1. Nicholas Cooke was an American politician, slave-trader, and ropemaker who served as the governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations during the American Revolutionary War, and after Rhode Island became a state, he continued in this position to become the first Governor of the State of Rhode Island.
Nicholas Cooke is depicted as one of the affluent merchants in John Greenwood's satirical painting from the 1750s entitled Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam.
Nicholas Cooke devoted most of his energy to mercantile pursuits and local government in the 1760s, and in 1766 represented his Congregational Church in becoming a trustee of the new college in Rhode Island, later named Brown University.
Nicholas Cooke stepped down from this position after a year, but in 1775, after the war with Great Britain had begun, he was elected as deputy governor, this time under Governor Joseph Wanton.
Nicholas Cooke is buried in the North Burial Ground in Providence.
Nicholas Cooke operated a distillery and a rope making business.
Nicholas Cooke first became politically active at the age of 35, when he was elected as an Assistant from Providence in 1752, being elected again to this position three more times within seven years.
Nicholas Cooke became a trustee of Rhode Island's new college, later named Brown University, in 1766 and served in that role until his death.
In 1768 Nicholas Cooke became the deputy governor of the colony under Josias Lyndon, both men leaving their offices after one year.
Nicholas Cooke was responsible for seeing that the town faithfully adhered to the declarations of the Congress relating to trade with Great Britain.
Nicholas Cooke became the governor, with William Bradford of Bristol becoming deputy governor, and served out the remainder of Wanton's term before being elected for two additional one-year terms.
The town of Newport was highly exposed, being on an island in the Narragansett Bay, and one of the first acts of the Assembly under Nicholas Cooke involved the removal of the colony's treasures, records and offices from there to Providence.
Nicholas Cooke enumerated the efforts made by the colony in its own behalf, but asked for continental aid.
The general wrote two earnest letters on the subject, but when Nicholas Cooke presented the situation to him, Washington ultimately approved of the plan, and thanked the State for its exertions.
In 1740 Nicholas Cooke married Hannah, the daughter of Hezekiah Sabin, with whom he had 12 children.