I wrote this in honor of my granddaughter Sydney, who this week begins her first teaching job with Teach for America, in an inner-city school in Chicago. 

A teacher brought us to America… Our great-something Grandfather Stephen Cook was a Hedgerow Teacher in mid-19th century Ireland. This was a terrible era for the Irish. England had subjugated them to an extreme degree – even forbidding them to educate their children, or to wear their national color green. How mean could they be!

Men and women of that era began to teach Irish children clandestinely, in barns and hedgerows – dense bushes that lined the farms and roads. This was against the law, and those caught were imprisoned.

Grandfather Stephen Cook was one of these teachers. His activities became known to the English, and a price was put on his head. Somebody must have ratted him out. English soldiers, angry that Stephen had escaped, burned down his home and barn, with the cow in it.

Stephen, his six children and wife Julia managed to escape Ireland and come by leaky coffin ship to America. These ships were so old, overloaded and unsafe, that many sunk, with their passengers who would never see America. 

       The family first came to New York where they worked in the textile mills. They scattered into all parts of the country pursuing careers such as law, arts, religion, politics, of course, teaching. There are now  hundreds, possibly thousands, of Cook descendants. 

 In mid-20th century, our Aunt Leona Garrity traveled from her home in Detroit to Ireland to collect this history and publish it as The Cook Book. At this time, such travel was unusual, especially for a woman alone. Leona no doubt traveled by ship. It is from this history that an annual gathering of the Cook clan in New York has come.

Teachers have such incredible impact. It was a teacher who led me to writing as a career. After I turned in an essay for class, she returned it, no letter grade, just this:  “The written word needs you.”