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.