The Humphreys family in America - citizen hylbom blog

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St. Thomas, where he remained a month, and from a suggestion of Hon. David
Naar, our commercial agent there, he conceived and developed, and presented in
his journalistic correspondence, and in Official Reports of the Consular Office to
Government, the plan of the Chagres route to the Pacific Coast, in pursuance of
which Mr. Polk, in his ne.xt presidential message, made favorable mention of the
same; and in about two years the Aspinwall Pacific Mail Steamship Company
was in operation.
Mr. H. D. Cooke subsequently engaged successfully in the California trade,
and, in the schooner Kamahamaha, took out the first register ever issued to an
American vessel on the Pacific Coast. Afterward, having lost his large property
by the great fires of San Francisco, he again cheerfully began at the foundation,
accepting the financial and editorial management of Hon. Morton McMichael's
newspaper, the North American and United States Gazette, and later, of the
Sandusky Register, and then the editorial and entire control of the Ohio Slate
Journal, a leading Republican organ of the West. During his journalistic relations,
he was deeply interested in railroad enterprises, and in the success of his political
party, of which he was Presidential Elector for General Fremont. After this
he was binder for Congress at Washington. In 1861, he accepted a position in
the banking house of Jay Cooke & Co., assuming the control of the Washington
Branch, and as President of the first National Bank at Washington, from which
time, at home and abroad, in energ)-, in patriotism, and in devotion to the
noble and benevolent enterprises of humanity and Christianity, within his sphere,
he made his influence felt by society, and the nation; and his character and
career may be presented for emulation as the pattern of a Christian gentleman.
He occupied various municipal and official positions with great credit and' popu-
larity, and his appointment to the chair of Governor of the District of Columbia,
by General Grant, was at once a tribute to his deserved popularity and his eminent
and varied abilities. He was the pioneer and leader in the grand development
of Washington City during the period when it emerged from an unpaved, muddy,
hilly and unkempt town of magnificent pretensions, to the most beautiful city of
the Western world. His fine taste and far-reaching views, his social and, subse-
quently, his official position as the Governor of the District, enabled him to accept
the suggestions and direct the energies of others to the best advantage, while his
unsullied integrity and devoted patriotism claimed the admiration of all. The
debt which the city owes to his untiring efforts in its behalf, in planning its im-
provements, combating the prejudices of the croakers, struggling with its finances,
laboring with Senators and Representatives in its behalf, and in numberless ways
by pen, purse and person, can never be appreciated or repaid. He died in
Georgetown, D. C, Thursday morning, February 24th, 18S1, at the age of 55 years.
Mrs. Cooke shared the honors and successes of her husband, and filled her
position of influence with the native gentleness and grace of her character, illus-
trating in her exalted domestic and social aims, and in her munificent benefactions,
the impotence of wealth to stultify or pervert true worth. She res. (18S4)
No. I Cooke Place, Georgetown, D. C. Children:
i. Ilemy \).-, b. 16 July, 1850, i:tica, N. V.; w.is manial by the Rev. A. I!. Atkins,
in St. John's Church, Cieorgetown, U. C, 4 June, 1873, to Ann.i IIowcll (yomitjest