COOK, Lemuel, soldier, b. in Plymouth, Litch- field CO., Conn., in 1764; d. in Clarendon, N, Y., 20 May, 1860. He entered the army at the age of seventeen, participated in the campaign against Cornwallis in Virginia, and received an honorable discharge at the close of the war. signed by Gen. Washington, which he retained until his death. Soon after leaving the army he married Hannah Curtis, of Cheshire, Conn., by whom he had eleven children. He married again when he was seventy years old. In his earlier married years he was a farmer near Utica, N. Y. ; during the last thirty years of his life he lived at Clarendon. His pen- sion for many years was $100 a year, increased in 1863 to $200, and the last year of his life to $300.
COOK, Marc, author, b. in Providence, K. I., 1
March, 1854 ; d. in Utica, N. Y., 4 Oct., 1882. He
was a son of the Rev. Theodore Dwight Cook, a
Universalist clergyman. His early education was
received in the public schools of Utica ; but before
he had learned to write he showed his precocity by
dictating verses and stories to the older boys. A
few years later he established a semi-monthly paper,
entitled "The Boy's Companion," which was fol-
lowed by " The Enterprise," a monthly of more
pretentious character, the joint production of him-
self and E. M. Eewey. He entered Hamilton
college at the age of sixteen, but did not complete
his course.. While there he wrote " To a Pretty
School ma'am," and other poems, which were wide-
ly copied. In 1874 he left college and devoted him-
self to journalism. In 1879 he made the experi-
ment of a prolonged sojourn in the Adirondacks
for the cure of consumption, and as a result of sev-
enteen months' experience published " Camp Lou "
in " Harper's Magazine " for May, 1881, which at-
tracted wide attention and was expanded into
" The Wilderness Cure " (New York, 1881). Many
of his vers de societe had appeared under the pen-
name of Vandike Brown, and his widow collected a
sufficient number to fill a volume, and published it
under that title (Boston, 1883). — His brother, Theodore Pease, journalist, b. in Boston, Mass., 21
Dec, 1844, entered the army at the age of eighteen
and served through the civil war, being finally on
the stall: of Gen. John C. Robinson. He was gradu-
ated at Columbia law-school in 1867, but devoted
himself to journalism in Utica. During the presi-
dential canvass of 1876 he wrote the " Lives of Til-
den and Hendricks" (New York, 1876). The best
known of his poems are " Blue-Beard " and " An
Ode for Deeoration-Dav " (1872).
COOK, Martha Elizabeth Duncan Walker, author, b. in Northumberland, Pa., 23 July, 1806; d. in Hoboken, N. J., 15 Sept., 1874. She was a sister of Robert J. Walker, secretary of the treasury, and Avas educated by her father. She married at the age of eighteen Lieut, (afterward General) William Cook. Mrs. Cook was for nearly two
years, 1863-4, editor of the " Continental Month-
ly," published in New York, and contributed many
poems, sketches, and tales to that periodical. She
was a good linguist, and translated several works
from the German and French. Among these were
Liszt's " Life of Chopin," translated from the
French (Philadelphia, 1863) ; " The Undivine Com-
edy, and Other Poems," by Count Sigismund Kra-
sinski, translated from the Polish through the Ger-
man and French (1875); and "Life of Joan of
Arc," from the German of Guido Goerres, pub-
lished as a serial in the " Freeman's Journal."
COOK, Philip, soldier, b. in Twiggs county,
Ga., 31 July, 1817. He was educated at Oglethorpe
university, 'studied law at the University of Vir-
ginia, was admitted to th-e bar, and practised his
profession in Americus, Ga. In 1859, 1860, and
1863 he served in the state senate. He entered the
Confederate service in April, 1861, as a private,
and before the end of the war had risen to a briga-
dier-generalship. In 1865 he was elected to con-
gress, but was not allowed to take his seat, by rea-
son of the " disability clause," incurred by his
taking up arms against the Union. After the re-
peal of the law creating this clause he was elected
to congress three times, serving from 1 Dec, 1873,
till 3 March, 1879.
COOK, Russell S., secretary of the American
tract society, b. in New Marlborough, Berkshire
CO., Mass., 6 March, 1811 ; d. in Pleasant Valley,
N. Y., 4 Sept., 1864. His early life was devoted to
study. On arriving at manhood he entered a law-
yer's office in Syracuse, N. Y., but soon changed
his choice of a profession and entered the theo-
logical seminary at Auburn, and, after gi-aduation,
was ordained pastor of the Congregational church
in Lanesboro', Mass., in 1836. In 1838, his voice
failing, he became connected with the American
tract society, and in May, 1839, was elected one of
the corresponding secretaries, tilling the office for
eighteen years. His first efforts were directed to
the expansion of the volume circulation, and in
three and a half years he succeeded in distributing
800,000 volumes. In 1841, that he might meet the
wants of remote neighborhoods, Mr. Cook began
what was afterward developed into the system of
American colportage. With this great work he
was wholly identified, devoting to it his untiring
energies: and so successfully that, in 1856, after
fifteen years, the society had on its list 547 colpor-
teurs, besides 115 students who labored only during
vacations. Its current receipts had increased from
$131,000 in 1839 to $415,000 in 1856. He estab-
lished in 1843 the " American Messenger," a month-
ly publication, with a German edition, the " Bot-
s'chafter." This was soon followed by the " Child's
Papei-," the first of illustrated papers for children.
The monthly issue of these jieriodicals soon reached
an aggregate of 500,000 copies. In 1853 and 1856
he went to Europe and established his system of
colportage in Scotland. Failing health obliged
him to give up his labors as secretary in 1857 ; but,
somewhat regaining his vigor, he afterward became
identified with various religious undertakings, and
labored with unabated resolution to tlie last.
COOK, Valentine, clergyman, b. in Pennsylvania in 1765 ; d. in Logan county, Ky., in 1820. His father removed to western Virginia when Valentine was a child. He became a convert to Methodism at an early age, and immediately began preaching. His father sent him to Cokesbury college, but at the end of a year or two he returned home, and in 1788 began "itinerant labors, and in 1794 became presiding elder. About 1796 he originated the custom of calling anxious sinners to the front to be prayed for, which afterward became universal in the Methodist denomination. In 1798 he moved to Kentucky, and there married a niece of Gov. Slaughter, 'in 1799 he took charge of Bethel seminary, and was afterward for some time principal of Ilarrodsburg academy, finally settling in Logan county. In 1819 he made a preaching-tour to the east on horseback, visiting Lexington, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. He possessed rare power as a preacher, and instituted revivals wherever he went, but was erratic in his manner and negligent in his dress. He was well versed in German, and on one occasion stayed with a German family, who, ignorant of his knowledge, indulged in many uncomplim-entary remarks about him. Before re-
