My Genealogy Hound

Henry H. Crook came originally from South Carolina, in which State he was born, in 1825, to Wiley D. Crook, who was born in Chester District, S. C, in 1804. He married an old schoolmate, Miss Ruth B. Hyatt, in 1825, and the same year moved to West Tennessee, they being among the first to locate in that region. Mr. Crook became a professor of religion in his youth, and his life was afterward noted for earnest devotion to Christian duties. Upon his death, which occurred July 17, 1854, he left a widow and a large family of children to mourn their loss. Henry H. Crook came West with his father in 1846, and the same year entered some land in Drew County, Ark., and now has a valuable farm of 280 acres in Ashley County, of which forty-five are under cultivation. His father was elected to the State Legislature in 1852, and while a member of that body, introduced the Exception Bill, which exempted 160 acres from execution and which has never been repealed. The early educational advantages of Henry H. Crook were rather better than common, and although he started out in life as a farmer, he embarked in the dry goods business in 1850, in Monticello, but closed out at the opening of the war. He became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856, and was ordained a deacon in 1860, by Bishop George F. Pierce, during conference at Pine Bluff, and an elder at a district meeting at Hamburg, in 1872, by Bishop J. C. Keener. He has discharged the duties of a minister up to the present date, and during this long period has been the means of saving many souls. He was married in 1845, to Miss Malinda Morgan, of Mississippi, by whom he has twelve living children: Sarah E., Ruth J., Susan E. and Julia A. are married, and living in Drew County, Ark.; Mary L., Chloe I., Lucy and Mattie are married, and living in Western Texas; Benjamin W. is married, and living at Fountain Hill, Ashley County, Ark.; William A. is married, and living at Montongo, Drew County, Ark.; Erastus is married, and living in Ashley County, Ark.; Jeremiah is living in Bolivar County, Miss., and is married. Mr. Crook was married, a second time, in 1875, his wife being a Mrs. Harris, by whom he has one child, Ethel Tilden. His first wife died in November, 1874. Mr. Crook has been justice of the peace, and was coroner of Drew County before the war. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and is an enterprising and influential man in this section of the country, and is a warm friend of schools, churches, and, in fact, all worthy enterprises.