{{Short description|American judge (1855-1924)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | birth_date = {{birth date|1855|1|13}} | birth_place = Oxford, Mississippi, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1924|2|15|1855|1|13}} | office = Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi | term_start = May 10, 1912 | term_end = 1921 | state_house1 = Mississippi | term_start1 = January 1890 | term_end1 = January 1896 | party = Democratic | district1 = Coahoma County | prior_term1 = Panola County (1886-1888) | term_start2 = January 1886 | term_end2 = January 1888 | children = 4 }}
'''Sam C. Cook''' (July 13, 1855 – February 15, 1924) was a judge and state legislator in Mississippi. He served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1912 to 1921.<ref name="Southwick">Leslie Southwick, [https://dc.law.mc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1410&context=lawreview Mississippi Supreme Court Elections: A Historical Perspective 1916-1996], 18 Miss. C. L. Rev. 115 (1997-1998).</ref>
== Early life == Sam C. Cook was born on July 13, 1855, in Oxford, Mississippi.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rowland |first=Dunbar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MoGAQAAIAAJ |title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi |date=1912 |publisher=Department of Archives and History |pages=335–336 |language=en}}</ref> He was the son of Milas J. Cook and Martha (Bumpass) Cook.<ref name=":0" /> Cook attended the public schools of Oxford, and graduated from the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1878.<ref name=":0" /> He then began practicing law in Holmes County, Mississippi, before moving to Batesville, Mississippi, in 1880, and continuing to practice law there.<ref name=":0" />
==Career== In 1885, Cook was elected to represent Panola County as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives and served in the 1886 session.<ref name=":0" /> In 1888, he moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi.<ref name=":0" /> Cook represented Coahoma County in the House in the 1890, 1892, and 1894 sessions.<ref name=":0" /> He was appointed attorney for the Yazoo Mississippi delta levee board in 1900 and served two years.<ref name=":0" /> He was appointed circuit Judge of the Eleventh district by former Governor Andrew H. Longino in 1902 and was reappointed by Governors James K. Vardaman Jr. and Edmond Noel.<ref>"Judge Sam C. Cook", ''The Chattanooga News'' (February 15, 1924), p. 2.</ref>
He was appointed to Mississippi's supreme court by Mississippi governor Earl L. Brewer in 1912 after serving in the state legislature and for two terms as a circuit judge.<ref name="Southwick"/> In 1920, Brewer was challenged in his bid for reelection by William Dozier Anderson.<ref name="Southwick"/> In the closing days of the election, Anderson accused Cook of having become lazy and careless in his opinion writing, and defeated Cook in the primary.<ref name="Southwick"/>
== Personal life == Cook was a Methodist.<ref name=":0" /> He married Elizabeth Murphy on October 25, 1882, and they had four children, named Charles, Edwin, Marjorie, and Sam Jr.<ref name=":0" />
==See also== *List of justices of the Supreme Court of Mississippi
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |title=Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi |before=William Campbell McLean |after=William Dozier Anderson |years=1912–1921}} {{s-end}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Sam}} Category:1855 births Category:1924 deaths Category:Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Category:Mississippi circuit court judges Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Mississippi Category:People from Clarksdale, Mississippi Category:Mississippi lawyers Category:19th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature