Louise Cook Simmons grew up near her grandparents, Henry and Opha Jane Needham Cook, northwest of Frankford. In 1846, Louise Simmons’ great-grandfather, Henry Cook, led a caravan from Illinois to Texas at age seventy-five, a task seldom undertaken by any but a younger man. Henry patented land as a Peters Colonist selecting property in two different tracts, one with a spring and one with an adequate wood supply, both vital necessities. The Cook farm was a substantial farm in what is now far west Plano for well over a hundred years.
Louise Cook lived with her Grandma and Grandpa Cook for a time during her childhood and participated in the everyday farm chore. Every year Grandma Cook raised turkeys to sell for Thanksgiving. The turkeys invariably got out of the yard and headed down to the creek looking for water. Louise vividly remembered chasing the turkeys out of Frankford Cemetery as a small child.
