The Francis Cooke -Packard Line
Written and researched by Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewski, B.F.A.

GENERATION ONE:

1. Francis Cooke's ancestry is unknown. We do know that he was an Englishman, and was in Leyden, Holland with the Pilgrims. Francis and his son John embarked on the Speedwell at Delf-haven in July 1620, leaving behind Hester and his other children. His occupation was wool comber of Notts, Blythe and Amsterdam - Leyden, Holland from 1609-1620. Francis Cooke was a Deputy of the General Court from 1638. Purchaser of colony in 1626. Francis fought in the Pequot War in 1637..

After arriving in Plymouth, Massachusetts; he was most likely a husbandman. All Francis' sons were farmers. Francis Cooke is estimated to be born after August 1582-1588 in England, and died April 7, 1663 in Plymouth, MA., and his age was estimated to have been over 80 years.

Francis' wife, Hester, came to Plymouth on the Anne with the rest of their children, near the latter part of July in 1623. In the following spring they received two acres on the south side of the brook, towards the bay, and four acres towards Strawberry Hill (Family Tree Maker, CD 203, The Complete Mayflower Descendants, Disk 1. The Mayflower Descendant, Volume III, Mayflower Genealogies - Francis Cooke and His Descendants) Francis married Hester Mahieu on June 30, 1603 in Leyden, Holland. Hester's father was Frances LeMahieu of France (B: abt. 1564), and Jeanne ____? Hester
was born between 1582-1588 in Canterbury, England, and died after June 8, 1666 in Plymouth, MA.
Hester came on the ship Anne. She was a Walloon (Belgium) and Huguenot (French Protestant) and took communion with the Separatist Church. He was admitted to the French Reformed Church in Leyden in 1603.