iii8
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
firm of Baltimore, Maryland. He was
known to a host of friends as a model type
of Christian gentleman. Mr. Cootes mar-
ried Mary Elizabeth (born in Greenville,
Virginia, April 19, 1843, died January 21,
1897 j, a daughter of John and Amanda
(Tatej Newton, of Greenville, Virginia.
They had two daughters, Emma Newton
and Lillie Graham, who died in infancy,
and two sons, F. Graham, whose name
heads this sketch, and Captain Harry New-
ton Cootes, of the Thirteenth United States
Cavalry, who was born at Saunton, Vir-
ginia, April 2, 1874. He was educated at
the Staunton Military Academy and the
Virginia Military Institute. At the out-
break of the Spanish-American war he en-
listed as a volunteer, and was assigned to
the Eourth Regiment, Immunes. He was
later commissioned second lieutenant in
the same regiment, and when mustered out
at the close of the war. enlisted in the
volunteer service of the United States.
He was assigned to the Thirty-fifth Regi-
ment, Volunteer Infantry, and served with
distinction in the Philippines for about two
years with the rank of captain. He then
rc-enlisted in the United States regular
army, being assigned to service in the
I'welfth Cavalry, as first lieutenant, and
after several years service was promoted to
a captaincy. He served later as aide-de-
camp to Governor-General Forbes, of the
Philippines, to the Secretary of War, J. M.
Dickenson, and to President Tucker and
General Frederick Dent Grant at the James-
town Exposition. Captain Cootes married.
May 26, 1908. Mary Lou, daughter of Merritt
1". and Elizabeth (Dickson) Cooke, of Nor-
folk, Virginia.
Frank Graham son of Benjamin Franklin and Mary Elizabeth (Newton) Cootes, was born in Staunton, Augusta county, Virginia, April 6, 1879. He received his elementary education in the public schools of his native town, and from his earliest years showed decided artistic tendencies. For a period ot two years he v,'as a student at Professor S. H. Owens" Academy, where he was awarded a competitive scholarship entitling him to attendance at Washington and Lee Univer- sity. He matriculated at this institution in 1896. and spent one year there. In 1897 he entered the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1901, with the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. The following year he came to the
city of New York, and commenced the study
of his chosen profession at the New York
School of Art, known as Chase's School,
founded by William M. Chase, and which
was continued several years. In 1904 he
took up the profession of art as a business,
becoming an illustrator of books and maga-
j,ines, and was also engaged in portrait work
in New York City. He has made portrait
sketches of many of the best known people
in the financial and social world in America.
He has done some excellent work for the
great magazines of America — Scribner's,
Harper's, McClure's, The Saturday Even-
ing Post, Colliers, etc ; has illustrated the
popular books of Harold Bell Wright the
"Shepherd of the Hills," etc., and many
other popular books. He has in his posses-
sion many letters from well known authors
expressing their satisfaction at the masterly
manner in which he has illustrated their
ideas. To successfully delineate the char-
acters described in a book, takes more than
merely artistic sense ; this must be combined
with general intelligence of an unusually
high order, if form, feature and expression
are to be rightly portrayed. In this special
form of art Mr. Cootes has been exceptionally
successful. In 1904 he founded the Virginia
Summer School of Art at the University of
Virginia. Mr. Cootes was elected a member
of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of the Uni-
versity of Virginia, because of the distinc-
tion he has achieved in art: he was elected
a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity
in 1896; and he is a member of the executive
committee of "The Virginians" of New
York, and a member of the Southern Society
and the Society of Illustrators of New York.
Mr. Cootes married. July 17, 1912, Adele,
born June 28, 1887, a daughter of Richard
Clay and Carlie (Harmer) Sibley, of New
\ ork City. He is a man of broad minded
and liberal views on all subjects and is in-
dependent in his political and religious
ideas, refusing to allow himself to be bound
by partisan ties. He gives earnest thought
to the serious questions of the day, and has
a high and readily expressed appreciation
for the good qualities to be discovered in
others.
Charles Hunter Locher. Charles Hunter Locher. a prominent contractor of New York City, was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, October 3, 1862. His father was Charles Hess Locher, who was born in
