Virgil Y. Cook family papers |
Save page | Previous | 1 of 2 | Next |
|
|
|
Finding aid for the Virgil Y. Cook family papers
BC.MSS.13.18
Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
100 Rock Street
Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201
(501) 320-5700
arkinfo@cals.org
March 9, 2017
| Repository: | Butler Center for Arkansas Studies |
| Creator: | Cook, Virgil Young, 1848-1922 |
| Creator: | Morrow, Jr., John Patterson, 1907-1978 |
| Title: | Virgil Y. Cook family papers |
| Dates: | 1870-1975 |
| Quantity: | 1.25 Linear feet |
| Abstract: | This collection contains documents, photographs, and drafts of an unpublished narrative of the life of Virgil Young Cook, believed to have been written by his grandson, John P. Morrow Jr. |
| Identification: | BC.MSS.13.18 |
| Language: | English |
| Permanent URL: | http://purl.oclc.org/arstudies/bc-mss-1318 |
Arrangement
This collection is arranged chronologically and topically.
Scope and Contents
This collection contains documents, photographs, and drafts of an unpublished narrative of the life of Virgil Young Cook. The narrative is believed to have been written by his grandson, John P. Morrow Jr. It also contains a political broadside written by J. F. Medearis concerning the candidacy of William K. Surridge for Commissioner of Mines, Manufactures and Agriculture of the State of Arkansas.
Biographical Information
Virgil Young (V. Y.) Cook was born on November 14, 1848, in Boydsville, Graves County, Kentucky. the son of William Ditterline Cook and Pernica Dodds. As a young teenager, he persuaded his father to allow him to enlist in the Confederate army. He served in Company E, 12th Kentucky Cavalry and Company H, 7th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, mustering out in May 1865, six months before his eighteenth birthday.
In 1866 Cook moved to the Grand Glaize area of Jackson County, Arkansas, where he worked in the mercantile store of Matthew Thomason. In 1874, Cook relocated to Olyphant, where he opened a mercantile store and a cotton gin. Over the coming years, he acquired 8,000 acres in Jackson, Independence, Clay, and Greene counties. He employed sharecroppers and tenant farmers to work the land for him. He eventually moved the center of his operations to an area in the Oil Trough Bottoms on the White River, later known as the town of Elmo.
On June 29, 1871, Cook married Mildred Ophelia Lamb. The couple had four daughters and two sons; one son died as an infant and the other at age seventeen. In 1898 Cook was commissioned a colonel and put in command of the Second Arkansas Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish-American War.
In 1908 Cook and his wife moved to the city of Batesville to be near their daughters. One daughter, Bertha May, married John P. Morrow Sr. Their son, John P. Morrow Jr., was an early supporter of and frequent author for the Independence County Historical Society and its publications. He is believed to be the author of the biographical narratives included in this collection.
Cook continued to manage his holdings and to be active in writing and in promotion of Confederate veterans organizations. Some of his writings are quoted in Morrow’s biographical narrative. Mildred Cook died in July 1916, and on April 28, 1920, Cook married Sarah B. Lanier of Forrest City, Ark. Cook died at his home in Batesville on March 12, 1922.
Index Terms
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Restrictions
Restrictions on Access
Unrestricted access
Restrictions on Use
Non-circulating, in-house use only
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Virgil Y. Cook family papers, MSS.13.18, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Arkansas Studies Institute.
Acquisition Information
Purchased, 2013