El Capitan above Short CreekHistorical Short Creek

William B. Cooke

People

In the record

1890–1976

William B. Cooke

William Benjamin Cooke was born in Grouse Creek, Utah, in 1890. In September 1960, newly ordained a patriarch, he gave the first talk at a general meeting in Hildale.

William Benjamin Cooke was born on 9 May 1890 in Grouse Creek, Box Elder County, Utah, a son of Benjamin Henry Joy Cooke and Annie Constance Hobbs.1 FamilySearch records him under the identifier KWVG-VGT, with that birth and a death date of 19 May 1976.2

He married Myrtle Vera Jenkins on 3 April 1913 in Salt Lake City.3 She was born on 25 April 1894 in Egin, Fremont County, Idaho, and died on 1 February 1955 in Colorado City, Mohave County, Arizona. She is buried at Isaac W. Carling Memorial Park there.4 A later published obituary of a son, Joseph William Cooke, names William Benjamin Cooke as his father and lists Myrtle Jenkins Cooke, Rachel Balmforth Cooke, and Josephine Balmforth Cooke among the mothers who predeceased him.5

In this archive he is labeled William B. Cooke. On 4 September 1960, at a general meeting in Hildale, he was introduced as having been newly ordained a patriarch and was the first speaker. In that talk he said he had been called on a mission at age 17 under President Joseph F. Smith, and he spoke of his wife, Myrtle, and of coming into the work after reading Truth magazine. A birth in 1890 is consistent with a mission at 17 during Joseph F. Smith’s presidency (1901–1918).6

This page is about the man introduced as Brother Cook at that 1960 Hildale meeting and identified, from that context and from the public family record, as William Benjamin Cooke (1890–1976). It is not a page for other people in the archive who share the Cooke or Cook surname.

FamilySearch records his death as 19 May 1976. A death place is not stated here. Archive recordings of a funeral at Colorado City Academy on 23 May 1976 are labeled for William Benjamin Cooke and William B. Cooke; those later recordings are not yet published on this site.7

Appearances

1960

  1. TalkHildaleFull meeting: General meeting, Hildale · 2:26:5717:31

He is also named in later archive recordings, including talks dated 1 November 1970 and 10 October 1971, and in the funeral recordings of 23 May 1976. Those later years open as they are approved.

Sources

  1. WikiTree, Annie Constance Hobbs (Hobbs-3759): lists William Benjamin Cooke as a son of Benjamin Henry Joy Cooke and Annie Constance Hobbs, who married on 10 March 1886 in Logan, Cache County, Utah. The same profile cites the 1900 United States Census, Grouse Creek, Box Elder County, Utah, enumeration district 209, p. 11B, for that household. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hobbs-3759.
  2. FamilySearch, William Benjamin Cooke, identifier KWVG-VGT: birth 9 May 1890, Grouse Creek, Box Elder County, Utah; death 19 May 1976. FamilySearch person page.
  3. WikiTree, Myrtle Vera (Jenkins) Cooke (Jenkins-16148): marriage of William B. Cooke and Myrtle Vera Jenkins, 3 April 1913, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, citing Utah, Select County Marriages, 1887–1937 (Ancestry). https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jenkins-16148. See also “Utah, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church Census Records, 1914–1960,” database, FamilySearch (entry dated 26 June 2020), Myrtle Tera Jenkins Cooke, 1930.
  4. Find a Grave memorial 25001410, Myrtle Vera Jenkins Cooke (25 April 1894–1 February 1955), Isaac W. Carling Memorial Park, Colorado City, Mohave County, Arizona, as cited on WikiTree Jenkins-16148. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25001410/myrtle-vera-cooke.
  5. “Joseph W Cooke,” Mosdell Mortuary, Kanab, Utah, funeral notice for a service on 6 May 2022 in Colorado City, Arizona: names his father as William Benjamin Cooke and, among those who predeceased him, his mothers Rachel Balmforth Cooke, Josephine Balmforth Cooke, and Myrtle Jenkins Cooke. https://mosdellmortuary.com/joseph-w-cooke/.
  6. Archive recording of the general meeting at Hildale on 4 September 1960, catalog a067485fdf7c, and the extract published as catalog db83dc6041d0. In the recording he is introduced as Brother Cook, newly ordained a patriarch, and he refers to his wife, Myrtle. The archive file for the extract is labeled William B. Cooke. Talk page; meeting page.
  7. Archive funeral recordings of 23 May 1976, Colorado City Academy, whose titles name William B. Cooke or Williams Benjamin Cooke, including catalog 50aa1bc73f26 and 1de0a5f560cf.