Henry SOOK

                   It was not been proven whether Henry was a son of Peter or of his brotherHenry. Some evidence indicates that he belongs in this family.  His birthwas about 1760 to 1765.  If he were a son of Peter, no doubt he was bornwhile Peter lived in Antrim Township, Cumberland(now Franklin) County.Spelling the same Sook was rather common among Peter's children.

The Twentieth Century descendants of Henry know very little about him.Walter D. Thomas in 1981 wrote that his mother Annie(Crawfor) Thomas toldhim in April 1934 that Henry's daughter Sarah Ann Sook was born in Pa. onJan 22, 1786,that they were Swiss people who had lived in the Hagerstown,Maryland area and that the name had been changed from Zook to Sook.  ThisSarah Ann married Charles McGee and they were Walter D. Thomas gr1 gr2grandparents.

In 1949 Walter D. Thomas visited my Grandfather William Phinney of EagleRock, CA and learned that my great Uncle Prof. Roy Phinney of Larned,Kansas had written a family history. Walter D. Thomas did not obtain acopy until 1963.  Grandadddy William Phinney's Grandparents on the Sookside were first cousins: Catherine Margaret McGee and Joseph Quincy Sook.Her is was Great Uncle Roy wrote about the Sooks:

"The record beins with a German Immigrant who arrived at Baltimore aboutthe time of the American Revolution...one of the Pennsylvania Dutch whosettled around the head of the Chesapeake Bay.  His name of Zook wasAmericanized to Sook.  He died early leaving a young boy.  The recordstates that this boy Henry Martin Sook of Frederick County, Maryland wasmarried October 18,(the record says the 29th) 1814 in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania to Lettitia McFee or McAfee, of Allegheny County,Pennsylvania.  Henry had been apprenticed to a saddler and collar maker,and he followed that trade all his life, although he lived part of thetime on a farm.  Henry's sister, Sarah Ann married a McGee."

In 1964 Walter D. Thomas found the name of Joseph Rollin Sook in theNeward, Ohio telephone directory, and wrote to him.  In his answer datedJuly 14, 1964 he said:

"I was pleased to have your letter and was quite surprised as you aredescended from a person that I did not know ever existed.  The story ofthe family coming to this country from the information handed down to meis that there were two boys, Henry Martin and Peter Zook, that sailedfrom Holland with their parents in 1794.  The parents died on shipboardand as far as I know their first names were not known or the informationnot handed on.  My ancestor Henry Sook was given to a German Family toraise and then changed the name from Zook to Sook and settled inPennsylvania.  The family that took Peter went to N.J.  Sarah Ann I neverheard of until your letter came and know nothing of what happened toPeter."

In 1965 Walter D. Thomas located another distant cousin, Gordon Sook, whosent to him a typewriteen copy of an article in Brister's "History ofLicking County, Ohio", Vol. 2, page not given.  The article is about thephysicians of the county. Dr. Oliver Prescott Sook, a grandson of HenryMartin Sook was one of those physicians.  The material for the articlemust have come from Oliver. It says:  "Dr. Oliver Prescott Sook...isdescended in the paternal line from German ancestry, his grandfather,Henry Martin Sook with his brother Peter and his parents left Germany forthe United States, but while enroute both the father and mother got sickand died.  The two brothers were proveded for by the captain as was thecustom in those early days.  Henry being apprecticed to a saddler inBaltimore, Maryland, while Peter went to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.The family name was originally spelled Zook, but Henry M. Zook changedthe spelling of his surname to Sook.  Many of Peter Zooks descendants arenow residents of Perry County,Ohio."

The "Memorial Record of Licking County, Ohio" 1894, pg. 126, in anarticle about Dr. Oliver Prescott Sook says:

" The paternal grandparents Zook(as the name was then spelled) died onboard a vessel enrout to America leaving two sons, HenryM. andPeter...when the orphaned boys landed in America among strangers theywere taken and cared for by two different families.  Henry M. beingreared by a Catholic family in Maryland, and Peter by a family inPennsylvania.  The family with whom the former resided changed thespelling of his name to Sook, and when he afterward met his brother theynaturally agreed to adopt this style....Although reared in a Catholicfamily, he never adopted that faith but was a believer in and a followerof the teachings of Swedenborg."

In neither Royal Phinney's history, nor Oliver Sook's story is there anyevidence of any research.  Mr. Walter D. Thomas was convinced that thestory of parents dying on shipboard and two little boys, Henry and Peterarriving alone in America is a distortion of an earlier similar event.Henry M's grandfather had a younger brother Johannes whose wife was AnnaHeffelfinger.  Her mother died and was buried at sea while enroute toAmerica about 1740.  Henry Martin Sook's great grandfather Ulrich Zauggarrived in Philadelphia in 1727 with two little sons, Peter about 4 andHenry about 2.  This Peter born about 1723 who arrived in America as alittle boy was probably the father of this Henry.  Henry marriedCatherine_____.  Walter D. Thomas wondered if her birth name was Martin?We know of two childrenonly, no Peter. They were Sarah Ann and HenryMartin.

Henry Sook(he signed Sook on the deed) on Feb. 8, 1786,of FrederickCounty, Maryland purchased a lot in Woodsberry(Woodsboro) FrederickCounty, Maryland from Joseph Wood of Frederick Co., Maryland for Lera 3.Recorded July 15, 1786. W.R. Book 6, pages 506 & 507.  Just over a yearlater, March 26, 1787 Henry Sook of Frederick Co., Md sold that lot inWoodsberry to James Hall and John Campbell, Brickmaker of Frederick Co.,Md. for Lera 20.  Apparently Henry was out to make money.  His wifeCatherine relinguished her right to the property.  It was recordedSeptember 11, 1787, W.R. Bk 7, pages 487-489.  Henry and Catherine are inthe Frederick County, Md Census of 1790 on page 65:  one adult male,three females.  It seems that baby Henry Martin, about eight months oldmust have been counted as a female.  No futher records have been found.Walter D. Thomas recalled that Royal Phinney had said that Henry diedearly leaving a young boy.  Apparently Catherine died early also.  Shedoes not appear as a widow in any later records.  There are no orphanagecourt records.  The question is who raised the two children.