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William Wallace Cook was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, September 18,1817,removed with his father (Gilbert Dalton
Cook) to Copiah County in 1826; was married to Miss Isabelle Finley in February 1838. Five children were the fruit of this union -- two sons and three daughter; of these, four had preceded him to the
spirit land. In 1839 when only twenty-two years of age, he was elected to the office of Probate Clerk which position he filled until 1847, when he declined re-election and returned to private
life. On the opening of the N. O. and J. R. R. he moved to Hazlehurst, Mississippi, and was the first depot agent, which place he held until 1875, when he was urgently called out as a candidate for
Sheriff of Copiah County; to this office he was thrice elected but refused to be a candidate for the fourth term. After a lingering, painful illness he departed this life at his residence in South
Hazlehurst surrounded by his family, relatives and friends on November 11, 1887, aged 70 years, twenty three days, and a citizen of this county 61 years. In ante-bellum days Mr. Cook was in politics, a
Whig, and cooperated with the party. When this party became extinct he readily united with the Democratic Party and cooperated with them most heartily. He was in hearty sympathy with "The
Lost Cause". He gave his son C. P. Cook, then a mere boy, to the army and his personal service to the South. Religously, Mr. Cook was a Methodist in persuasion; claimed the Methodist Church as
his church; was a firm believer in the Bible and its teaching and expressed in his last illness an unshaken faith in God and claimed the Savior as his Savior. As a public servant, Mr. Cook was faithful to
his duties,carefully and painstaking in his work; appreciative of the honors and obligations laid upon him by his friends and endeavord neither to forfeit the one nor avoid the other. As a man he was
cool, self-possessed, always acting as if conscious that he was master of the situation, yet affable and pleasant in his manners; kind and obliging to his friends; considerate and linient to his foes,
evincing in his daily life charity for all, malice toward none. In his domestic life his bearing was that of a husband and father in the fullest and best significance of these terms; gentleness and
affection were his leading traits in his family. Mr. Cook was a hospitable, generous, high-toned gentleman; a friend to the widow and the orphan, a prominent Mason, a good neighbor, a true friend, a
faithful public servant and a man who Copiah delighted to honor. He was one of our best citizens and always on the right side of leading questions. His death makes a void in our midst and that
will be greatly felt and hard to fill. But we bow with submission to the inevitable. With becoming religous services, his remains, in the presence of a large and sypathetic audience, were gently
deposited in the Hazlehurst Cemetery to await the trumpet of God in the resurrection morn. May a merciful Father comfort the bereaved wife, son, grandchildren and relatives. So mote it be. Amen Hazlehurst, Miss. December 1887. Lomax |
