George Washington COOK, Congress, CO (1851-1916)

COOK, George Washington, a Representative from Colorado; born in Bedford, Lawrence County, Ind., November 10, 1851; at the age of eleven ran away from home and enlisted in the Fifteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in the Union Army and served as a drummer boy; was transferred to the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served as chief regimental clerk; at the close of the Civil War attended the public schools, Bedford Academy, and the Indiana University at Bloomington; moved to Chicago in 1880 and entered the employ of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway; moved to Leadville, Colo., in 1880 and became division superintendent of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad; mayor of Leadville 1885-1887; moved to Denver in 1888 and became general sales agent for the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co.; department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic for Colorado and Wyoming in 1891 and 1892; became an independent mining operator in 1893; senior vice commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1905 and 1906; organized and commanded the Cook Drum Corps, of Denver; elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth Congress (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1909); was not a candidate for renomination in 1908; resumed mining operations in Colorado; died in Pueblo, Colo., December 18, 1916; interment in Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colo.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present