Honorable August C. Cook
Among the
men that are meeting with success in the legal profession in the Upper
Peninsula is Hon. August C. Cook, of Iron Mountain, senior member of the
well-known firm of Cook & Pelham. Talented and cultured, he has a
vigorous mentality that enables him to retain whatever legal knowledge
he acquires from books or from any other source, this learning becoming
a part of his equipment and ready for use at any demand. He was born May
12, 1857, at Mulhausen, Prussia, the home of his ancestors for several
generations, and where his grandparents spent their entire lives.
Christian Cook, his father, was born, reared and
educated in Mulhausen, and as a young man learned to make shoes by hand,
that being the only way then known. He followed his trade in his native
land until 1867, when, accompanied by his wife and six children, he
emigrated to America, and for about twenty years thereafter worked at
his trade in Marquette, Michigan. Going then to Wrightstown, Wisconsin,
he was there a resident until his death, November 29, 1896. He married
Mary Hill, who was born in Mulhausen, Prussia, and died in March, 1901.
To them six children were born and reared, as follows: Matilda, wife of
Nicholas King, of Seattle, Washington; Martha, wife of Henry W. Potter,
of Eureka, California; Dorothea, wife of Joseph Jackson, of San Jose,
California; Mary, wife of Carl Regolin, of Appleton, Wisconsin; August
C, the special subject of this sketch; and Emma, wife of Fred H. Hunter,
of Appleton, Wisconsin.
Obtaining his early schooling in his native
village, August C. Cook completed his elementary education in the public
schools of Marquette, Michigan. At the age of eighteen years he began
the study of law in the office of E. J. Mapes, of Marquette, and
subsequently continued his studies under the tuition of W. P. Healy.
Being admitted to the Michigan bar in 1879, Mr. Cook located soon after
in Norway, which was then included within the limits of
Menominee county, and was there engaged
in the active practice of his profession until 1889, when he removed to
Iron Mountain. Continuing the partnership which he had previously formed
with Mr. Herbert W. Pelham, he has here built up an extensive and
remunerative general practice, and is especially strong in his
interpretation of chancery laws.
Mr. Cook has been twice
married. He married first, in 1880, Catherine J. Flannigan, a daughter
of James and Mary Flannigan. She was born in Ontonagon, Michigan, and
died in Norway, Michigan, January 7, 1883. Mr. Cook subsequently married
Anne W. Bolen, who was born in New York, where her parents, Michael and
Mary Bolen, were early settlers, emigrating there from Ireland, their
native country. By his first marriage Mr. Cook became the father of two
children, Matthew F. and Catherine J., and by his second marriage has
two children also, John J. and A. Clarence. Matthew F. Cook prepared for
college in the public schools. But instead of entering college, as he
had intended, he thought he would recuperate his strength by a year of
travel, and went accordingly, to the Pacific coast, and in June of that
year was accidentally drowned at Seattle, Washington. Catherine J. is
the wife of W. H. Crago, of Duluth, Minnesota. John J. is a student in
the University of Michigan, while Clarence, the youngest child, is
attending the Iron Mountain High School.
An earnest supporter of
the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Cook made his first
appearance in the political arena in 1885, when he was elected
supervisor of Norway township. In 1889 and 1890 he was prosecuting
attorney for Menominee county, and when
in 1891, Dickinson county was organized, he was elected prosecuting
attorney of the new county, a position which he has filled for about ten
years. He has represented his ward as an alderman in the City Council of
Iron Mountain, and in 1895 was elected to the State Legislature.
Source: Sawyer, Alvah Littlefield, "A History of the
Northern Peninsula of Michigan and its People." Volume III. Chicago:
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1911.
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