Individual Details

Married Helen Lee Martin, 26 Dec 1926, Woodbine, TN.
Buried Hermitage Memorial Gardens, Old Hickory, Davidson Co, TN

Nashville newspaper
Opry's legend Herman Crook, 89, dies
Herman Crook, the Grand Ole Opry's oldest performer and the only surviving member of its original cast, died yesterday at Park View Hospital at age 89.
Mr. Crook, a harmonica player who made his first Opry appearance on July 14, 1926, was described yesterday as a cornerstone of the Opry by officials and cast members of the country music institution. With his Crook Brothers band, he represented the energetic string-band sound on which the Opry's first popularity rested.
"Mr. Crook played the lonesome original sound of the Grand Old Opry" said Opry comedienne Minnie Pearl, who in private life is Sarah Cannon.
Services for Mr. Crook have been set for 10 am Monday at Hermitage Funeral Home on shute Lane, Hermitage, Tenn. Interment will follow at Hermitage Memorial Gardon.
Mr. Crook had entered Park View Monday night after suffering a heart attack and suffered respiratory failure early yesterday, according to a spokeswoman for the hospital. He had recently taken a nine-week break from performance because of ill health, but performed last Saturday night at the Opry.
"He was very dedicated," said Opry veteran Vic Willis. "His one pride and joy was playing the harmonica on the Grand Old Opry."
A native of Scottsboro, Tenn., Mr. Crook was orphaned at a nearly age and raised in Nashville by his brothers and sisters. He first perform on the Opry with his brother Matthew; they recorded four sides in 1928 for RCA Victor in the first recording session held in Nashville.
"His music was very delicate and very compex, really --some of the early stuff had two harmicas going," said country-music historian Charles Wolfe. "It had a lot of drive. It was like no other old-time music that has ever been recorded."
In 1930, Matthew Crook left the group to become a Nashville policeman and was replaced by banjoist Lewis Crook, who was not related othe brothers and has remained....(cont on another page, not found).

Birth	2 Dec 1898	Scottsboro, Davidson County, Tennessee
Death	10 Jun 1988	Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee

Father	John William Crook (1870 - 1901)
Mother	Nancy Florence Adamson (1870 - 1910)
Sibling	John William Crook (1888 - 1946)
Sibling	Letha Leona Crook (1892 - 1927)
Sibling	Mattie L. Crook (1894 - 1976)
Sibling	Matthew Hancil Crook (1896 - 1964)