TheCook Book

One county, taken
as seriously as a capital

Still revising

Because I’m not done yet.
And neither are you.
Welcome to the story.

The Cook Book is where I explore Cook County — my home, where I was born in room 28 of Adel Memorial Hospital to my 28-year-old mother on October 28. My blood is in this soul although I never knew how much or how deep until 2024, when it became evident while producing a Ghost Tour in our oldest and largest cemetery. The pioneers chosen began to become familiar since I was also building my family tree.

This adventure began with the discovery, on a full-moon spotlighted night in Woodlawn Cemetery in Adel, of a lichen-covered white marble statue of a 4-year-old boy, Myron Griggs Hinson. I captured the photo with the moon basking lazily above the boy, watching over him, it seemed.

That year, 2013–2014, I had the opportunity to live in my great-grandmother Dora Agnes Parrish Petteway Wright’s house on the corner of Fourth and Gordon, the house that is the center of the Cook Book, and it was a magical and haunting time I will never forget. Finding Myron that night set a chain of events in motion that continues to unfold.

And I cannot wait to tell you about it.

Next, we will uncover the mystery of Myron Griggs Hinson and what caused his untimely death in 1913. I look forward to seeing you around here daily so you won’t miss a thing.

R

I spent thirty years going everywhere else to find the story. It was here.— Robin Postell