Susanna Ross Cook was born in 1807 in
Stonycreek Township, the daughter of Michael Ross and
Susanna Good. In 1837, at age
20, she married James Cook, A stage coach driver from
eastern PA.
Susanna was a farmer's wife and probably never left
Somerset County. She and James lived in Stonycreek
Township on a farm near Buckstown until their final
years, when they went to live in Shade Township with
their youngest son, Levi.
Susanna and her husband James are buried at Shade
Church Cemetery along with Levi and his wife, Mary.
According to the barely readable inscriptions on their
tablet shaped tombstones, James died in 1877 at 75 years
old, and Susanna died in 1886 at 79 years old.
Susanna is exceptional as she was the mother of five
sons who served as Union soldiers from Somerset County.
All of the sons were born
and are buried in Somerset County with the exception of
one, Edward, who
was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in 1864. Every
year, and almost
every month from 1861 to 1865, Susanna and her husband
James could only watch
and wait as one, or the other, or all of their five sons
left their peaceful
farm in Stonycreek to fight in this horrific war.
