from The History of Hendricks County (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914)--pages 798-800
Life is pleasant to live when you know how to make the most of it. Some people start in life as if they had weights on their souls or were afraid to make the necessary effort to live up to a high standard. Others, by not making the proper study of the conditions of existence, or by not having that blessed trainer, a good and intelligent mother, are side-tracked at the outset and never seem thereafter able to get back on the main track. Much depends on the start, just as it does in a race. It would seem from the large success that has attended the efforts of Horace Greeley Cook, farmer and stock man of Hendricks County, that he not only got a proper start on the highway of life, but that he has been able to maintain the proper course all the while; but those who know him, his methods and innate characteristics, are not at all surprised that this is so.
Horace Greeley Cook, a native of this township, was born November 5, 1853, and is the son of Henderson and Nancy J. (Banta) Cook. Henderson Cook was born near Mt. Airy, North Carolina, and was the son of ______ and Edith (Jackson) Cook. Henderson Cook grew to manhood in North Crolina, and when a young man came to this county on horseback, and for a short time managed a hotel at Belleville. While living at Belleville, he was married to Nancy J. Banta, the daughter of Cornelius and Rebecca (Eccles) Banta. Mrs. Cook was native of Indiana and was reared in Hendricks and Ripley counties. After his marriage, Henderson Cook traded in live stock and during the Civil War bought horses and mules and sold them to the government. In 1872 he moved to a farm northwest of North Salem, which he already owned, and lived there until two or three years before his death, when he moved into North Salem, where he died in September, 1884. He was a staunch Republican all his life and was once nominated by his party for the office of sheriff, but did not care enough for the office to make a canvass. His widow now lives at Los Angeles, California. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson Cook were the parents of seven children, five of whom are living: Mrs. Luella Myers, whose husband is city auditor of Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Edith R. Jones, of San Francisco; Edward and Charles M., both of whom live in Los Angeles, California, and Horace Greeley, whose history is here presented.
Horace Greeley Cook remained on the home farm until he was nearly twenty-eight years of age. He received a good common school education and later attended the academy at Belleville. Upon his marriage, in 1881, he bought forty acres in the northern part of Marion Township and lived there with his wife's mother for three years. After his father's death he moved to his father's farm and remained there until 1900. He then bought the farm of one hundred and sixty-three acres which he now owns, three miles north of North Salem.
Mr. Cook was married August 28, 1881, to Hattie Walker, the daughter of David and Mary (Robbins) Walker, of Eel River Township. David Walker was born June 4, 1828, in Virginia and came to this county with his parents when a small boy, they settling on what is now the Michael Higgins farm. The parents of David Walker were Goodloe and Rebecca (Henderson) Walker. Upon reaching his majority, David Walker married Mary Robbins, who was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, and is the daughter of John and Lydia (Parsons) Robbins. Lydia (Parsons) Robbins lived to be ninety-five years of age. Mary Walker came, with her parents, in early childhood to Ohio and three years later came to Indiana, her father entering one hundred and sixty acres of government land in Marion Township, this county, about 1835, and lived there the remainder of his life. After David Walker was married he followed carpentering and contracting and lived the most of his life in the southern part of Eel River Township. He enlisted in Company B, Seventh Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and died in a military prison in Florence, South Carolina, December 4, 1864, leaving a widow and three children living. Mrs. Walker remained on the farm until her children were grown and married and in 1872 she married David Jones, an ex-soldier of the Civil War, who died less than a year later. Mrs. David Walker Jones now lives with her daughter, Mrs. Cook.
Mr. Cook was allied with the Republican Party until 1912, when he united with Progressive Party, believing that the principles advocated by this new party were better suited to the modern conditions of the country. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are the parents of two children, Nellie and Edith. Nellie is the wife of Roy M. Sharp and lives four miles east of Ladoga on a farm; she has one daughter, Hariett Catherine. Edith is still at home with her parents. The one son born to Mr. and Mrs. Cook died in early infancy. Mr. Cook and all the members of his family have been adherents of the Christian Church and give to it their earnest support. Mr. Cook has long taken an interest in the affairs of his vicinity and county and identifies himself with all worthy measures of a public nature. For the exercise of grit, economy, perseverance and honesty, Mr. Cook has not only won material success, but, what is still better, he has the esteem of all with whom he has come into contact.