Cooke, Henry D
journalist, merchant, was born Nov. 23, 1825, in Sandusky City, Ohio. The idea of a steamship line from New York to California by way of Panama was suggested by him.
He subsequently resided in California; had much to do with the shipping of the Pacific, and was the first to announce, through a despatch from the military governor of California to Washington, the discovery of gold in the Sacramento Valley. He returned to the east, and was associated with the United States Gazette, Sandusky Register, and the Ohio State Journal; was a presidential elector in 1856; in 1861 became a partner in the house of Jay Cooke and Co.; frequently visited Europe on business; and in 1870 was appointed the first governor of the District of Columbia, which office he resigned in 1873. He was the son of Eleutheros Cooke, a distinguished orator and congressman, and brother of Jay Cooke, the eminent financier. He died Dec. 29, 1881, in Georgetown, D. C.