Edmund Cook Biography


	This biography appears on pages 384-385 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				EDMUND COOK. 

	The business development of Wilmot is attributable in no small 
measure to Edmund Cook, merchant, banker and farmer. For more than a 
quarter of a century he was actively connected with the commercial 
interests of the town and is now president of the First State Bank. He 
was born at Wallhausen, Germany, March 20, 1847, a son of Christian and 
Martha Maria (Roemer) Cook, who were also natives of Germany. The 
father was born in 1798, the mother in 1808 and they were married in 
1830. Mr. Cook was county treasurer in Germany for many years and for 
three years he served in the army. He was a well educated and broad-
minded man and his life was guided by his professions as a member of 
the Lutheran church. He died in 1873, while his wife survived until 
1890. 

	In their family were five children including Edmund Cook, who 
attended school near his father's home to the age of ten years and 
afterward continued his education in the gymnasium at Sangerhausen. 
When his textbooks were put aside he became connected with mercantile 
interests. For a year and a half he was in the army, which he joined as 
a volunteer, and was on the staff of General Von Barneco, serving 
during the war with Austria in 1866. The experience which he had as a 
Prussian Hussar of the Twelfth Regiment was a notable one. He was a 
youth of eighteen years when he joined the army and was assigned to 
Troop I. In May of the following year war broke out between Prussia and 
Austria and the captain, in need of a secretary, assigned him to 
clerical duties in his office, where he would often work late into the 
night, on which occasions the good wife of the captain would bring 
lunches of sandwiches and coffee and chat with the two clerks while 
they ate. She learned that Mr. Cook was his mother's youngest child and 
only son and seemed to have the deepest interest in and sympathy for 
him. He was soon afterward commissioned to detached duty on the staff 
of his commander because of his skill in clerical work. On the evening 
of the last and decisive battle with Austria, on the 3d of July, he and 
two other soldiers were given charge of a captured column of transport 
commissary wagons, Mr. Cook to guard the rear. He became deathly sick 
as they proceeded and, unable to remain on his horse, crawled into the 
last of the wagons. The next he knew he was being lifted in a blanket 
out of the wagon and laid on the stone pavement. When he regained 
consciousness he found himself in a convent on a cot, while a young 
officer in a doctor's uniform was trying to force a piece of cut loaf 
sugar between his teeth. In his lucid moments he begged for water, 
which was given him only in spoonfuls. He was one of the victims of 
Asiatic cholera and medical science had not then concluded that water 
should be given in unlimited quantities Again he lost consciousness and 
afterward found himself in a great hall containing many cots, from 
which he saw one after another of his comrades, then dead, being 
dragged across the floor and out of the room for quick burial. The days 
dragged on and at length he managed to make his way out of the room and 
down the stone stairway. Sitting on the bottom step trying to recover 
his breath, he was approached by a motherly looking woman, who said: 
"Sit right there and I will bring you some soup." Then she told him to 
come each day to the kitchen for soup and he gladly availed himself of 
the opportunity At length he was among those who were to be transported 
home. Some delays occurred but eventually he reached home to find that 
he had been reported dead and that his funeral sermon had been preached 
in the church and that a monument had been erected to his memory. When 
his sixty day furlough had expired he reported to his garrison and when 
he appeared before the officer in charge 60 great was the astonishment 
of the latter that he exclaimed: "Why, man, boy, I saw you as dead as a 
door nail and as black as a nigger!" This he repeated again and again 
in his astonishment. At length he reported to the captain, whose wife 
was much concerned over the reported death of this boy to whom she had 
previously served sandwiches and coffee in the captain's office. 
Explanations followed and it seems that as Mr. Cook lay on the stone 
pavement where he had been taken from the wagon some of his former 
comrades had seen him "as dead as a door nail and as black as a 
rigger," but life was not extinct and his recovery was brought about in 
the manner indicated. He returned home with papers as reservist before 
arriving at the age of twenty-an unusual distinction. 

	Desirous of perfecting himself in the English language, he at 
length obtained his parents' consent to come to the United States in 
1868, permission being given him to remain for a year, but the lure of 
the new world was upon him and he never returned to Germany as a 
resident. He spent two years in roaming over the country, engaged in 
rafting and in working in the pines, while later he traveled for a dry-
goods house of St. Paul, remaining Upon the road for several years. He 
entered the mercantile business in Wilmot, South Dakota, in 1882, and 
for twenty-six years was thus closely associated with the commercial 
life of the town, being one of the pioneer merchants and foremost 
business men of the place. On disposing of his store he engaged in 
banking and in the loan business and is now president of the First 
State Bank, which is capitalized for sixteen thousand eight hundred 
dollars, has a surplus and undivided profits of eight thousand dollars 
and average deposits of one hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars. It 
is the oldest bank in the county and one of the most reliable in that 
part of the state. Mr. Cook also owns a farm of three hundred and 
twenty acres adjoining the corporation limits of Wilmot and in his 
business affairs has won substantial and gratifying success. 

	In 1875 occurred the marriage of Mr. Cook and Miss Martha Brooks, 
who was born in Redfield, New York, a daughter of -Reuben Brooks, who 
was one of the pioneer farmers of Minnesota. They have become the 
parents of a son, Arthur Waltemar, who is freight claim adjuster for 
the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was educated at Dixon College of 
Dixon, Illinois. 

	The family attend the Presbyterian church and Mr. Cook is well 
known in Masonic circles, having taken not only the degrees of the 
lodge but also of the York and Scottish Rites and of the Mystic Shrine. 
He has served as master and at all times he exemplifies in his life the 
beneficent spirit of the craft. In politics he is a democrat and 
prominent in the councils of his party in the state. He has served as 
state committeeman for a number of years and was a delegate to the 
convention which nominated Bryan. He is ever deeply interested in 
questions relating to the public welfare but has never sought nor 
desired the rewards of office in recognition of party fealty. On the 
contrary he prefers to devote his time to his banking interests and his 
farm and he is now engaged in raising Norman horses. Well directed 
business affairs have made him one of the wealthiest men in Wilmot and 
Roberts county numbers him among its most honored and valued citizens. 
He has never regretted his determination to come to the new world and 
the spirit of American liberty together with the opportunities of this 
country so wrought upon him that he never felt a desire to return for a 
permanent residence although he has visited the fatherland and still 
feels an attachment for it as the country of his birth.