Description:
SENATE, 27th General Assembly, 1847-49; representing counties of McMinn, Bradley, Monroe, and Polk; Democrat. Born in Culpeper County, Virginia, May 15, 1784; son of the Rev. Robert and Susannah (Watson) Cooke. Extent of schooling not found. Married in 1804 to Mary Cantrell, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Norris) Cantrell; eleven children -- Robert Fielding, Hezekiah Cantrell, Nancy Watson, Elizabeth, George Washington, Clarissa, Elmira, James Burch, Attaline, Sarah Miranda, and Susannah Cooke. Came to Tennessee, 1820, and purchased large tracts of land in Hiwassee District along Conasuaga River; was government surveyor; donated ten acres of land for public burial place, now property of Conasuaga Baptist Church; deputy surveyor, Spartanburg, South Carolina. One of the first commissioners for town of Athens, McMinn County; member of McMinn County Court. Member of Baptist Church. Died in McMinn County October 9, 1848; buried in family graveyard (Conasuaga Cemetery), McMinn County. Father of James Burch Cooke; grandfather of Robert Burch Cooke; brother of Richard Fielding Cooke, sometime members Tennessee General Assembly.
| Sources: Athens Post, September 8,1854; Christie, The Cantrill-Cantrell Genealogy, 97-102; Goodspeed, History of McMinn County, 813; D.A.R., Roster and Soldiers, 487; "McMinn County Marriage Records, 1848-59," p. 127; "McMinn County Tombstone Inscriptions," I, 234-38. |
Transcribed from scanned images of unknown book, page 163-164, provided by Lori Williams, by Dean McGee on July 10, 2005
