John Esten Cooke Collection

1081 THL

Scope and Content: This collection contains material written by author John Esten Cooke, entitled "Historic Houses on the Shenandoah," "Memoirs of Generals Lee, Gates, Stephen, and Darke," and "Professor Pressensee, Materialist and Inventor."

(1 box) Last updated 01/06.

Biographical/Historical: Quarles, Garland R. Some Worthy Lives. Winchester, VA: Winchester- Frederick County Historical Society, 1988.

Bibliography: Born in 1830, John Esten Cooke was one of 13 children. At his father’s urging, he studied and practiced law briefly in Richmond. He abandoned that in 1854 after his father’s death, and almost immediately became a successful novelist and short story writer authoring 31 books and almost 200 published articles and poems. He was a Confederate soldier on the staff of Jeb Stuart. At the General’s death in 1864, he became Inspector General of the Horse Artillery. In 1867, Cooke married Frances Page and settled down three miles north of Boyce, VA to become a prosperous farmer and gardener. He had three children. He died in 1886 and was buried in Old Chapel Cemetery.

Cite As: John Esten Cooke Collection, 1081 THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA, USA.

Organization:

Box 1

"Historic Houses on the Shenandoah," published in Appleton’s Journal, July 19, 1873, pp. 65-70, 3 pages, printed, 2 copies

"Memoirs of Generals Lee, Gates, Stephen, and Darke," published in Harpers New Monthly Magazine, Sept. 1958

Professor Pressensee, Materialist and Inventor, Harper’s Half Hour Series, Harper and Brothers, 1877, 1 item, printed