John F. Cook, Sr. | |
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Born | 1810 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Died | 1855 (aged 44–45) |
Occupation | Presbyterian minister |
John Frances Cook Sr. (1810–1855)[1] was an American pastor and educator. He was the first African-American Presbyterian minister in Washington D.C. and the head of the District's Smothers School.[1][2][3][4] John F. Cook School in Washington, D.C., was named in his honor.[2]
Cook was born in Washington, D.C. He was enslaved until age 16 when his aunt, Alethia Tanner, purchased his freedom.[1]
Cook apprenticed as a shoemaker and became an assistant messenger for the United States Land Commissioner.[4] Cook attended the Smothers School in Washington D.C. In 1834, he succeeded John Prout as head of the Smothers School and renamed it Union Seminary.[4]
In 1835, Cook served as secretary for the fifth Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Colour in the United States. He left the Seminary for one year and opened a school in Columbia, Pennsylvania. He returned to the Seminary in 1836 and remained there for two decades.[4]
In 1841, Cook was licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery of the District of Columbia. That same year, he co-founded the First Colored Presbyterian Church of Washington, D.C. He was ordained as a pastor in 1843 and served at his congregation until his death in 1855.[1]
His son, John F. Cook, Jr., founded a Washington, D.C., school and named it in his honor.[2]