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Guide to Reverend Thomas R. Cook journals ARC Mss 82
ARC Mss 82  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
Consists of fifteen journals written by Reverend Thomas Cook, a Methodist preacher, who wrote about his experience growing up during the Western Expansion, Civil War, and life as Reverend preaching across the mining towns of Colorado.
Background
Reverend Thomas R. Cook was born on May 18, 1848 in Middletown, Pennsylvania, to William Cook, a saddlemaker and later a farmer, and Mary Katherine Rice Cook. As a young child Cook’s family journeyed from Ohio to Iowa in 1853 to begin a life of farming. At the time, Iowa was largely unsettled and had only received statehood seven years prior. In 1858, Cook’s mother died of consumption and soon after his father remarried. During the Civil War, Cook’s father and two uncles joined the 35th Regiment of Company K, a Muscatine located Union volunteer infantry, leaving Cook to take on the responsibilities of the farm and family. In 1870, Cook graduated from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. The college was founded in 1853 by Methodist minister from North Carolina, one of the many colleges stemming from the Third Great Awakening. Cook initially took up teaching but by 1875 had become a Methodist preacher himself and moved to Colorado. Cook would preach among the small mining towns and, as his journals indicates, tutor a Chinese immigrant. His adult life was filled with descriptions of the Western Expansion experience with community conflicts during the Civil War, Native Americans (aftermath of the Meeker Massacre), and mining town life. By 1879, Cook had married a family friend by the name of Mary and settled in Fairplay, Colorado. They had a daughter, Leonara and a son, who died as infant. At the age of eighty-nine Cook died in Sierra Nevada, California.
Extent
0.4 linear feet (1 document box)
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Availability
The collection is open for research.