Lemuel Cook

Ancestor Number

A025400 »

Date of Birth

Around 1764

Place of Birth

Northbury, Connecticut

Date of Death

May 20, 1866

Place of Death

Clarendon, Orleans County, New York

Spouse(s)

1) Hannah Curtis, 2) Ruth Cooper

Children

Miles Cook, Esther Coleman, Lemuel Cook, Worthy Cook, Lyman Cook, Electa Tousley, Curtis Cook, Gilbert Cook, and 2 more

Service during the

served with the 2nd Regiment Connecticut Light Dragoons

State of Service

Massachusetts

Donor

Orleans Chapter NSDAR, Albion, NY

Lemuel Cook, was born September 10, 1759, in Northbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, the son of Henry and Hannah (Benham) Cook. He enlisted in the Army at the age of 16 in 1780 and served for the duration of the war, receiving his discharge at Danbury, Connecticut on June 12, 1784.

His papers were signed by General Washington and he kept those papers his whole life.

Photo by Ann Jacobs.

Burial of Lemuel Cook in Root Cemetery in Clarendon New York. Photo by Ann Jacobs.

Photo by Ann Jacobs.

Lemuel Cook, oldest surviving pensioner of the Revolutionary War. Image in the public domain.

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Cook married Hannah Curtis after the war and moved to New York, living in Clinton, Pompey, North Bergen, and finally settling in Clarendon, Orleans County, where he spent the last 36 years of his life.

His second wife was Ruth Cooper of Sweden, Monroe County, New York. He died May 20, 1866 at the age of 106. He had 10 children; eight of whom were named in his will: Miles Cook, Esther Coleman, Lemuel Cook, Worthy Cook, Lyman Cook, Electa Tousley, Curtis Cook, and Gilbert Cook.

Lemuel Cook served under Colonel Sheldon, in the 2nd Regiment Light Dragoons on the Continental Line. He fought at Brandywine and in the Virginian campaign, and was wounded several times. He applied for a pension in 1818 and was the last surviving pensioner of the Revolutionary War.

He was interviewed for a book The Last Men of the Revolution, published in 1864, in which his remembrances of the war were written down by Rev. E. B. Hilliard.