Elisha Cooke (1637 - 1715)

Born 16 Sep 1637 in Boston, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 31 Oct 1715 at age 78 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

son of Richard Cook, who came from Quedsley, Gloucestershire about 1634. (Bentley)

Elisha Cooke, American Colonial leader: born in Boston Mass, Sep 16 1637, died there Oct 31, 1715. He was graduated from Harvard' 57, became a Physician Boston and began to take an active part in politics as relationships between Massachusetts and England approached a crisis. He was elected to the General Court in 1681, and as speaker from 1682-4, was a leading Opponent of surrendering the old Mass. Bay Colony Charter, as the Crown demanded, in hopes of increasing its control. When the Charter was revoked in 1684, Cooke was elected as a member of the Board of Assistants which controlled the Colony until Sir Edmund Andros arrived from England in 1686 to become Governor of the short lived Dominion of New England. Cooks was one of the principal leaders of the colonists movements which overthrew Andros in 1689, and was elected and was elected to the Council of Safety which assumed power in Andros place. As one of the Colony agents in London from 1690-92, he opposed the new charter offered by William IV, but was overruled by his colleagues. Under the new charter, Cooke was elected by the General Court, annually from 1694-1702, but thereafter, his election was vetoed each year by Joseph Dudley, who had been one of Andros chief Lieutenants. Cooke finally resumed his seat on the Council in 1715, but died that same year. Encyclopedia Americana Vol. 7

Elisha, Boston, son of Richard a physician, of good esteem, better known as a politician, Freeman 1673, married Elizabeth, daughter of Gov. Leverett June 1668----- Representative 1681-3, and speaker, an Assistant 1684-6, one of the Council of Safety 1689, agent in 1690 and 1691, for Mass. in England to negotiate for the Colony with Oakes and Mather, and differences on points of policy with the latter. Judge of the Province 1701, and on the death of Stoughton but superceded by Addington Nov 1702 after Dudley became Governor who also negativated him as counsel which he had long been.

Savage page445

He was born on 16 Sep 1637 at Boston, Mass. He married Elizabeth Leverett, daughter of Rev.-Hon John Leverett and Sarah Sedgwick, in Jun 1668 at Boston, Mass. He died on 31 Dec 1715 at Boston, Mass, at age 78.

Sources

• Shurtleff, Nathaniel. Genealogical Notice of the Family of Elder Thomas Leverett, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, 1850) Vol. 4, Page 133
• http://www.jacksonsweb.org/cook.htm#id3958
• Bentley, William. The Diary of William Bentley, D.D., Pastor of the East Church, Salem, Massachusetts (Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., 1905) Vol. 3, Page 176-7