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A
B R I E F H I S T O R Y
O F T H E
C O O K M A N F A M I L Y
P A G E
F O U R
DECENDANTS OF
M E L B U R N C O O K M A N
Arminta Cookman (d/o Melburn and Olive Edmonds
Cookman) (photos 1 and 13) b. Jan 12, 1867, d
Mar 21, 1943, m. Oct 18, 1888 to John Oliver Cheuvront.
Arminta was born in the old home place on Jesse's Run near Jane Lew, Harrison
Co., WV. She attended the local rural school and later the "Academy"
at Weston. She taught two terms in a school near Jane Lew and boarded
during that time with a relative married to a Harrison Alcar.
Arminta attended church at the Old Harmony Church, often walking the five
miles there from the family home. This church must have been the
center of much of the neighborhood activities, because she mentioned it
many times in her life.
Arminta handed down many stories of life in the hills of West Virginia
to her family. Excursions to gather wild nuts and berries, persimmons,
and paw-paws were fun for the family, and the trick was to beat the raccoons
and opossums to the fruit after the first frost. She reminisced that
the family also gathered maple sap in the spring, boiling it down into
maple syrup and hard sugar, with the occasional spoonful dropped into the
snow for an instant "maplesicle". Arminta said the family coal mine
on their Missouri farm provided an easy winter's fuel supply [one J.Howard
noted probably did seem easy, compared to the task of chopping wood
or hauling coal from town]. She told about wild game plentiful in
the hills, the fun of neighbors' parties, box socials, and the terrible
hardships of the Civil War period. Arminta also related playing a
practical joke on a timid neighbor by placing a black bear skin across
the fence at the place where he crawled on the way home from a local still,
and scaring the poor timid man out of his wits.
Arminta
went with the family when they migrated to Missouri in 1887, and she married
John Oliver Cheuvront, a farmer and stockbuyer,
on Oct 18, 1888 in Sullivan Co., MO (see ref
8). They moved to a 320 acre farm five miles southwest of Harris,
Missouri to raise their family.
The life of a stockbuyer at the turn of the century was not an easy one,
and it involved riding horseback far and wide to buy, sell, and herd cattle.
Many trips meant a week or more in the saddle, finding accomodations wherever
one could. Early in life John contracted the dreaded Tuberculosis
which was prevalent in his family, perhaps induced by the damp "creek bottom"
location of the old homestead of his father George Cheuvront. As
a result John's health was never good, and after an injury working horses
at the new Milwaukee Railroad in Sullivan County his health began to deteriorate.
He died at his home of TB on Feb 12, 1914, and was buried in Asbury Cemetery.
After John's death Arminta continued running the farm with her family and
died on Mar 21, 1943. She was highly respected in the community and
most beloved by her family for her unselfish devotion to all.
transcription
of the Bible record of John Oliver and Arminta Cheuvront:
Husband:
John Oliver Cheuvront, born August 13, 1863
Wife:
Arminta Cookman Cheuvront, born January 12, 1867
married:
October 18, 1888
Children's
Names:
infant:
born January 12, 1890
Donna
Olive Cheuvront: born July 14, 1892
Evah Cheuvront:
born January 1, 1893
Ora Maud
Cheuvront: born May 6, 1895
Clara
Lillian Cheuvront: born May 17, 1898
Mildred
Edith Cheuvront: born April 17, 1901
Helen
Cheuvront: born June 22, 1904
John Howard
Cheuvront: born September 30, 1906
[John
Howard is the author of this information]
Paul Gerald
Cheuvront: born September 15, 1911
Marriages:
Donna:
August 30, 1915
Eva: April
7, 1915
Mildred:
July 25, 1920
Howard:
July 23, 1927
Paul:
November 14, 1934
Deaths:
John Oliver
Cheuvront: died February 12, 1914
Arminta
Cookman Cheuvront: died March 21, 1943
Infant
daughter: died January 12, 1890
Ora Maude
Cheuvront: died February 22, 1897
Clara
Lillian Cheuvront: died September 27, 1904
Helen
Cheuvront: died August 19, 1905
Paul Gerald
Cheuvront: died July 29, 1962
The official record of John Howard Cheuvront was verified by Elda Wolfe,
who was present at his birth. She signed this statement on Sept 15,
1952 at the age of 83.
photos
of Arminta Cookman and John Oliver Cheuvront family on photos pp. 7 and
13
the
family of Arminta Cookman and John Oliver Cheuvront, cont'd
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-from A Brief History of the Melburn Cookman
Family in America, J. Howard Cheuvront, 1972
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