Capt. Aaron Cooke1

#7301, (20 March 1613/14 - )
Father*Aaron Cooke2 ( - c 1615)
Mother*Elizabeth Chard3 (b 1598 - 1643)

Family 1

Joan Denslow d. 1676

Family 2

____ _____ d. b 1650

Family 3

Elizabeth Nash b. c 1646, d. 1687

Family 4

Rebecca Foote b. c 1634
On marriages "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. The need for an extra wife was based in part on the belief that Aaron Cooke had marrried a sister of John Strong (since Cooke calls Strong brother in his will). But John Strong had married Abigail Ford, Cooke's younger half-sister. Based on the estimated age of Joan Denslow's sister, Joan could certainly have been old enough to marry Cooke by 1638, and the first child was named Joanna. 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."2 
Birthbefore 20 March 1613/14He was born before 20 March 1613/14 at EnglandG.2 
Baptism*20 March 1613/14He was baptized on 20 March 1613/14 at Bridport, Dorsetshire, EnglandG.2 
Marriage*say 1637He married ____ _____ say 1637 at Dorchester or Windsor, Massachusetts; first child b. Windsor.4 
Marriage*say 1637He married Joan Denslow, daughter of Nicholas Denslow and Elizabeth _____, say 1637 at Massachusetts.5 
Marriage*2 December 1676He married Elizabeth Nash, daughter of Maj. John Nash and Elizabeth Tapp, on 2 December 1676.1 
Marriage*2 October 1688He married Rebecca Foote, daughter of Nathaniel Foote and Elizabeth Deming, on 2 October 1688 at ConnecticutG.6 

Citations

  1. [S727] Rev. Sylvester Nash, The Nash Family or Records of the descendants of Thomas Nash of New Haven, Connecticut, 1640 (Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Company, 1853), p. 23.
  2. [S292] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), online AmericanAncestors.org, 464-67.
  3. [S292] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, 464-67, citing TAG 11:179-80.
  4. [S292] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, 464-67; see note for Aaron Cooke on marriages; she may be the same as Joan Denslow.
  5. [S292] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, 464-67; see note for Aaron Cooke on marriages; she may be the same as ____, Aaron's first wife.
  6. [S292] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, p. 465.