Sarah Johnson Cocke (, Johnson; after first marriage, Hagan; after second marriage, Cocke; February 7, 1865 – January 20, 1944) was an American writer and civic leader. She was also active in several women's clubs. Cocke's works of Southern fiction include, ''Bypaths in Dixie'', ''Master of the Hills'', and ''Old Mammy Tales from Dixie Land''. A memoir, ''A Woman of Distinction: From Hoopskirts to Airplanes, a Remembrance'', was published posthumously.

Early life and education

Sarah Cobb Johnson was born in

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About ...

, February 7, 1865, but was reared in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Both of her parents were members of distinguished Southern families. Her father was Dr. John Milton Johnson of

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

, who served as president of Atlanta Academy of Medicine, as well as chair, department of physiology and pathological anatomy,

Atlanta Medical College Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. Her mother was Mary Willis (nee Cobb) Erwin Johnson, of

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

. Her mother was a daughter of John Addison and Sarah Robinson (Rootes) Cobb, and a sister of

Howell Cobb Howell Cobb (September 7, 1815 – October 9, 1868) was an American and later Confederate political figure. A southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and the speaker of the House from 184 ...

, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives and

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

. John A. Cobb's mother was Mildred Lewis, a descendant in the sixth generation from Gen. Robert Lewis. In the Lewis line, Cocke was also a descendant of the Warner and Reade families. Through her grandmother, Sarah Robinson Rootes, she was a descendant of the Jacquelin family and also of the distinguished

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

family of Cary, one of her ancestors in that line being Col. Miles Cary, who was a descendant of William Cary, mayor of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England, in 1492. She was also a descendant of Ambrose Cobbs and

Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb (April 10, 1823 – December 13, 1862) was an American lawyer, author, politician, and Confederate States Army officer, killed in the Battle of Fredericksburg during the American Civil War. He was the brother of noted C ...

. Cocke was a graduate of

Lucy Cobb Institute The Lucy Cobb Institute was a girls' school on Milledge Avenue in Athens, Georgia, United States. It was founded by Thomas R.R. Cobb, and named in honor of his daughter, who had died of scarlet fever at age 14, shortly before construction was c ...

Career

During her residence in Atlanta, she was a member of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

(DAR), and served as vice-president general in 1890. She was a member of the Board of Directors and chair of ways and means of the woman's department of the Cotton States and International Exposition (Atlanta, 1895). She was also a charter member of the

Atlanta Woman's Club The Atlanta Woman’s Club is one of oldest non-profit woman’s organizations in Atlanta, organized November 11, 1895. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit philanthropic organization made up of professional women of all ages, races and religions. The At ...

. Cocke was equally active after arriving in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...

. She served as president of the Civic Betterment Club of Roanoke in 1904. She was a member of the

National League of American Pen Women The National League of American Pen Women, Inc. (NLAPW) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization for women. History The first meeting of the League of American Pen Women was organized in 1897 by Marian Longfellow O'Donoghue, a writer ...

, the

National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote public ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the Woman's Club of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, Colonial Dames Club of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

, and the Order of the Crown. She also served as chair of the Roanoke Committee of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Virginia. Bypaths in Dixie, 1911

Cocke wrote a great deal, including numerous magazine stories and frequent contributions to periodicals, including ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'', ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

'', and ''

The Country Gentleman ''The Country Gentleman'' (1852–1955) was an American agricultural magazine founded in 1852 in Albany, New York, by Luther Tucker.Frank Luther Mott (1938A History of American Magazines 1850–1865"The Country Gentleman", page 432, Harvard Unive ...

''. She wrote in

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

and " cracker"

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

s, reproducing the wit and wisdom of the types which she portrayed. Cocke was the author "The Test of the Rooster and the Wash Pot" and "Phillis Sketches". She penned multiple books, including ''Bypaths in Dixie'' (New York : E. P. Dutton & Co., 1911) and ''Master of the Hills'' (New York : E. P. Dutton & Co., 1917). ''Old Mammy Tales from Dixie Land'' was a 1926 re-issuing of ''Bypaths in Dixie''. Her memoir, ''A Woman of Distinction: From Hoopskirts to Airplanes, a Remembrance'', were published posthumously in 2002.

Personal life and legacy

On October 26, 1887, she married Dr. Hugh Hagan (1863-1898) of Atlanta. By that marriage, she had two sons, Hugh Johnson Hagan and Willis Cobb Hagan. On October 30, 1903, she married

Lucian Howard Cocke Lucian Howard Cocke (March 27, 1858 – November 14, 1927) was an American lawyer, politician, historian and university rector from Virginia. Life Cocke was born on March 27, 1858, at Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia where his father, Charl ...

(1858–1927), of "Cockspur", Orchard Hill,

. They had no children. Following an extended illness, Sarah Johnson Cocke died at her Roanoke home, January 20, 1944. Burial was in the Cocke family cemetery at Hollins College (now

Hollins University Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States ...

), her second husband having served as vice-president and part owner of the school.

Awards and honors

Cocke's name is included on the

Virginia Women's Monument The Virginia Women's Monument is a state memorial in Richmond, Virginia commemorating the contributions of Virginia women to the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America. Located on the grounds of the Virginia Stat ...

Selected works

* ''Bypaths in Dixie'', 1911 * ''Master of the Hills'', 1917 * ''Old Mammy Tales from Dixie Land'', 1926 * ''A Woman of Distinction: From Hoopskirts to Airplanes, a Remembrance'', 2002

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocke, Sarah Johnson 1865 births 1944 deaths 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers People from Selma, Alabama People from Roanoke, Virginia Writers from Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution people Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy National Society of the Colonial Dames of America American women short story writers Clubwomen