1888 History of Harrison and Mercer Counties, Missouri Page 686:
Jackson Cook was born in Claiborne County, Tenn., December 27, 1840, and his parents, Wiley and Lucinda (Harper) Cook, were both born in the same State. The father immigrated to Missouri in 1843, locating first near Independence, but removing to Mercer County in 1847, where he has since resided upon a farm in Princeton Township. He is one of the oldest pioneer settlers of the county now living, and is highly respected in the community where he is known. Five of his children are living; Insley, of Washington Territory, Jackson, Sarah (wife of Wesley Clark, of Mercer County), John T. and Alcy (wife of Calvin Curtis). Jackson was reared upon a farm in Mercer County, and during his youth secured a common school education. He engaged in farming until the close of the Rebellion, when he removed to Princeton, where he has since successfully engaged in the furniture business. He carries at his store on the west side a large and good stock of furniture, carpets, window shades, etc., and has the only undertaking establishment in Princeton. He is also engaged in the sale of pianos and organs, in partnership with T. E. Evans, and is regareded as one of Princeton's well-to-do and enterprising business men. In 1861 Mr. Cook married Elizabeth Hutchison, a native of Lincoln County, Ky., by whom he has had five children; Amanda J., John H., William, Frank and Claude. Mr. Cook is a Republican, and during the late war served six months in the State Militia. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the I.O.O.F.
Obituary:
Jackson Cook was born December 27, 1840 in Granger County, Tennesse and died June 16, 1923 at Sand Point, Idaho. He was on his way to visit Insley Cook, his brother, became ill on the train, and was taken off at Sand Point and taken to the hospital where he died.
Taken from the Princeton Telegraph - June 27, 1923
The following article was taken from an interview by Mr. Cook which was published in the Kansas City Star about six months ago:
Jackson Cook was the first undertaker in Nort Missouri more than fifty years ago. He bought the first hearse, embalmed the first body, umported the first caskets and has witnessed as great change in the last fifty years in the conduct of funerals as old King Tut has in his three thousand.
The early pioneers were fatalists, says Mr. Cook, and regarded things of death and burial as something that could not be delayed nor improved upon. The people knew that disease was contagious but didn't know how it was spread. They had observed that those who attended funerals readily died of similar diseases so attending funerals was neither the fad nor the style it was when Old King Tut was buried or when he was lately resurrected. Hundreds of people died with little or no medical attention and most of these were buried in the woods in a coffin made of native walnut lumber. The coffin was generally made by a member of the family or a neighbor who was something of a carpenter.
The firm of Cook & Norcross, Undertakers, was launched in Princeton in 1870. Mr. Norcross was a carpenter and was to keep a stock of coffins on hand while Mr. Cook was to be the Embalmer and Funeral Director. He imported a hearse from Bloomington, Iowa, which cost $300 and bought a (line left out in article) using the hearse was $5.00 and to embalm a body cost five more. The fluid was not injected as is now done but was rubbed over the body with a cloth. However it was many years before either embalming or a hearse was much in demand. People were content to load the coffin on some hay in the back end of a lynch-pin wagon, then too, they were not so particular where burial was made, so few long trips were made. As a general thing, in the early days, says Mr. Cook, it was rare that as many as a dozen attended a funeral while he has attended where only himself, the sexton and the family were present. It was rare that the total cost was so much as $40. The funeral cortage, particularly in Princeton, was seldom more than two vehicles, the one hauling the body and the other the family, who also served in most instances as pall bearers. From this time he first came to Princeton until they died, there were two men who always sent a team each to every funeral and that was Eli Mullinax, a merchant and farmer, and Rush Bowsher, a liveryman. No charge was made for their teams nor their personal assistance.
The funerals conducted by Cook and the coffins made by his partner, Norcross, were soon in demand over a radius of twenty miles. The coffins were shaped to the body, being wide at the shoulders and narrow at either end. They were covered with black plush and ornamented with handles and lid-screws bout in St. Louis. The best of these sold for $25. Some bought shrouds for the dead. These were made of silk and resembled either a woman's dress or a man's suit. Half of the total expense was profit so they figured they had a princely income which was about $200 a month for the firm.
The first caskets were bought in St. Louis about 1875 and these retailed at from $10 to $20 but they were not considered so good nor so stylish as the home-made coffins. At this same time they bought a "metalic" casket. It was made entirely of cast iron and weighed more than four hundred pounds. These "caskets" had glass lids and attracted much attention on that account. The metalic one was considere a saleless thing but they sold it to a rich family for the then princely sum of $100 and hauled it twenty miles to deliver it at which time they embalmed the body and conducted the funeral without extra charge.
In the early pioneer rural days music was looked upon as being out of place even in the churches. It was therefore not the style to sing at funerals, nor to have flowers. In fact prayer was seldom given. Although it was the custom for the traveling ministers to "preach" a funeral, this was done after the burial and often it was several months after at which time mabe several funerals would be preached at one time. Mr. Cook favors the old time home-made coffin, made in the old fashioned way, from god sound walnut. He does not favor "embalming" as it was first called, but he thinks the present day funerals are more civilized and more to his liking.