An early settler of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, first appearing on the records 4 of September 1648, when the town gave him 30 acres.

Probably joined the Quaker's Society of Friends around 1674 when they were excommuinicated from the Baptist Church. He then had all his children's births recorded in the Quaker Records, even though some were full grown at the time.

In his will, Thomas Cooke referred to the stream as a brook. It is believed that some genealogists may have misread the word "brook" as "brother". As this term was also used to indicate a brother-in-law, they assumed Giles was married to his sister, with the maiden name of Cooke. The brook is still there today, near the Slocum Cemetery on the Glen Farm in Portsmouth. Giles built a gristmill on a stream that ran through a glen and divided his property with Thomas Cooke.

Records only show Thomas Cooke brings three sons to America no daughter. No record has been found connecting him to a Joan.