Daniel Pope Cook
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Daniel Pope Cook | |
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Illinois's at-large congressional district | |
In office March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1827 | |
Preceded by | John McLean |
Succeeded by | Joseph Duncan |
Personal details | |
Born | 1794 Scott County, Kentucky, U.S. |
Died | October 16, 1827 Scott County, Kentucky, U.S. | (aged 32–33)
Resting place | Oak Ridge Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic-Republican (until 1826) National Republican (after 1826) |
Spouse |
Julia Catherine Edwards
(m. 1821) |
Profession | Politician, lawyer, newspaper publisher |
Signature | |
Daniel Pope Cook (1794 – October 16, 1827) was a politician, lawyer and newspaper publisher from the
Early life
Daniel Pope Cook was born in Scott County, Kentucky, into an impoverished branch of the prominent Pope family of Kentucky and Virginia.[1] Cook moved to Kaskaskia, Illinois in 1815 and took a job as a store clerk, but soon began to read law under the supervision of his uncle, Nathaniel Pope.
Career
Territorial governor
Shortly after Cook returned from England, tired of service as a mere dispatch-bearer, he moved back to Illinois, where he became an ardent supporter of statehood. Cook used his newspaper and new appointment as clerk to the territorial house to influence the Territorial Legislature, which unanimously passed a resolution urging statehood (and forbidding slavery) on December 10, 1817. Cook also lobbied his friends back in Washington and Virginia, and his uncle conveyed the territorial resolution to the U.S. Congress on January 16, 1818. After both the U.S. Senate and House agreed, President Monroe on April 18, 1818, signed the law authorizing Illinois to hold a convention to adopt a state constitution and elect officers. On December 3, 1818, President Monroe then signed the law admitting Illinois as the 21st state. Despite his successful advocacy of statehood, Cook was unsuccessful in his first attempt to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, losing to John McLean by only 14 votes for the short term remaining after Illinois became a state. However, the new state's legislature appointed Cook as the first attorney general of Illinois. Cook also had briefly served the territory as judge of the western circuit.[3]
Again running for Congress in 1818, Cook defeated McLean in the general election, and again in 1820 (after a debate over slavery),
Family
On May 6, 1821, Cook married Julia Catherine Edwards, the daughter of his mentor Ninian Edwards (who was related by marriage to the Pope family of Kentucky). After Daniel Cook died, Julia Cook moved back to
Death and legacy
Daniel Cook, who always suffered from poor health, died on October 16, 1827, at the age of 32 in Scott County, Kentucky. Four years after his death, the home county of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, was named in his honor. He was buried in Kentucky, then reburied with the Lamb family (relatives of his son's wife) in 1866 in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.[8]
References
- ISBN 9780405068454. Retrieved November 15, 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Cook County, Illinois - Secretary of the Board". Archived from the original on November 23, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
- ^ Ben Gelman: Illinois' Daniel Pope Cook packed a lifetime into 33 years
- ^ Leichtle and Carveth, Crusade against Slavery: Edward Coles, Pioneer of Freedom (Southern Illinois University Press, 2011) p. 78.
- ^ Leichtle and Carveth at p. 110.
- ^ Leichtle and Carveth at p.129
- ^ Cook, Daniel Pope - Biographical Information
- ^ Daniel Pope Cook (1794 - 1827) - Find A Grave Memorial
- DeLove, Sidney L. Cook County and Daniel Pope Cook-their Story. An Illinois Sesquicentennial Publication. Chicago: Independence Hall, 1968.