Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Cooke, Charles Montague May 16, 1849 - 1909
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr orr@hawaii.com August 31, 2009, 6:53 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925.
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

CHARLES MONTAGUE COOKE, Constructive Financier. Charles Montague Cooke, second 
son of Amos Starr Cooke and Juliette Montague Cooke, founders of the first 
Cooke family in Hawaii, was an outstanding member of that small group of far-
sighted men who, in the later years of the Nineteenth century, laid the 
foundations upon which has been built the Hawaii of today.
  Born on May 16, 1849, at the Royal School which was conducted in Honolulu by 
his parents, Mr. Cooke was educated at Punahou School and Amherst Agricultural 
College. He began his business career in Honolulu with the firm of Castle & 
Cooke, one of the founders of which was his father, and displayed there the 
ability which assured his later success.
  In 1877, Mr. Cooke joined the firm of Lewers and Dickson, lumber merchants, 
and in 1880, when Mr. Joshua G. Dickson died, Mr. Cooke, with the late Robert 
Lewers, acquired the firm which was then named Lewers & Cooke, under which 
title it is still conducted as one of the leading business institutions of the 
Territory.
  Notable service was performed for Hawaii by Mr. Cooke in 1893, immediately 
following the Revolution, when commissioners appointed by Sanford B. Dole, 
president of the Provisional Government, were sent to Washington to open 
negotiations for annexation. The commission sailed for the mainland on the 
little steamer Claudine. The deposed queen was sending representatives to 
Washington to plead for her restoration, and to doubly safeguard the 
republican interests, President Dole requested Mr. Cooke to precede to 
Washington equipped with full power to negotiate annexation by the United 
States in the event that anything happened to delay the arrival of the 
original commission. This precaution later proved to be unnecessary, but Mr. 
Cooke was at his post of duty and ready to act had an emergency arisen.
  Retiring from business in 1894, Mr. Cooke left Honolulu with the intention 
of making his home in California, but it was found that he could not yet be 
spared from the creative enterprises to which he had contributed his money and 
executive ability, and in 1898 he was recalled to Hawaii to become president 
of the Bank of Hawaii, Ltd., succeeding Mr. P. C. Jones, who desired to retire 
on account of the death of his son. The Bank of Hawaii, now headed by Mr. 
Cooke’s son, Clarence H. Cooke, has become the largest financial institution 
in the Territory.
  There was a constant demand for Mr. Cooke’s services and, yielding his dream 
of retirement, he became more and more engaged in large financial and 
industrial enterprises. In 1899 he was elected president of C. Brewer & Co., 
an office he continued to hold until his death in 1909.
  In addition to his widespread activities as a financier and merchant, Mr. 
Cooke was a leader in the organization and financing of sugar plantations and 
other enterprises which have greatly contributed to the development and 
present prosperity of Hawaii. He was actively interested in the establishment 
and development of Ewa, Waialua, Kahuku, Lihue, Hawaiian Agricultural Co., 
Wailuku and other sugar plantations.
  Mr. Cooke was a member, staunch supporter and a president of the Honolulu 
Chamber of Commerce, and represented Hawaii as a vice-president of the 
American delegation which visited Japan in 1908 for the promotion of better 
political and commercial relations.
  He served at different times as president of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ 
Association and the Sugar Factors Co., Ltd., and was a trustee and for ten 
years treasurer of Oahu College. He was one of the original trustees of the 
Bishop Estate under appointment by Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop herself. Mr. 
Cooke also was a charter member of the Hawaiian Society of the Sons of the 
American Revolution, an active member of the Central Union Church and a 
trustee of the Y.M.C.A.
  Throughout his life Mr. Cooke was known for his generous interest in 
religious and educational activities, and for his liberal support of worthy 
charities. In 1908 he established the Cooke Library at Punahou School. The 
world-famous Aquarium building was presented to the city by Mr. Cooke.
  Mrs. Cooke (Anna Charlotte Rice), also a member of an American family long 
established in Hawaii, was born in Honolulu at Punahou School, and was married 
to Mr. Cooke in 1874. She survives her husband and is respected and loved for 
her many philanthropies.
  Mr. and Mrs. Charles Montague Cooke were the parents of six children, 
Charles Montague Cooke, Jr.; Clarence H. Cooke, George P. Cooke, Richard A. 
Cooke, Alice T. Cooke and Theodore A. Cooke.


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