| 1865,
June 10 |
Frederick Albert Cook born in Hortonville, NY;
fifth of six children of Theodor Albrecht Koch
(later changed to Cook) and Magdalena Long Koch. |
| 1887 |
Cook
entered
College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia
University and later transfered to
NY
University; supported himself with milk
business. |
| 1889 |
Married Libby Forbes. |
| 1890,
June |
Wife
and child die due to complications in
childbirth. Cook graduated from New York
University and passed his medical exams, sold
milk business to brother and used profits to
open medical office. |
| 1891 |
Volunteered for
Peary's Greenland Expedition and served as
ethnologist and photographer. |
| 1893 |
Arranged Zeta expedition to Greenland. |
| 1894 |
Arranged and led Miranda tour to Greenland.
Arctic Club formed "...to link all members of
Dr. Cook's Arctic Expedition and keep them from
losing track of each other." |
| 1897 |
Original physician resigned from
Belgian Antarctic Expedition and Cook
volunteered to acts as physician and
photographer. |
| 1898,
March |
While
the Belgica was frozen in the ice, Cook
studied crew's psychological difficulties,
explored area, made numerous inventions and
medical observations. Belgica is freed
after Cook led effort to saw a canal through the
ice. |
| 1899,
April |
Received Yahgan dictionary from Thomas Bridges. |
| 1899,
July 2 |
New York Herald
published Cook's account. He was made a
chevalier of the Order of Leopold I. |
| 1900 |
Through the First Antarctic Night
published. Book tour with Pond agency. |
| 1901,
January |
Travelled to Belgium to receive award. |
| 1901,
July |
Joined Erik, Peary/North Pole relief expedition
sponsored by the Peary Arctic Club. |
| 1902 |
Gave
lecture tour. |
| 1902,
June |
Cook
married Mrs. Marie Fidell Hunt and became
stepfather to her daughter Ruth (b.1898). |
| 1903,
June |
First
expedition to
Mt. McKinley. |
| 1904 |
Cook
on lecture tour. |
| 1905,
May 30 |
Helen
Cook born, later changes name to Helene. |
| 1905,
July |
Peary
began expedition to North Pole on the
Roosevelt. |
| 1906,
May |
Second expedition to Mt. McKinley, caused
financial difficulty for Cook. |
| 1906,
Sept. 16 |
Claimed attainment of the summit of Mount
McKinley with Ed Barrill. |
| 1906,
Dec. 7 |
Elected president of Explorer's Club. |
| 1908,
Feb. |
Began
North Pole Expedition. Rudolph Franke remained
at Annoatok guarding Cook property. |
| 1908,
April 21 |
Cook
claimed to have reached North Pole. Seasonal
change and drifting ice prohibited southward
return, spent polar night in shelter with Eskimo
companions. |
| 1908,
May |
Peary
complains to
NY Times about Cook exploiting Peary's
methods and the Eskimos Peary trained; accepts
presidency of Explorers Club in Cook's absence,
provided that the Explorers Club demands proof
from Cook. |
| 1908,
Aug. 17 |
Franke signs away Cook's property to Peary for
passage on Erik; Harry Whitney, a
hunter and passenger, takes over Cook's house at
Annoatok. |
| 1908 |
Discovery of dead Greenland explorers exposes
Peary's errors in mapping coast of Northern
Greenland in 1892. |
| 1909,
Feb. 18 |
Cook's expedition leaves shelter and starts
again for Annoatok. |
| 1909,
April 15 |
Expedition reaches Greenland; Whitney and Cook
meet at Annoatok; Whitney persuades Cook to
leave instruments, North Pole flag, and damaged
sled with Whitney for transportation on a later
vessel. |
| 1909,
May 21 |
Cook
reaches Upernavik; announces publicly he reached
pole on April 21, 1908. |
| 1909,
Aug. 9 |
Cook
sails for Denmark. |
| 1909,
Sept. 1 |
Cook
cables Belgium about his discovery; requests
$3,000 from New York Herald for his
story. |
| 1909,
Sept. 6 |
At
dinner reception in Copenhagen, Cook receives
news of Peary's claim to have reached North Pole
on April 6, 1909. |
| 1909,
Sept. 7 |
Cook
receives gold medal of Royal Geographical
Society of Denmark. |
| 1909,
Sept. 8 |
Peary
denounces Cook as a fraud. |
| 1909,
Sept. 9 |
Cook
receives honorary degree from University of
Copenhagen; promises to present conclusive
evidence. |
| 1909,
Sept. 21 |
Cook
returns to the U.S. and is honored with a
massive parade of more than 100,000 in New York
City. |
| 1909,
Sept. 22 |
Cook
