Who was Cook County named after?

In an article submitted to the newspaper several weeks ago it was suggested that Cook County was named after a local family. But according to the late editor Ade Toftey, Cook County was named after Major Michael Cook of Faribault, a member of the Minnesota Senate during Civil War days, who lost his life in service.

Cook County Historical Society Executive Director Carrie Johnson brought this to the newspaper’s attention and added the following which was written by Charles Karson, September 1936.

“The county was established by an act of Legislature on March 9, 1874. The bill for its establishment was introduced by Colonel Graves, a senator from Duluth who proposed it should be named Verendrye County in honor of the pioneer of exploration of the northern boundary of the states, but the name was changed to Cook before the bill was passed, in honor of Major Michael Cook.

“Mr. Cook at first settled in Faribault in 1855. He was a territorial and state senator from 1857 to 1862. In 1862 he was appointed a major in the Tenth Minnesota Regiment of the Civil War and served until he fell mortally wounded at the Battle of Nashville, December 16th, 1864, dying eleven days later.”