William Cooke (1613-1679), the son of "mariner" Philip Cooke and his wife Elizabeth _______, was married to Mary Blackborne on 4 June, 1632 in St. Augustine's parish church in Bristol, County Gloucester, England. His son William was probably born in Virginia, or enroute, in the next year as there is no parish record. The record does state that the elder William married again in 1636 (not in that parish) to Ann _______ and that a son Philip was born of this union. This second marriage and birth were probably also in Virginia, as was a third marriage to another Mary.  William, the immigrant, was in Virginia by 1634 when he and William Miles patented 1100 acres in Isle of Wight County on the second branch of the Blackwater, adjacent to John Oliver and Frances English. The third wife, Mary ______ was named when William sold 400 acres in Isle of Wight in 1669 before moving on to Surry County.  He died in Surry before 1879 as his wife had remarried by that date.

            In 1664, the second William Cooke patented 360 acres in Isle of Wight at the head of a branch of the Blackwater. Before 1665 he married Joan Roper, the daughter of Hugh Roper of Burnham in Somerset, England and in the next year she received a legacy from her father. Because he had a son also named William, he signed his will as "William Cooke, Sr." in 1698. The will was probated that August.  He gave his three sons, John, William and Reuben, each a plantation. His wife Joan was given "the plantation I now live on" which, at her death, was given to the son Thomas, not 21.  His widow Joan married John Carrell and died in 1720. The children of William and Joan were John (m. Hannah Jones), William (m.Rebecca Jones) , Reuben (m. Hannah Atkinson Gee), Thomas (m. Mary Jones),  Elizabeth (m.John Weaver), Joanna (m. _____Burrow), Sarah (m. Samuel Cornwall)  and another daughter who married Samuel Hargrove.

            On September 20, 1727, the third William Cooke and his wife, Rebecca Jones, deeded to William Briggs for their sons, James and Reuben Cooke, the land left Rebecca by her father. William's will was written May 1, 1740 and was probated in November of that year. The children were James, William (m. Elizabeth Rives), Reuben (m. Anne _____), Elizabeth (m. Thomas Tomlinson), Rebecca (m. James Anderson), Sarah (m. Henry Mitchell), Mary (m. Willam Briggs) , Susannah (m. Michael Gary), Hannah (m. Richard Gary) and Amy (m. John Maclin).