George H. Cooke

GEORGE H. COOKE. - Distinguished not only for the honored ancestry from which he is descended, but for his own good life and works, George H. Cooke is numbered among the useful and valued citizens of Rosedale, which has, practically speaking, been his home for many years. He was born July 30, 1852, in Texas, a son of Alexander Hamilton and Mary A. (Crosby) Cooke. His father, a native of New York state, died in Texas in 1857. His mother was born and bred in Illinois. Both she and her husband were descendants of Mayflower passengers, their immigrant ancestors having come over on that vessel's first voyage across the Atlantic, in 1620.

But five years of age when his father died, George H. Cooke was subsequently taken by his widowed mother to Illinois to visit friends, and he was there brought up and educated, learning in his youthful days the cooper's trade, which he never followed to any extent. Coming to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1872, Mr. Cooke was for some time associated with different hotels, being employed first at the Lyndell, then at the Saint James, and later being with Colonel Coates in the office of the Coates House. Making a change of occupation, Mr. Cooke assumed charge of the Rosedale yards of the Kansas city Rolling Company, with which he was identified for about three years, in the meantime buying property in this suburb. His health failing, he went to Denver to recuperate, and was there engaged in the practice of law for twelve years, retaining, however, for his mother and sister, his Rosedale home. This was afterwards destroyed by fire, and he then rebuilt on a more extensive scale, having now a most valuable property.

Mr. Cooke married, in 1879, in Kansas City, Mattie E. (Bevens) Graves, the adopted daughter of Judge Graves, of Kansas City, Missouri. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cooke, both of whom died in infancy. In 1903 Mr. Cooke was elected justice of the peace, and has held the office, by re-election, ever since. With the exception of faithfully performing the duties devolving upon him in this capacity, he has lived retired from active business for a number of years, devoting his attention to his private interests.