Henry Christopher McCookthird son of Dr. John McCook and Catharine Julia (Sheldon). He was born at New Lisbon, Ohio. His father was of Scotch-Irish and his mother of New England descent. A brother of Anson George, Edward Moody, and John James, and a first cousin of Alexander McDowell McCook, he belonged to that branch of the family which gave rise in the army to the expression "the fighting McCooks. "
McCook received the degree of A. B. in 1859 from Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa. Although attracted to the law at first, he changed to theology and studied at the Western Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, in 1860-63.
McCook was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1861, but in July of that year, the Civil War having begun, he resigned his charge, and volunteered. He raised two companies and part of a third, and served as first lieutenant in the 416t Illinois Volunteers and later as chaplain of that regiment, 1861-62. In 1863-64 he preached at Clinton, Ill. , and from 1864 to 1869 was engaged in city mission work in St. Louis. In 1870 he became the pastor of the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and remained in this post until 1902, when he resigned on account of ill health. During the Spanish-American War he was very active in hospital and relief work.
McCook was primarily a clergyman, but he was also an ardent naturalist. In 1873 he began to study spiders; later he became interested in ants, and all through his active life, from 1876 to 1909, he published from time to time technical papers of much value, the majority of them relating to either spiders or ants. He also wrote many semi-popular papers and several books. One of the best-known of his books was Tenants of an Old Farm: Leaves from the Note Book of a Naturalist (1885). His last popular work was entitled Ant Communities and How they are Governed, a Study in Natural Civics (1909). Most of his more technical papers were published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Transactions of the American Entomological Society. Two articles, "Mound-Making Ants of the Alleghanies, Their Architecture and Habits" (Transactions of the American Entomological Society, November 1877) and The Natural History of the Agricultural Ant of Texas (1879), brought him prominently to the attention of the entomological world. A later paper entitled The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods and the Occident Ants of the American Plains (1882), based on original field observations, made during a visit to the West, was widely read.
McCook was Vice President of both the American Entomological Society and the Academy of Natural Sciences. In 1880, Lafayette College conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity to McCook. In 1895, he designed the official flag of the city of Philadelphia. He again served as an Army Chaplain during the Spanish–American War in 1898.
(Excerpt from Ant Communities and How They Are Governed: A...)
(Excerpt from The Senator: A Threnody For the first fifte...)
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
His work The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods and the Occident Ants of the American Plains (1882) and his earlier papers showed him to be a keen observer, and his publications continue to be highly regarded.
McCook married in 1860 Emma C. Herter, who died in 1897. In 1899 he married Mrs. Eleanor D. S. Abbey.
