Dr. Alta F. Cook

Alta Fremont Cook was born in Huron County, Ohio in 1850 to Dr. Thomas M. Cook, and his wife the former Mary L. Cole. Dr. T.M. Cook had been a regimental and brigade surgeon with the 101st Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Alta F. Cook followed in his father’s steps, and he too became a physician, having graduated from the University of Michigan in 1881. The 1888 Sandusky City Directory listed both Dr. T.M. Cook and Dr. A.F. Cook, physicians and surgeons, as having offices in the Sloane Block in downtown Sandusky. After the elder Dr. Cook’s death, Dr. Alta F. Cook relocated his medical office to the Odd Fellows’ Temple on Washington Row (shown below, circa 1965). For several years, Dr. Alta F. Cook served as the Acting Assistant Surgeon for the Marine Hospital Service in Sandusky. The Marine Hospital Service had locations in cities with ports throughout the United States, to provide medical service to sailors in the Merchant Marines, Coast Guard, and other federal workers working as seamen.

In 1881, Dr. Alta F. Cook married Alice Gilmore in Ypsilanti, Michigan. They were the parents of a son named Ralph C. Cook. After Alice passed away in 1898, Dr. Cook married Miss Etta Zimmerman. They also had a son, Kenneth Cook. On May 14, 1909, Dr. Alta F. Cook died suddenly at his office from heart disease. He was only 58 years old at the time of his death. Dr. Alta Cook had been prominent in the medical profession in Sandusky for many years. He had been active in the Erie County Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Dr. Alta F. Cook was buried in the family lot at Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.