John COCKE, Congress, TN (1772-1854)

COCKE, John, (son of William Cocke and uncle of William Michael Cocke), a Representative from Tennessee; born in Brunswick, Nottoway County, Va., in 1772; moved with his parents to Tennessee, where he attended the public schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1793 and practiced in Hawkins County; member of the Tennessee house of representatives in 1796, 1797, 1807, 1809, 1812, and again in 1837, and served as speaker in 1812 and 1837; served in the Tennessee senate 1799-1801; served as major general of Tennessee Volunteers in the Creek War in 1813 and as colonel of a regiment of Tennessee riflemen, under Gen. Andrew Jackson, at New Orleans; elected as a Republican to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses; as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth Congress; and as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congress (March 4, 1819-March 3, 1827); chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Congresses); engaged in agricultural pursuits; founded a school for deaf mutes in Knoxville, Tenn.; again a member of the Tennessee senate in 1843; died in Rutledge, Grainger County, Tenn., February 16, 1854; interment in the Methodist Church Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present