Bio of COOKE, Elbridge Clinton (b.1854), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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ELBRIDGE CLINTON COOKE - Vol II, pg 11-12
Elbridge Clinton Cooke, chairman of the board of directors of the Minneapolis
Trust Company and formerly for many years an active member of the bar, was born
in Tiskilwa, Illinois, October 31, 1854, his parents being Joseph Clarke and Amy
(Wade) Cooke. The ancestral line is traced back to an early period in the
settlement of New England, the progenitor of the family in America being Walter
Cooke, who arrived in the new world in 1647, settling at Weymouth,
Massachusetts, the second town established in that state. Joseph C. Cooke was a
manufacturer and contractor.
Elbridge C. Cooke, spending his youthful days under the parental roof, mastered
the elementary branches of learning taught in the public schools and later
continued his education in the Norwich Academy at Norwich, Connecticut. He next
matriculated at Yale University and in 1877 won his Bachelor of Arts degree.
Having determined upon the practice of law as a life work he then devoted his
attention to the mastery of the principles of jurisprudence, was admitted to the
bar and opened a law office in Norwich in 1879. While advancement at the bar is
proverbially slow, no dreary novitiate awaited him. He made steady progress in
his chosen profession and in 1881 was elected city attorney, occupying the
position until 1883. The opportunities of the growing west attracted him,
however, and he left New England to become a resident of Bismarck, then in the
territory of Dakota, practicing also at Mandan. While in Dakota he became a
partner of George P. Flannery, now president of the Northwest Trust Company of
St. Paul.
It was in the year 1886 that Mr. Cooke came to Minneapolis, where he has made
his home through the intervening period of thirty-six years. He engaged in
active practice here as a partner of Mr. Flannery for a number of years and in
November, 1895, he became associated with the Minneapolis Trust Company as trust
officer. Since that time he has held successively the positions of vice
president, president and chairman of the board of directors and is today a
distinguished figure in the financial circles of the city. He has also at
different periods been connected with other important corporate interests,
becoming president of the Minneapolis Trust Company, also presi-dent of the Real
Estate Title Insurance Company of Minneapolis, treasurer of the North American
Telegraph Company and a director of the First National Bank of Minneapolis. Such
is the high opinion entertained for his sound judgment and keen sagacity that
his cooperation and opinions are eagerly sought in connection with business
affairs.
In 1883 Mr. Cooke was united in marriage to Miss Isabelle Boies Turner of
Norwich, Connecticut, also representing one of the old families of New England.
In the club circles of the city his position is one of prominence, his
membership extending to the Minneapolis Club, the Minikahda Club, the Lafayette
Club and also to the Yale Club of New York city and the Hokamde Gun Club. He has
ever been appreciative of the social amenities of life, but has allowed nothing
to interfere with the faithful performance of his duties as a lawyer and as a
financier. It is a well known fact that any trust reposed in him is cared for
with the same thoroughness that has been manifest in the conduct of his
individual interests. He is accounted one of the strong, forceful, resourceful
and reliable businessmen and financiers of Minneapolis, his worth being attested
by all who know him.