Joseph Cooke died as a result of an accident, demonstrating to his children changing a tire with a bumper jack. The jack slipped and he was hit by the trunk lidon the back of his head. He died of an aneurysm from the accident just before Christmas, about 1946 or 1947.
According to my mother (Margaret Cooke Ackerman) after Joseph had gotten a job with Chase Bank in NY as a messenger, he gave his siblings a $5 gold piece as a Christmas present.
More About Joseph H. Cooke: Date born 2: Jul 1899, Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA.107 Burial: Unknown, Calvary Cem. Paterson Passaic Co., NJ.108 Census: 18 Apr 1930, Listed at 20 Park St., Paterson, Passaic, NJ, 8th ward, E.D. 62, sheet 10A.108 Died 2: Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA.109
Children of Joseph H. Cooke and Margaret Mathews are: