COOKMAN, George Grimston, clergyman, born in Hull, England, 21 October, 1800; lost at sea in March, 1841. He came to the United States on business in 1823, and while here became convinced that it was his duty to preach the gospel. One of his objects in coming to this country was to bear some humble part in the emancipation of the slaves of the south. His father settled him in business in England and was anxious to detain him at home; but he came again to this country in 1825, officiated for a few months as a local preacher in Philadelphia, and at the ensuing session of the Philadelphia conference in 1826 was admitted into the Methodist ministry. He was transferred to Baltimore in 1833, and was twice chosen chaplain to congress. He preached every Sunday morning in the hall of representatives, and attracted great crowds, among whom were all the prominent statesmen. of the day, including John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay. He sailed for England, 11 March, 1841, on the steamship "President," which was never heard from again. His style of pulpit oratory was nervous, elegant, and richly imaginative.--His son, Alfred, clergyman, born in 1828; died in Newark, New Jersey, 13 November, 1871, was educated in the schools of Baltimore and Washington, and under his father's care, and began preaching in Baltimore when only sixteen years old. He afterward joined the Philadelphia conference, and held pastorates in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Wihnington, New York, and other cities.

See "Life of Alfred Cookman," by Henry born Ridgaway (New York, 1871).--Another son, John Emory, born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 8 June, 1836, was graduated at the Boston University theological school. He joined the New York conference in 1861, and has spent his ministry mostly in the vicinity of New York, with the exception of three years as pastor of Tremont street church, Boston. He received the degree of D.D. from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1876, and is now (1886) pastor of the Bedford street M. E. church, New York city.