This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Size | 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 900 items) |
Abstract | Charles Alston Cook (1848-1916) of Warrenton, N.C., and Muscogee, Okla., was a lawyer; planter; active Republican; associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, 1901-1903; and member of the Oklahoma state legislature, 1909-1910. The collection includes letters from Cook, principally to his wife Marina Jones Cook, occasionally mentioning political events in Oklahoma, but making little reference to political or judicial affairs in North Carolina; considerable correspondence with and about John Graham (born circa 1847), founder of the Warrenton High School, Warrenton, N.C., and his family, chiefly on education topics; scattered letters from Daniel Lindsay Russell (1845-1908), Republican governor of North Carolina; other personal and family correspondence of Marina Jones Cook and of the Cooks' children at school in North Carolina and Tennessee; a letterpress copybook used by Cook in his legal work, 1877-1880, and by lawyer E. H. Plumer, 1868-1869; legal papers of Cook; newspaper clippings about family members; and family photographs. |
Creator | Cook, C. A. (Charles Alston), 1848-1916. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, October 2009
Finding aid updated for digitization by Kathryn Michaelis, March 2010
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Charles Alston Cook (1848-1916) was a lawyer; planter; state legislator; associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, 1901-1903; and member of the Oklahoma state legislature, 1909-1910. Cook was educated by John Graham and later attended the University of North Carolina, 1866-1868, and graduated from Princeton University in 1870. He studied law in the office of William Eaton and became a practicing attorney in Warrenton, N.C. He later served as attorney for the North Carolina Corporations Commission; solicitor of the North Carolina circuit criminal court, 1878-1880; member of the North Carolina House, 1896-1898, and Senate, 1887 and 1897; and was active in the Republican party.
His wife was Marina William Jones Cook; their children were Bignall, Lenoir, Josephine (called Josie or Doc), Charles, Marshall, William Jones, Benjamin Edward, and Mary Speed. Lenoir was a student at Peabody College, Nashville, Tenn., 1893-1896, and taught in Elm City, N.C., the following year. In 1900 she married George E. McLaurine of Nashville; they had three children: Charlie, Lenoir, and Margaret. Charles Cook worked in a drug store in Littleton, N.C., in 1901 and enrolled in Vanderbilt School of Pharmacy in 1902. Marshall, William Jones, Benjamin, and Mary Speed attended Warrenton High School; Marshall also attended the University of North Carolina, 1901-1903, as did Benjamin, 1908-1910.
Back to TopThe collection includes personal and family correspondence of Charles Alston Cook, his wife Marina William Jones Cook, and their children Bignall, Lenoir, Josephine, Charles, Marshall, William Jones, Benjamin Edward, and Mary Speed. Other correspondents include Mary and W. S. Mercer of Elm City, N.C.; William and Estelle Jones of Montgomery, Tex.; and John Graham, his wife Frances, their son William Archibald, and their daugther Maria.
The earliest items, prior to 1861, are bills and personal correspondence of Charles M. Cook, father of Charles Alston Cook. The papers of Charles Alston Cook begin in 1861 with a letter to his mother and continue with business and personal correspondence with his Uncle Alston (Cook?), 1881-1889, and scattered personal letters and receipts, 1890-1892.
After 1893 the collection consists primarily of letters between Charles Alston Cook and his wife and children. Most of the correspondence focuses on family relationships, farm management, and activities of the younger Cooks. There are scattered letters dealing with Alston, Jones, and Macon genealogy and much correspondence, 1897-1899, about suits filed by Western Union and several railroads against the state Corporations Commission for which Cook was attorney. There is little mention in the papers of his public and political career.
Cook was an advisor and close friend of Daniel Lindsay Russell; there are scattered letters from Russell and his niece-secretary Frances Sawyer beginning in 1901. In 1901 Cook was appointed an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court but his correspondence seldom touched on his judicial career. There are several letters, 1901 and 1902, pertaining to Cook's work in the North Carolina and American Bar Associations.
