The Memorandum Book of Ennion Cook 1772-1841: An Early Quaker Schoolmaster

102Bulletin of Friends Historical Association THE MEMORANDUM BOOK OF ENNION COOK 1772-1841 An Early Quaker Schoolmaster By Susanna Smedley and Anna B. Hewitt One of the prized possessions of the late Ann Sharpless, of West Chester, was the memorandum book of Ennion Cook, an early Quaker schoolmaster of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Inside on the first page of this little book with paper-covered sides and worn leather backbone is written in a clear, strong hand, "A Memorandum Book Belonging to Ennion Cook," and on the second page, "Ennion Cook's Book, 10th day of 3rd month 1820." Ennion Cook belonged to Birmingham Meeting for a long period and taught in the meeting school. Aaron Sharpless, also a member of the meeting, served as his executor, and it is through him that the little book must have come to his daughter Ann. She expressed the wish that eventually this book be placed at Haverford, so after her death in 1943 it was presented to the Library, where it is a valued item in the Quaker Manuscript Collection.1 Friends came to Chester County in the early days of the settlement of Pennsylvania, and established a meeting at Birmingham in 1684. This meeting, a vigorous and growing one, first met in different places, sometimes in private homes, but in 1763 a meetinghouse was erected. This is the present house, historic because of its use as a hospital during the Battle of the Brandywine. Birmingham Friends opened one of the earliest country schools and pioneered in establishing a library. Into this wide-awake community came Ennion (pronounced Inyun) Cook, a young man of twenty-three, about the year 1795, bringing his certificate from Goshen Meeting in 1798. We do not know his history before he came to Birmingham, excepting that he was the son of Stephen and Margaret Cook of London Grove; nor do we know where or how much education he had received, or what finally brought him to Birmingham. In 1800 he married 1AmI Sharpless (1850-1943) was the daughter of Aaron Sharpless and his second wife Susanna Forsythe Sharpless. For information about Aaron Sharpless and his family see the volume compiled by Gilbert Cope, Genealogy of the Sharpless Family (Philadelphia, 1887), p. 694. Notes and Documents103 Agnes Garrett, a member of the meeting, and she may have been the magnet which drew him to this group of Friends. From his various activities and the positions which he held it is evident that Ennion Cook was an intelligent, useful, and valued member of the community. Ennion Cook's name appears on the first list of subscribers to the library in 1795; he became a library director in 1800; and continued a member until the time of his death in 1841. Futhey and Cope in their History of Chester County report that "The library was first kept at the residence of Abraham Darlington, then removed to Ennion Cook's in 1807, where it was located until 1850, when a house was built for its accommodation on the property of Jesse Seal."2 From 1802 to 1823, Ennion Cook served as schoolmaster for the meeting, following John Forsythe. A schoolhouse was erected shortly after the Revolution, but the school outgrew this building and in 1819 a new one was built. This quaint octagonal schoolhouse is standing today on the grounds of Birmingham Meeting. Ennion Cook stood first on the list of subscribers to this octagonal schoolhouse. He gave the largest single amount, $60, the total sum raised being over $700.3 In 1825 he became a member of the School Committee, in which he took a prominent part. Little is known about Friend Ennion's teaching, except for some items gleaned from a ledger of expenses which he kept and which is now at the Chester County Historical Society in West Chester. He boarded some of the pupils at $1.25 per week, and the tuition seems to have been $8.00 per year at first and later raised to $10.00. The Commissioners of Chester County paid tuition for pupils who could not afford to do so, and also provided funds for a variety of items such as the following: To...