From the recording Dubuque's Heritage, Life in Our Own Backyard
Lucy Cooke's story seems almost too theatrical to be true, but there it is. The Cookes were part of the Dubuque Emigrating Company, a 72-family contingent which followed the Oregon Trail to the Golden West in 1852. After settling down in San Francisco, Lucy and William had three more daughters and four sons. Mr. Cooke died in 1915 at the age of eighty-eight.