John R. Cooke

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For the Confederate general, see John Rogers Cooke.
John R. Cooke
John Rogers Cooke - Cephas Thompson.jpg
portrait by Cephas Thompson, c. 1810
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from the Berkeley County, Virginia district
In office
October 10, 1814 – December 3, 1815
Serving with
Preceded byElisha Boyd
Succeeded by
Personal details
BornJune 17, 1788
Bermuda
DiedDecember 15, 1854(1854-12-15) (aged 66)
Richmond, Virginia
Spouse(s)Maria Pendleton
Professionlawyer, planter, politician

John Rogers Cooke (June 17, 1788 – December 15, 1854)[citation needed] was a Virginia planter, lawyer and politician who served a single term in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Early and family life[]

Born in Bermuda to Stephen Cooke and his wife Catherine Esten, John Rogers Cooke would first live with his parents in Alexandria, Virginia, the read law and move westward along the Potomac River. He moved to Martinsburg circa 1810, where he married into the First Families of Virginia. He and his wife Maria Pendleton, daughter of Col. Philip Pendleton, would have 13 children, of whom lawyers Philip Pendleton Cooke and John Esten Cooke would achieve distinction as writers, the latter also becoming a Confederate soldier.[1]

During the War of 1812 he served in Berkeley County's volunteer artillery company under Capt. James Faulkner and later Capt. Robert Wilson, all of whom helped defend Norfolk, Virginia as part of a battalion commanded by Major Andrew Waggoner and Col. Elisha Boyd.[2]

Career[]

Cooke operated plantations using enslaved labor, and the common practice was to move when the soil lost nutrients because of common farming practices of the day (which under-fertilized and also rarely used crop rotation). Residents of Berkeley County would elect Cooke and George Newkirk as their (part-time) representatives in 1814, but neither would be re-elected.[3] Cooke would also be elected to represent the County during the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830.

For a time he lived at "Ambler's Hill," a plantation near Winchester, Virginia in Frederick County, Virginia . In 1838, "Glengary", the family estate to which the Cookes had moved, burned down. The family moved to Charles Town, Virginia and in 1840 to Richmond, Virginia.[4]

Death and legacy[]

Cooke died in Richmond, Virginia in 1854, and was buried at Shockoe Hill Cemetery.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ William Thomas Doherty, Berkeley County, U.S.A.: a bicentennial history (Parsons Printing Company 1972) p. 132note
  2. ^ Doherty, p. 92
  3. ^ Cynthia Miller Leonard, Virginia's General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) p. 277
  4. ^ Trout, Robert J. They Followed the Plume: The Story of J.E.B. Stuart and His Staff. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1993. ISBN 0-8117-1760-7. pp. 89–90.
  5. ^ "John Rogers Cooke (1788-1854) - Find a Grave".
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