Tim Cook Family History

Timothy Donald Cook, better known as Tim Cook, was born on November 1st, 1960 to Don and Geraldine Cook in Mobile, Alabama.

When Tim was eleven the family moved to the small town of Robertsdale lying midway between the two towns of Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida.  They lived there in a brick house on a dead-end street not far from a livestock auction house.

Tim Cook excelled at school.  But the money was tight. When he wrote an award-winning essay at the age of sixteen, he had to do it by hand as his family could not afford a new typewriter.

After getting his degree from Auburn University, Tim spent twelve years working with IBM, eventually becoming their director of North American fulfilment.

Tim at Apple.  In 1997 he was hired by Steve Jobs at Apple, beginning a long friendship and working relationship with him.  When Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple in 2011, he named Cook as his successor.  A very different type of leader, he has grown the company enormously since that time.  Tim Cook came out as gay in 2014.

Tim’s political skills became evident in 2025 when he had to deal with President Trump’s tariff trade warfare with China.  Most of Apple’s products are made in China and Tim managed to get them exempt from US import tariffs.

Early Cooks

The starting point for Tim Cook’s forebears in America was reported to be Monmouth county in New Jersey.

New Jersey and Earlier.  Here the first known ancestor was William Cook, a farmer, who was born in the town of Shrewsbury in 1780 and who married Mary Porter around the year 1800.

It may be that his line in America could extend further back to 1645 and to Thomas Cook who came to Rhode Island from England at that time.

Moving South.  We can plot William and Mary’s movements by the birth of their children – a daughter Emilene in Virginia in 1802 and a son Alexander in South Carolina in 1818.

William died two years later in South Carolina and Mary seems to have returned back to New Jersey some time later.  Her son Alexander went south to Alabama where he met and married Susan Henderson around the year 1845.

Cooks in Alabama

The Cooks made their home in the rural coastal plain of south-central Alabama, first in Butler county and then in neighboring Crenshaw county when it was formed in 1866.

The Cook line there went as follows:

• Alexander Cook (1818-1872)
• Daniel Dozier Cook (1867-1938)
• Canie Dozier Cook (1902-1985)
• Donald D. Cook (1933-2023)

Daniel Dozier was the youngest son of Alexander and Susan Cook; while Canie Dozier, born in 1902, was the second of Daniel’s three sons.

Tim’s Father.  Don Cook, Canie’s elder son, married his wife Geraldine (from a country town outside of Greenville) in Butler county, Alabama in 1957.

Don worked as a foreman for Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding, which was the largest employer in Mobile in the 1950’s. The firm built and repaired ships for the military. Geraldine meanwhile worked at a drugstore in Robertsdale after they moved there in 1971.  In later life he moved, following his younger brother Billy Joe, to Pensacola, Florida.

Tim Cook’s Family Tree

• William Cook (1780-1820) m. Mary Porter (1776-1861) in New Jersey
• – Emilene Cook (b. 1802), born in Virginia
• – Alexander Cook (1818-1872), born in South Carolina

• Alexander Cook m. Susan Henderson (1826-1886) in Butler county, Alabama in 1845
• – Elizabeth Cook (1845-1889)
• – Martha Cook (1846-1890) m. Thomas Mullins
• – William Cook (1847-1913)
• – John Cook (1860-1937) m. Louannie Rodgers
• – Daniel Cook (1867-1938)

• Daniel Dozier Cook m. Caledonia (Callie) Rodgers (1867-1962) in Crenshaw county, Alabama in 1889
• – Kennie (Kel) Cook (1891-1983) m. Bessie Williams
• – Belma Cook (1893-1979) m. Eiland Worthington
• – Mary Cook (1897-1977) m. Robert Pitts
• – Canie Cook (1902-1985)
• – Walter Cook (1905-1980) m. Era Mae Nichols

• Canie Dozier Cook m. Ruth Mae Tartt (1909-1985) in Butler county, Alabama in 1926
• – Donald (Don) Cook (1933-2023), employed in Mobile, Alabama shipbuilding
• – Mildred Head nee Cook
• – Billy Joe Cook (1939-2020) m. Jo Ann Josey, moved to Pensacola, Florida