Cook, William Francis

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: John N. Grant, “COOK, WILLIAM FRANCIS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/cook_william_francis_9E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Merchant, shipbuilder, and office-holder; b. 4 Feb. 1796 at or near Guysborough, N.S., third child of Benjamin Cook and Philomela Hull; m. first, on 5 May 1822, Eliza Cunningham (d. 1850), and they had eight children; m. secondly, in the mid 1850s, Caroline Brown, and they had one child; d. 8 April 1862 at Canso, N.S.
    • Apparently Francis Cook was apprenticed to Thomas Cutler, a Guysborough merchant, in whose service he was brought up and in whose firm he eventually became a partner. In 1816, likely through Cutler’s influence, he was made clerk of licence by the Court of Sessions; he also served as gauger, as hog reeve, and as an inspector and culler of dry and pickled fish. In 1822 Cook left R. M. Cutler and Company and established his own business in Guysborough. He dealt in general merchandise, and he likely purchased the fish he shipped to Halifax whence it was reshipped by larger firms to the West Indies. He may even have shipped directly to the West Indies himself. He also owned seines and engaged directly in the fishery. Between 1836 and 1849 his shipyards launched a number of brigs, schooners, and barques.
    • A relatively minor figure in a community decreasing in importance, Francis Cook is nevertheless interesting as a typical middleman in the Nova Scotia fishery. The business of shipping fish was a risky one, and it made or destroyed the fortunes of hundreds of Nova Scotian entrepreneurs.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=14514
  • Find A Grave: Cannot locate.