History never ceases to be exciting and another search is underway.
Bruce Miller    <[log in to unmask]>  from MA stopped to ask
me for directions to the family plot of Ransom Cook who was a very
well known inventor, furniture builder and reforming prison warden.
A lot is known about Ransom but I had not heard about his brother
Nelson Cook until yesterday. Bruce introduced me to the website
that has been created and asks that anyone who can direct him
to anything known  (paintings, correspondence and other information
about Nelson Cook) would be greatly appreciated.  Please visit and
enjoy his work and the information that has been located to date.
www.nelsoncook.com   Bruce is on the road for a few days to
photograph more portraits that have been located. He asks for help
in finding anything more about Nelson Cook.

Nelson Cook (rarely Cooke) was the son of furniture-maker Joseph
Cook and Mary Ann Tolman, who moved to Ballston/Saratoga area
around 1800 from Wallingford, CT. Nelson left Saratoga area around
1832 for Canada and spent several years as an itinerant painter. He
painted for individuals and families of modest circumstances as well
as the more affluent such as Lt. Governors, military figures and those
associated with the growing canal industry.

He returned to NYS about 1838-39 and continued portraiture in various
Upstate cities including Buffalo and Rochester and taught at Temple
Grove Seminary here in Saratoga Springs.

Nelson was also described as an "occasional poet" and if any poems
found that are accredited to him would also be of interest.

Thanks in advance to any help that can be given in the
search for Nelson Cook.

God Bless
Ruth Ann Messick
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