- Henry Christopher McCook
Henry Christopher McCook (
July 3 ,1837 – 1911) was an AmericanPresbyterian clergyman, naturalist, and prolific author on religion, history, and nature. He was a member of the celebratedFighting McCooks , a family of Ohio military officers and volunteers during theAmerican Civil War .McCook was born in New Lisbon, Ohio, to Dr. John McCook. He learned the printing trade as a youth, then taught school for several years. attended Jefferson College. After graduation in 1859, he studied theology privately and in the Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted as a
chaplain in the 41st Illinois Infantry as alieutenant , and helped tend the wounded. As a minister inClinton, Illinois , St. Louis, andSteubenville, Ohio , McCook became known for his compassion and intellect, and for his leadership in the movement to createSunday School s. In 1869, he became pastor of the Seventh Presbyterian church ofPhiladelphia , where he lived for the rest of his life.He spent his summers studying the behavior of ants and spiders. He published his observations and discoveries in a number of journals and books, as well as in a series of well-received illustrated children's books that explained the insects characteristics and traits in language and drawings for young minds. Many of McCook's books used illustrations drawn by
Daniel Carter Beard , the founder of theBoy Scouts of America .In the summer of 1877, he travelled to
Texas to study agricultural ants. Two years later, McCook wrote "The Natural History of the Agricultural Ant of Texas". In 1889–93, he published his most ambitious work, "American Spiders and Their Spinning Work", in three illustrated volumes. He also wrote a book on his ancestors in theWhiskey Rebellion , and delivered a number of papers on Civil War history at meetings of theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States veterans organization.McCook was Vice President of both the
American Entomological Society and theAcademy of Natural Sciences . In 1880,Lafayette College conferred the degree ofDoctor of Divinity to McCook. In 1895, he designed the official flag of the city of Philadelphia. He again served as an Army Chaplain during theSpanish-American War in 1898.McCook's works
* "Object and Outline Teaching" (1871)
* "The Last Year of Christ's Ministry" (1871)
* "The Last Days of Jesus" (1872)
* "The Tercentenary Book" (1873)
* "Mound-Making Ants of the Alleghenies, Their Architecture and Habits" (1877)
* "The Natural History of the Agricultural Ant of Texas" (1879)
* "Historic Ecclesiastical Emblems of Pan-Presbyterianism" (1880)
* "Honey and Occident Ants" (1882)
* "Tenants of an Old Farm: Leaves From the Note-book of a Naturalist" (1884)
* "The Women Friends of Jesus" (1884)
* "The Gospel in Nature" (1887)
* "American Spiders and Their Spinning Work" (1893)
* "Old Farm Fairies - A Summer Campaign Against King Cobweaver's Pixies" (1895)
* "The Latimers : A Tale of the Western Insurrection of 1794" (1897)
* "The Senator: A Threnody" (life ofMarcus A. Hanna ) (1905)
* "Nature's Craftsmen: Popular Studies of Ants and Other Insects" (1907)
* "Ant Communities and How They Are Governed: A Study in Natural Civics" (1909)
* "Prisca of Patmos: A Tale of the Days of St. John I" (1911)References
* Whalen, Charles and Barbara, "The Fighting McCooks: America's Famous Fighting Family", Westmoreland Press, 2006.
* [http://www.acnatsci.org/library/collections/fairytaleworld/ The Fairy Tale World of Henry McCook]
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