2026 (6) Enoch Cook - Mary Foster - Cook Support the newborn American Cause

Enoch Cook was born in Newton MA  in 1744, He died in May 1827 in Westford, Mass. He settled in Groton for a time, about 1770. 
Enoch Cook married Mary Foster (1743-1789) on 21 Feb 1765   * [Vital Records of Newton, Massachusetts] His wife Mary Foster was born in 1743, in Newton, Middlesex, MA. 

Genealogy of Fosters in Mass: Mary Foster & Enoch Cook's marriage 1765

(Captain) William Enoch Cook and Mary Foster
The family genealogy passed to Ruth Antilla has Enoch Cook as  >>“William”  Enoch Cook<<.  We can only speculate as to why, for in some of the records I found he is called “Enoch William Cook.” Most records have him as “Enoch Cook.” However, he had a son named “Enoch” – sometimes done to differentiate between father and son within the family.
Their children were: 
1   Lydia Cook 1765–1805
2    Samuel Cook 1767–1858
3   Mary Cook 1769–?
4    Enoch Cook 1771–1830
*5    John Cook 1774–1848
6   Lucy Cook 1777–?
7    Lucy Cook 1779–1840
 8   Sally Cook 1783–1865

American Revolutionary War Service in Massachusetts
Clearly Enoch Cook sided with the “rebel” or American cause in the colony of Massachusetts. He supported it with his ‘life, fortune and sacred honor’ as the following information suggests.
With the alarm on 19 Apr 1775 this company, raised in Groton and Pepperell, Mass, went immediately to Lexington.  
He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and held the rank of Sergeant in the company of Capt. John Swatelle and the regiment of Col. James Prescott.
Enoch was also in Capt. Edmund Longley's Co., Col. Cogswell's regiment in 1778.  This regiment was on detached service to guard and fortify posts around Boston. 

Enoch Cook's burial information in Westford MA

After the Revolutionary War, the family history papers claim he was a leader in Shay’s Rebellion in western Massachusetts. But I found no records supporting this.

The Cook family owns a Revolutionary period British-flintlock gun?
The family papers of the Cooks (compiled in the late 1900s) mentions a gun from the Revolutionary war, and that it was still in the possession of one of the descendants of Enoch Cook. I searched to verify this but came up with nothing, until I found a newspaper article about a descendant.  A 1901 newspaper article titled “Five Generations of Cooks” says: 

"Abel Cook....was born in the town of Groton, Mass, May 24, 1807. …He is the _grandson of Enoch Cook, who served in the revolutionary war, was present at the surrender of Burgoyne's army and took from an English soldier a flint-lock gun, which is now in his grandson's possession." (where the gun is today, I have no idea)

 

Enoch Cook's Revolutionary War Loan to Massachusetts
The ending pledge of the Declaration of Independence from England famously says the signers committed their “lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” to the cause. 
"Fortunes”  is there because, of course, when the colonies broke from England, they were separate from the mother country. Being "independent" by definition meant they lacked a direct supply of money to pay soldiers or for ammunition, etc.  

Now, there was no Washington DC, no central bank, no currency with anything behind it, no Federal Reserve, and there was no gold to back money. 

Wealthy men, such as Robert Morris Jr of New York was a signer of the Declaration and is considered a financier of the Revolutionary cause. Still, Congress and its colonies had in essence create a “GoFundMe” in each colony to support soldiers, ammo, etc. 

Massachusetts Continental Loan Office
In Oct 1776 to raise money the 2nd Continental Congress authorized a loan office (or Continental loan office) in each of the 13 colonies/states. These colonial offices would accept the loan from colonists (called “subscriptions”) in addition to handling financial matters for the national Treasury.  Each state had its own commissioner of loans, although the officials were technically agents of Congress.
Massachusetts Continental Loan Office issued loan certificates to both men and women. These loans from colonists were called “subscriptions” to a loan office. What was happening was they were contributing to the financing of the colonie's army, rather like War Bonds of WW2. 

Some had subscriptions for the army they served in. Enoch Cook was an officer but he also “subscribed” to the loan. All records of the subscriptions are recorded in loan office's records.
Below is the top of the ledger page Enoch Case's subscription is recorded on. In the yellow box are columns with name, date, number of certificates, certificate #s, and amount in dollars. In the top row I put the date in an orange box (all I can make out is) “1779.” In the pink box is the name of the subscriber; here it is Stephen Greenleaf. The purple box indicates how many certificates he 'subscribed" to: 1 certificate. The blue box next to it indicates Stephen's certificate number, which was 4956. On the right in the green box is the total amount of all certificates he subscribed (at 400 dollars each): he loaned the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 400 dollars (for 1 certificate).

Top of Ledger: Columns with Titles (Massachusetts)

Near the bottom of the ledger page is Enoch Cook's subscription. He too bought 1 certificate, the number was 5023 and loaning the Commonwealth 400 dollars.
 

Enoch Cook's purchase of a subscription on the same ledger page 1779

Discharged from Duty

New England, and Massachusetts in particular, had been so troublesome for such a long time, the British ceased their active military ventures in the colony early in the official war period. The Battle of Brooklyn, NY on Long Island was the first major engagement after the Declaration of Independence was signed July 1776. 

The British forces saved their men and might for the mid-Atlantic and southern colonies for the rest of the war. Enoch Cook was discharged from service in 1779. (Record below) 

Enoch Cook's enlistment and discharge paper (DAR online)

Death and Burial

His wife, Mary (Foster) Cook, died in Groton, Middlesex, MA. Enoch Cook died on 3 May 1827, at the age of 83, and was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Westford, Middlesex, MA


SOURCES:

Marriage record: Vital Records of Newton, Massachusetts, published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass, 1905 (Internet Archive)]

 5 Generations of Cooks: Text from "Five Generations of Cooks" published in the Boston Globe Newspaper, 28 Oct 1901, page 2. 

 

 Found in DAR records:

REVOLUTIONARY WAR MUSTER ROLLS, Microfilm Publication: M246; National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 93: War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, 1709-1939

AND

LEDGER RECORDS, Records of the Massachusetts Loan Office, 53.3.2; Microfilm Publications: M925, T783; National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 53: Records of the Bureau of Public Debt.

Website: Town of Westford Massachusetts, Military burials (town website) accessed Feb 2026 

Family Papers: Cook Family Genealogy (sent by Don F Cook to Ruth Antilla 1980)