cassius Shepard to Dr. H. C. Ashton, M.D., letter, August 1, 1917.
- ↑ "Home Boy Hurt—", Twin City News, July 31, 1917, page unknown.
- ↑ Stilwell, 100.
- ↑ "Home Boy Hurt—".
- ↑ "Home Boy Hurt—".
- ↑ Shepard to Ashton, 1917.
- ↑ Stilwell, 100.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Stilwell, 100.
- ↑ Ruth Drinkle, "Lewis Cook," Fairfield Heritage Quarterly (Vol. 8, No. 2), Spring 1986, 5.
- ↑ Drinkle, "Lewis Cook," 5.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Dan Clancy, "Paralysis Doesn't Prevent Extending a Helping Hand," The Columbus Dispatch, October 12, 1958, 40A.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Stilwell, 102.
- ↑ Dispatch State Service, "Lewis Cook, Ex-Dispatch Writer, Dies," November 19, 1961, 4.
- ↑ Drinkle, 5; Blume, "The Most Interesting Person."
- ↑ Dispatch State Service, "Lewis Cook," 4.
- ↑ Drinkle, 4.
- ↑ Clancy, "Paralysis Doesn't Prevent...," 40A.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Stilwell, 102; Drinkle, 4.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Stilwell, 102.
- ↑ Ruth Fuller, "Historian, Writer Lewis Cook, Dead," Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, November 20, 1961, 1.
- ↑ Stilwell, 102.
- ↑ Find A Grave, Basil Memorial Cemetery.
- ↑ Fuller, "Historian," 1.
- ↑ Stilwell, 101.
- ↑ Drinkle, 5.
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