By By Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery
You never know where the lives of those who rest within Silverbrook Cemetery will take us. This week, our research brings us to the front page of this very newspaper.
In the mid 1800s a newspaper known as the Niles Gazetteer and Advertiser was followed by the Niles Gazette and the Niles Intelligencer. In 1839, a Whig paper called the Niles Republican showed up on the scene.
Darius B. Cook was born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1815. He began his newspaper career as a journeyman printer in New York City.
When he decided to move west, he got a job as a compositor in the offices of the Detroit Free Press until 1838 when he started out for Chicago. He travelled with an ox-team and an old Washington hand press in the wagon.
Cook never made it to Chicago. When he arrived in Kalamazoo, he decided to stay, where he pursued his printing business using the hand press until 1842.
That was the year that Cook along with a partner H.B Miller became the owners of the paper and converted it into a Democratic journal. Cook became the sole owner of the paper, operating it and a job printing business for 24 years until he sold it in 1862.
He then sold it to A.J. Shakespeare who changed its name to the Niles Democrat. The paper had several publishers.
Shortly after he sold the paper Cook began publishing a newspaper he called the Niles Globe and then in 1876, he established the Niles Weekly Mirror. He continued to publish the Mirror until his death in 1876.
He was an ardent Democrat, however, remained independent in local matters. He sometimes supported candidates for local office in the paper. No doubt he would have enjoyed these historical pieces as you do today.
At one time he published the story around the history of a flint-lock gun he owned, once used by his grandfather, Daniel Cook at the battle of Lexington in 1775. He later willed the piece, perfectly preserved to his grandson, Harry W. Cook.
"He was a conservative in his political belief but was an earnest champion of all measures and movements which he believed would promote public welfare and progress. Throughout the community where he made his home he was greatly esteemed," says "The History of Berrien County."
He married Miss Jane Wadhams, also of Connecticut and they had three children. Frank, Emma and Fred W. Fred W. was the only one of the children to remain in Niles.
He attended public school here for eight years and began setting type for his father when he was only 5. Young Fred shared his father's passion for print.
He learned the trade at an early age from his Dad becoming the publisher of the Niles Mirror when he was only 17.
After his father's death he continued the publication of the paper for a time then sold out.
On the 24th of March in 1886 he issued the first copy of what we now know as the Niles Daily Star, the first daily newspaper to be published in Berrien County.
At the writing of the piece in "The History of Berrien County," Cook had "never missed an issue up to the present time, covering a period of 22 years. He has been very successful in conducting this publication and owns the building and all its contents, having a well-equipped newspaper plant.
"The character of the paper is indicated by the liberal patronage accorded it. It has good circulation and advertising patronage and from the beginning the enterprise has proven a profitable venture."
Cook married another Niles native, Marry Flaherty in September of 1878. They had two sons.
His namesake Fred D, continued job printing in a plant connected to his father's newspaper. Harry W. moved to New York City where he opened a wholesale tea and coffee business.
Fred W. is said to have been independent in politics with no aspiration for public office. He was a member of the Modern Woodsmen of America-featured in an earlier column-and of the order of Patricians and the Owls.
Cook spent his entire life in Niles as a newspaperman and continued his father's championship of progressive public measures through the paper. It seems only proper that we celebrate his life on the pages of the paper he founded more than 142 years ago.
For more information on Friends of Silverbrook with regards to memberships and work days to help restore and catalog the monuments contact: Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery c/o 508 E. Main St. Niles MI 49120, Tim and Candace Skalla at 684-2455, wskalla@sbcglobal.net or contact Ginny Tyler at 684-3687, SPHINX1974@aol.com.