Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/386

 COOKE

COOKE

Mr. Cooke had repurchased it. Within a few years the receivers of Jay Cooke & Co. had settled the complex affairs of the firm, and during that time Jay Cooke was assisting in adding to the assets of the concern. He ' invested a small amount in a Utah silver mine and made nearly a million of dollars in a short time in this and other negotiations. With this he engaged in building railroads and all his ventures proved profit- able. All creditors of Jay Cooke & Co. who took Mr. Cooke's advice and held on to the dividends of cash and securities declared and paid by the firm's representatives, received dollar for dollar with interest and many of them much more than this. Of his children. Jay Cooke, Jr., be- came a financier, and H. E. Cooke an Episcopal minister, and in 1899 was a resident of San Fran- cisco, Cal. One of his daughters was married to C. D. Barney and the other to John M. Butler. Mr. Cooke in 1899 made his home with his daughter, Mrs. C. D. Barney, spending much of his time fishing and hunting at his Gibraltar island home on Lake Erie and at Ogontz Lodge in northern Pennsylvania. His fortune at that time was estimated to be as large as at any period of his life.

COOKE, John Esten, physician, was born in Boston, Mass., March 3, 1783; son of Dr. Stephen and Catherine (Esten) Cooke. He was gradu- ated from the College of New Jersey in 1804 and from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1805. He practised his pro- fession at Warrenton, Va., and after 1821 at Winchester, Va. In 1827 he removed to Ken- tucky and accepted the chair of theory and prac- tice of medicine in the Transylvania university, Lexington. In 1828 he founded the Transylvania Journal of Medicine and the Associate Sciences, in which he published the results of his subsequent medical and scientific research. He Avas married in 1806 to Lucy, daughter of Capt. William Beale of the 3d U.S. dragoons, Avho died while in service during the Mexican war. Their two sons were Dr. Stephen Cooke of Memphis, Tenn., and Dr. George Esten Cooke of Louisville, Ky. He published an essaj* on autumnal fcA-ers (1824): Pathnloay and Tlierapentics (1825) ; and An Essay on the Invalidity of Presbyterian Ordination (1829). He died on his estate, " Riverview," in Trimble county, Ky., Oct. 19, 1853.

COOKE, John Esten, author, Avas born in AVinchester, Va., Nov. 3, 1830; son of John Rogers and Maria (Pendleton) Cooke. He at- tended Charlestown academy and studied the languages under Dr. Burke of Riclimond, Va. He read law with his father and was admitted to the bar in 1850, but neglected his practice to write romances. In his sixteenth year he wrote
 * ' The Knight of Espalion." and after its appear-

ance in the Southern Literary Messenger he com- manded the patronage of prominent American publishers. The success of his books was phe- nomenal, and "Leather Stocking and Silk,'* "The Virginia Comedians," and "Henry St. John, Gentleman," established his fame. At the beginning of the civil war he enlisted in the Richmond howitz- ers as a private, April 10, 1861 ; was commissioned cap- tain, April 21, 1862 ; and was an aide- de-camp on the staff of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart. On the death of Stuart at Yellow Tavern, May, 1864, Captain Cooke, having

failed to have his commission of ma- jor, made by Gen- eral Stuart in 1863 and "approved and recog- nized" by General Lee, confirmed by the Confed- erate senate, retired from the cavalry service and became an aide on the staff of General Pendleton, and inspector-general of horse artillery. His militarj- companions unofficially confirmed the title refused by the senate, and he was thereafter known as "Major" Cooke. He surrendered with Lee's army and on being paroled returned to his estate in Clark counts' and resumed his literary work. He was married, Sept. 18, 1867, to Mary Frances Page. Of their children, Susan Randolph became a noted educator; Edward Pendleton, a physician ; and Robert Powell Page, a U.S. naval officer. His works cover three epochs in American history: the colonial, the Revolutionarj-, and the period of the civil war, and include: Leather Stockinrj and Silk (1854) ; The Virginia Comedians (1854) ; Tlie Youth of Jefferson (1854) ; Ellie (1855) ; The Last of the Foresters (1856) ; Henry St. John, Gentleman (1859) ; The Life of Stonewall Jackson (1863) ; Surry of Eagle's Nest (1866) ; Wearing of the Gray (1867) ; Fairfax (1868) ; Hilt to Hilt (1869) ; Mohun (1869) ; Hammer and Papier (1870); TJie Heir of Graymount (1870); Out of the Foam (1871) ; A Life of General Pobert E. Lee (1871); Pretty 3Irs. Gaston (1871); Doctor Vandike (1873) ; Her Majesty the Queen (1873) ; Justin Harley (1874) ; Life of Samuel J. Tilden of Xevr York (1876) ; Canolles (1877) ; Professor Presseiisee, Materialist and Inventor (1878) ; Mr. Grantley's Idea (1879) ; Stories of the Old Dominion (1879) ; The Vir- ginia Bohemians (1880); Virginia: a History nf the People (1883) ; Fanchette (1883) ; My Lady Pocahon-