William Mordecai Cooke Sr. (December 11, 1823 – April 14, 1863) was a prominent

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

politician.

Biography

William Mordecai Cooke was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on December 11, 1823. He earned a law degree at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

in 1843, and later moved to

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, where he briefly served as a judge. He married Elise von Phul in St. Louis on November 17, 1846, and they had seven children. He represented the state in the

Provisional Confederate Congress The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, also known as the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing body ...

in 1861 to 1862, and in the

First Confederate Congress The 1st Confederate States Congress, consisting of the Confederate States Senate and the Confederate States House of Representatives, met from February 18, 1862, to February 17, 1864, during the first two years of Jefferson Davis's presidency, a ...

from 1862 to 1863. He died in office, in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

on April 14, 1863.

References

1823 births 1863 deaths Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Missouri 19th-century American politicians Politicians from Portsmouth, Virginia {{Missouri-politician-stub