Marriage license (top) and marriage certificate for Chief Mary Cooke of Newhall (Dec. 12, 1901 - May 29, 1975) and Louis Garcia of San Fernando (June 21, 1885 - April 25, 1973).

The couple was joined in matrimony in Newhall on Sept. 5, 1919, by John F. Powell, justice of the peace for Soledad Township (the Santa Clarita Valley and environs).

Witnesses to the ceremony were Mary's sister, Della F. Cooke (who at the time was married to Rudolph N. Rodriguez), and Louis A. Ziegler. It is possible that Ziegler was Judge Powell's son-in-law; Powell had a daughter named Florence and she married a Ziegler.

Mary would become the matriarch of the Cooke and Garcia families. She was a daughter of Chief Frances Garcia Cooke and Fred S. Cooke, who added the "e" to the Cook name. We don't know exactly when; Mary was born "Cook."

On her mother's side, Mary's ancestry traces to individuals living in the Tataviam Indian village of Chaguayabit (Tsawayung) at Castaic Junction prior to European contact in 1769. On her father's side, Mary's father's father's mother was a California Indian born at the Mission San Gabriel.

Louis Garcia is identified as a laborer, and his parents are listed as Epidion Garcia and Carolin Ochoga (Garcia), both born in California.

According to the marriage certificate, this was the first marriage for both Mary and Louis. One will note that the field, "Maiden name of the bride if she was previously married," contains the name Mary Cook. This probably relates to the fact that three months prior to the marriage, on June 17, 1919, Mary had a son, Ernest "Ernie" Cooke. We don't know the identity of his father. Ernie was raised by Mary's parents, Fred and Frances; Ernie married into the Balsz family of Honby and became a popular Hart High School bus driver in the 1950s-1960s.

The certificate says Mary turned 18 on her last birthday (Dec. 12, 1918), but that is incorrect. She turned 17.

Mary and Louis stayed together and had many children. They share a headstone at San Fernando Mission Cemetery.