In 1900 Cook determined to move his family to another state as soon as practicable, and the collection includes his letters in 1900 while on an inspection trip to Tennessee and Oklahoma, and letters between the Cook family and friends in North Carolina after their move to Oklahoma in 1903. Three of the Cook children--William Jones, Benjamin, and Mary Speed--returned to North Carolina to attend schools and there are letters between them and their parents as well as letters from and about the senior Cooks during their visits to North Carolina. Charles A. Cook's letters occasionally mention Oklahoma politics and elections, including his own successful race for and service in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1908-1910.
The slight material after 1914 consists of personal letters and correspondence between Charles Alston Cook, Edward Kidder Graham, and William A. Graham about a proposed honorary degree from the University of North Carolina for John Graham.
Other papers include undated letters and business papers and an article on North Carolina history; legal papers, 1898-1900, related to the suit filed by Mrs. L. M. Hendon against the North Carolina Railroad Company; correspondence from Joseph A. Groves regarding Alston and related genealogy; scattered personal clippings and near-print material; and family photographs. There is also a business lettercopy book used by lawyers E. H. Plummer, 1868-1869, and Charles Alston Cook, 1877-1880.
Back to TopFolder 1a |
Original finding aid |
Folder 1 |
1813-1879 |
Folder 2 |
1880-1889 |
Folder 3 |
1890-1892 |
Folder 4 |
1893-1894 |
Folder 5 |
1895-1896 |
Folder 6 |
January-June 1897 |
Folder 7 |
July 1897 |
Folder 8 |
August-December 1897 |
Folder 9 |
1898 |
Folder 10 |
January-July 1899 |
Folder 11 |
18 July 1899 |
Folder 12 |
19 July-31 August 1899 |
Folder 13 |
September-December 1899 |
Folder 14 |
January-June 1900 |
Folder 15 |
July-December 1900 |
Folder 16 |
January-March 1901 |
Folder 17 |
April-June 1901 |
Folder 18 |
July-October 1901 |
Folder 19 |
November-December 1901 |
Folder 20 |
January-February 1902 |
Folder 21 |
March-April 1902 |
Folder 22 |
May-August 1902 |
Folder 23 |
September 1902 |
Folder 24 |
October 1902 |
Folder 25 |
November-December 1902 |
Folder 26 |
January-June 1903 |
Folder 27 |
July-December 1903 |
Folder 28 |
1904 |
Folder 29 |
1905-1906 |
Folder 30 |
1907 |
Folder 31 |
1908-1910 |
Folder 32 |
1911-1912 |
Folder 33 |
1913 |
Folder 34 |
1914-1926 |
Folder 35 |
Undated |
Folder 36 |
L. M. Hendon vs. North Carolina Railroad Company, 1898-1900Legal papers related to a suit filed by Mrs. L. M. Hendon against the North Carolina Railroad Company for which Charles Alston Cook was attorney. Includes correspondence with Manning and Foushee, Mrs. Hendon's attorneys; C. A. Cook's bills rendered to the railroad; arguments and depositions filed in Durham County, N.C., Superior Court, 1898, and North Carolina Supreme Court, 1899-1900. |
Folder 37a |
Genealogical materials, 1897-1899Includes letters, 1897-1915, from Joseph A. Groves of Orrville, Ala., regarding Alston and related lines and other items related to Alston genealogy. |
Folder 37b |
Genealogical materials, 1900-1915Includes letters, 1897-1915, from Joseph A. Groves of Orrville, Ala., regarding Alston and related lines and other items related to Alston genealogy. |
Folder 37c |
Genealogical materials, 1969 and undated |
Folder 38 |
Clippings, printed materials, miscellaneous volumes |
Image Folder PF-3928/1 |
PhotographsPhotograph of Governor Daniel Lindsay Russell and his staff, including Charles Alston Cook, taken in 1897 and negative of same. Also miscellaneous unidentified snapshots. |
Folder 39 |
Volume 1: Letterpress copybook, 1868-1869 and 1877-1880.Copies of business and financial correspondence of lawyer E.H. Plummer and lawyer-planter C.A. Cook, both of Warrenton, N.C. |
Photographs (PF-3928/1)
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