Woman of the Century/Rose Terry Cooke

COOKE, Mrs. Rose Terry, author, born on a farm near Hartford, Conn., 17th February, 1827. ROSE TERRY COOKE. Her father was Henry Wadsworth Terry, and her mother's maiden name was Anne Wright Hurlbut, and she was a daughter of John Hurlbut, of Wethersfield, Conn., who was the first New England shipmaster who sailed around the earth. When Rose Terry was six years old, her parents moved into Hartford. Her father educated her in out-door lore, and she was familiar with birds, bees, flowers and sunshine. She was carefully trained at home, and in school she was brilliant and noted fur the ease with which she learned and for her skill in versification when only a child She was graduated in 1843, and, although only sixteen years old. became a teacher in Hartford She afterward taught in New Jersey. Family needs called her home, and she then began to study with the intention of becoming an author. She published poems in the New York "Tribune," and at once won a reputation. She published her first story in "Graham's Magazine, in 1845. Her reception was encouraging. Other productions followed, and in a short time she published a volume of verse. She contributed to "Putnam's Magazine," "Harper's Magazine" and the "Atlantic Monthly" poems and stories, and her productions were in general demand. In 1872 she became the wife of Kollin H. Cooke, a Connecticut manufacturer, and they lived in Winsted for some years. Her most important works are "Poems by Rose Terry" (Boston, 1860), "Happy Dodd" (Boston, 1879), "Somebody's Neighbors" (Boston, 1881), "Root-Bound " (Boston, 1885), and "The Sphinx's Children" (Boston, 1886), Her short stories, humorous and descriptive, of New Kngland life would fill several volumes. She died in Pittsfield, Mass., 18th July. 1892