Payne Gap Cemetery Directory

James Thomas “Jim” Cook (1884-1926)

Names Detail

First Name

Middle Name

Nick Name/Preferred Name

Last Name

Birth and Death

Birth Date

Death Date

Age at Death

Cemetery Location and Disposition

Cemetery Location

Disposition Type

Relationships to Others at the Cemetery

• Son of John Thomas “J.T.” Cook (1849-1921)
• Son of Martha Jane “Mattie” [Wilkey] Cook (1855-1939)
• Sister of Lena Laura [Cook] Adams (1895-1977)
• Brother of Wilkie Don “Don” Cook (1897-1990)
• Brother of Carl Decker Cook (1899-1997)

External Links

• Find A Grave

Notes

“He followed virtue as his truest guide, lived as a Christian, as a Christian died”–Headstone.

Jim was born in Coryell County, Texas, to J.T. Cook and Mattie Cook. He lived most of his life in the Moline/Payne Gap area, but by the 1920 census, he lived with his Lillie L. [Smith] (1887-1959) and son Elden (Autrey Elden) (1910-1934) in Lometa, Texas. By the 1930 census, Lillie, now widowed, and Elden had moved to Big Spring, Texas. Elden worked as a machinist there. Lillie was living with her mother, Martha A. “Mattie” Smith, in Mullin, Texas, as of the 1940 census. A few years later, Lillie was living in Abilene according to a 1944 city directory. Lillie married Lark G. Collins (1886-1963) in Abilene on February 12, 1948.

Jim died of chronic tuberculosis in Moline according the his death certificate signed by Dr. James T. Hicks.

Autrey, Jim and Lillie’s only son, lost his life at age 22 when the car that he and four other passengers were riding in struck a retaining wall about sixty feet above the Shoshone River near Cody, Wyoming. Autrey jumped from the car as it teetered near a canyon wall and fell into the river. At the time, Autry as working for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Autry is buried at the Mount Olive Cemetery in Big Spring.

Images and Documents