Aberdeen Daily News Thursday, Dec 13, 1894
Dr J. W. Cook, one of the best known citizens of Warner township and the south part of Brown county, died yesterday afternoon at 3:30 o’clock of cancer of the stomach. For months and months the sick man had been making an obstinate but losing fight against the encroachments of the terrible disease which was sapping and undermining his system, and he as well as his relatives and friends have well understood for some time that he could not long survive. His last illness was of nearly two years duration. For some months past he was confined to his bed and suffered much pain.
Dr. Cook was born in England, but emigrated to the new world when 14 years of age. He spent some years in Chicago where he took up the study of medicine and acquired a great deal of valuable experience and practice in a city hospital.
While comparatively a young man, and at the very outset of his professional career, he located in Necedah, Wis., and practiced there with uniform success until his removal in the summer of 1882 to Warner. Since identifying himself with the interests of this county, the doctor put up a lucrative practice, became a large land owner and had interests in the village of Warner of considerable value. He was always prominent in the public works and movements and was an influential member of the Masonic lodge, the G. A. R. post and other organizations and societies at Warner.
The family of the deceased consist of his wife and two children, Annie, aged 15 years, and Herbert, 12 years. Until his disease overcame him Dr. Cook had the reputation of being the most skillful physician in all his section of country and his services were in great demand and gave him a steady and substantial income. he was always a prominent man in the communities in which he resided and was locally celebrated for his tenacity of purpose and general strength of character. He was in a goodly measure public spirited and energetic, and figured all his life in developing and building up new and unimproved sections of his adopted country.
The funeral will be held at 2 o’clock p.m. on Sunday, from the residence, and will be conducted by the Masons, assayed but the A. O. U. W. and G. A. R. Monday, Dec 17, 1894 --The funeral services for Dr. J. W. Cook at Warner yesterday were among the best attended ever held in the county. About 150 residents of Aberdeen, members of the Masonic bodies, the G. A. R., W. R. C., and A. O. U. W., were carried to Warner by special train and took an active and prominent part in the exercises.
The attendance of people from Warner and vicinity, where Dr. Cook was generally acquainted, was large, and the crowd at the grave was estimated number four or five hundred persons. The regular services were held in the store building owned by the deceased on Main street. This was crowded almost to suffocation and numbers found it impossible to effect entrance at all. Rev. Mr. Houston read a brief biographical sketch of the departed and followed it with remarks from St. John XI.23 —“Thy brother shall rise again.” The deceased was characterized as a benefactor to the community in which he had made his home, a kind husband and indulgent father, a worthy brother in lodge work and a conscientious and admirable citizen. The scripture quotations and words of consolation to the widow and fatherless children were appropriate and affecting. Rev. Dr. Mallory offered a fervid prayer, and appropriate music was rendered by a quartette of Warner gentlemen. At the conclusion of Mr. Houston’s remarks the further services at the house and the services at the grave were given over to the representatives of the Masonic fraternity. James Drummond, of Necedah, Wis., an old-time personal friend of Dr. Cook and a resident of this county from ’86 to ’88, acted as master of the Warner Masonic lodge in an impressive manner.
The march to the cemetery, one-half mile west of the village, was headed by the United Workmen wearing badges and emblems of mourning and was a very imposing affair. Following the Workmen, who probably numbers close to one hundred, came the Masons and members of the G. A. R. followed in turn by the W. R. C. and large numbers of citizens and friends in carriages. The grave in the small but sightly cemetery was encircled by the Masonic fraternity, and Mr. Drummond, who had promised if he survived to do this last service for his departed friend, again performed the duties of master without reference in any way to the text employed upon such occasions and with rare and singular impressiveness, the beauty of the ceremony falling upon and affecting all assembled. These last duties completed the people withdrew in silence and thought, and the Aberdeen visitors departed for home, reaching here shortly after 5 o’clock.
The offerings of flowers and plants were beautiful and in usual good taste. The coffin lid was also decorated with the emblems of various orders to which the deceased had belonged in his lifetime and in which he had perhaps taken a more than average interest. Dr. Cook was 53 years and a few months of age at the time of his death.
~Transcribed by volunteer researcher, Kathy Smith