tiring for the night he asked permission to pray, began his invocation in English, and then changed to Grerraan. Consternation seized the members of the househokl when they recalled their remarks, and they fled, leaving him to care for himself.
COOK, Zebedee, insurance manager, b. in Newburyport, Mass., 11 Jan., 178(5; d. in Framingham, 24 Jan., 1858. At an early age he went to Boston to seek his fortune. He first entered on a mercantile career, but in 1815 turned his attention to insurance, and was among the first to introduce into this country the system known as " mutual insurance." He was made president in 1823 of the Eagle insurance company, and held the office until 1828. During the next ten years he developed his ideas so thoroughly that in 1838 he was invited to New York to become president of the Mutual safety insurance company, the first established in that city on the system of a division of profits between the insurers and the insured. The business transacted was entirely marine. While Mr. Cook was a resident of Boston he was, in addition to his business requirements, deeply interested in horticulture and rural improvements. By
an article published 9 Jan., 1829, in the "New-
England Farmer," he gave the first impulse to the
formation of the Massachusetts horticultural soci-
ety. On 24 Feb. a meeting was held in liis office,
and the society was incorporated on 12 June.
Gen. Dearborn was the first president, and Mi'.
Cook vice-president. On the resignation of Gen.
Dearborn in 1834, Mi-. Cook was elected to the
vacancy. By his efforts the Isabella grape was in-
troduced into New England. He procured the
cuttings and began the culture. He served in the
Massachusetts legislature from 1835 till 1839.
After nearly twenty years' residence and business
in New York, he retired, at the age of seventy-one,
to Framingham, Mass.
COOKE, Amos Starr, missionary, b. in Dan-
bury, Conn., 1 Dec, 1810 ; d. in Honolulu, Sand-
wich islands, 20 March, 1871. He was graduated
at Yale in 1834, entered the service of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions in
1836, and arrived at the Sandwich islands in April,
1837, where, in June, 1839. he took charge of the
education of the royal family and nobility. He
retained the direction of the royal school for ten
years, educating the last two Kamehamehas, and
doing nnich toward shaping their characters.
COOKE, Edward, educator, b. in Bethlehem,
N. H., 19 Jan., 1812; d. in Newton Centre, Mass.,
18 Sept., 1888. He was graduated at Wesleyan
university, and taught in Amenia seminary, N. Y.,
from 1838 till 1840, when he became principal of
the newly established seminary at Pennington,
N. J. From 1847 till 1853 he was pastor of Meth-
odist churches ia and near Boston, and in 1853
became president of Lawrence university, Apple-
ton, Wis. While holding this office he was one of
the first to become interested in the education of
the northwestern Indians. In 1857-'60 he was one
of the regents of normal schools in Wisconsin.
Harvard gave him the degree of D. D. in 1855,
and on his return to Massachusetts, in 1861, he be-
came one of the board of examiners of that college,
and pastor of the Cambridge Methodist church.
From 1864 till 1874 he was principal of the Wes-
leyan academy at Wilbraham, Mass., and from that
year till 1884 president of Claflin university and
State agricultural college at Orangeburg, S. C. In
the latter year he resigned on account of ill health,
and afterward resided at Newton Centre, Mass.
COOKE, Edwin Francis, soldier, b. in Brooklyn, Susquehanna co., Pa., 11 Sept., 1835; d. in
Santiago, Chili, 6 Aug., 1867. He was educated at
Mount Retirement seminary, Deckertown, N. J.
He entered the national service at the beginning
of the civil war as a captain in the 2d New York
light cavalry, rose to the command of his regiment,
and finally became chief of staff in Gen. Kilpat-
rick's cavalry division. In 1863 he was associated
with Col. Dahlgren in command of the force that
was sent to enter Richmond from the south, and
his horse was killed under him by the same volley
that terminated Dahlgren's life. Being taken pris-
oner, he was confined for several months in one of
the imderground cells in Libby prison, where he
lost his health. From Libby prison he was sent to
other prisons in South Carolina and Georgia. He
once succeeded in escaping, but. after wandering
two months through South and North Carolina,
was recaptured. He was finally exchanged in
March, 1864, and on 13 March, 1865, was brevet-
ted brigadier-general of volunteers. He accepted
the office of secretary to the Chilian legation, in
the vain hope that the climate might benefit his
health, received his commission on 11 Nov., 1865,
and remained in Santiago till disease, induced by
his imprisonment, terminated his life.
COOKE, Eleutheros, congressman, b. in
Granville, N. Y., 25 Dec., 1787; d. in Sandusky, Ohio,
27 Dec., 1864. His name was given him in
commemoration of the framing of the Federal
constitution in 1787, the year of his birth. After receiving
a liberal education, he studied law and began
practice in Granville, but removed in 1817 to
Madison, Ind., in 1819 to Bloomingville, Ohio, and
in 1820 to Sandusky, where he rose to the front
rank of his profession. He was for several years a
member of the legislature, and was elected to
congress as a whig, serving one term, from 1831 till
1833. He was a candidate for re-election, and
received a majority of the votes cast, but was defeated
on a technicality. While he was in congress, Mr.
Stanberry, of Ohio, was assaulted on the street by
Gen. Houston, in consequence of remarks made on
the floor of the house. In bringing the matter
before congress, Mr. Cooke said that if he and his
friends were denied protection by that body, he
would “flee to the bosom of his constituents,” and
this expression was taken up by his political
opponents and remained a catch-word for some time.
Mr. Cooke was the pioneer of railroad enterprise in
the west, having been the projector of the Mad
River railroad, now the Sandusky, Dayton and
Cincinnati railroad.—His son, Jay, banker, b. in
Sandusky, Ohio, 10 Aug., 1821, went in 1838 to
Philadelphia, where he entered the banking-house of E.
W. Clark & Co. as a clerk, and became a partner
in 1842. He retired in 1858, and in 1861
established a new firm of which he was the head.
Through the influence of Salmon P. Chase, Mr.
Cooke's personal friend, this house became the
government agent for the placing of the war loans,
and by his success in negotiating them Mr. Cooke
contributed materially to the success of the
national cause. After the war the firm acted as
agents for the Northern Pacific railroad, and its
suspension in 1873, growing out of its connection
with that enterprise, was one of the causes of the
financial panic of that year. Mr. Cooke
subsequently resumed business with success.—Another
son, Henry David, journalist, b. in Sandusky,
Ohio, 23 Nov., 1825; d. in Georgetown, D. C., 29
Feb., 1881, was graduated at Transylvania university,
Kentucky, in 1844, and began the study of the
law, but soon turned his attention to writing for
the press. In 1847 he sailed for Valparaiso, Chili,
as an attaché to the American consul there, but