has press conference and shows his 173 page
journal. |
| 1909,
Sept. 26 |
Cook
receives telegram from Harry Whitney that Peary
will not allow him to transport any of Cook's
instruments or evidence. |
| 1909,
Sept. 27 |
Cook
lectures at
Carnegie Hall. |
| 1909,
Oct. 13 |
While
Cook on lecture tour, Peary releases to
newspapers account of interviews with Cook's
Eskimos, who claim never to have left land. |
| 1909,
Oct. 14 |
Affidavit of Ed Barrill published; claims that
Cook ordered him to falsify Mt. McKinley diary
entries; also that peak photo taken by Cook is a
fake; Barrill receives financial compensation
for his statement. |
| 1909,
Oct. 15 |
Cook
received Freedom of City of New York, previously
awarded to only Lafayette, Charles Dickens, and
the Crown Prince of Prussia. |
| 1909,
Oct. 16 |
Announced that he is organizing an expedition to
Mt. McKinley to retrieve evidence he left there. |
| 1909,
Oct. 17 |
Cook
appeared before subcommittee of Explorers Club
which was investigating his Mt. McKinley claim. |
| 1909,
Oct. 21 |
New York Times
published letter from Knud Rasmussen that Cook's
Eskimos verified Cook's story. |
| 1909,
Oct. |
National Geographic Society investigated Peary's
claim of attainment of the North Pole but Peary
tried to pack the reviewing panel. |
| 1909,
Nov. |
Cook
went into hiding, feared for his life at one
point, at least six detectives shadowed Cook. |
| 1909,
Dec. 9 |
New York Times
reported that observations submitted to Danish
experts are fraudulent. |
| 1909,
Dec.21 |
Danish Commission concluded that the evidence it
received (typewritten copies and reports of
observations but no original calculations) is
not sufficient to prove that Cook reached North
Pole, this greatly undermined Cook in U.S. |
| 1910,
Jan. |
Peary
began lecture tour. Received $40,000 for a
series of ghost-written articles to appear in
Hampton's Magazine. |
| 1910,
March |
U.S.
House of Representatives held hearings on
petition to promote Peary to Rear Admiral. Peary
refused to submit original evidence for review. |
| 1910,
June 28 |
Expedition to Mt. McKinley sponsored by
Explorers Club claimed to have found Cook's
fake peak but unable to reach summit. |
| 1910,
Dec. |
Cook's articles for Hampton's Magazine
are altered by the editor and appeared as a
"confession." |
| 1911,
Jan. |
Controversial hearings in U.S. House of
Representatives resulted in Peary's promotion
and retirement. |
| 1911 |
Cook
established Polar Publishing Company to publish
My Attainment of the Pole. Toured to
promote book and present case. |
|
1911,Oct.-Nov. |
Tour
of Europe. |
| 1912 |
On
Chautauqua tour and another lecture tour of
Europe. |
| 1913 |
On
vaudeville. |
| 1913,
June 7 |
Rev.
Hudson Stuck reached top of McKinley and
disputed Cook's account. |
| 1913,
Dec. |
Traveled on
Lusitania to London for lecture
tour, returned January 1914. |
| 1915,
Jan. |
Another U.S. House resolution to investigate
Peary's claim proposed. Lilian Kiel,
stenographer for Hampton's Magazine
"confession" article, testified before House
Education Committee. |
| 1917 |
Hired
by New York Oil Company to look for oil in
Wyoming. Formed Cook Oil as a subsidiary of NY
Oil. |
| 1919 |
Cook
in Texas looking for oil; became president of
Texas Eagle Oil Production and Refining Company
at Ft. Worth, Texas. Vilhjalmur Steffanson
announced discovery of Meighen Island in the
Arctic Archipelago, which he claims Cook should
have seen if his North Pole claims are true. |
| 1920,
Feb. 20 |
Peary
died. Slump in oil business. |
| 1921,
Dec. 5 |
Texas
Eagle Oil and Refining Company goes out of
business. |
| 1922 |
Organized Petroleum Producers Association (PPA)
and hired "pen" Seymore Cox to write promotions.
PPA became one of the largest employers in Ft.
Worth. |
| 1923 |
Herbert Houston, a member of the now defunct
Peary Arctic Club and head of a consumer group
combating fraudulent practices in oil stock
sales attacked Cook, which led to more
investigations by journalists. |
| 1923,
Jan. 30 |
Cook
arrested with a woman in a hotel room and
reputed to have a bottle of gin. Charges dropped
but wife Marie divorced Cook. |
| 1923,
April 20 |
U.S.
grand jury indictment of Cook and ninety-one
other officers of fourteen oil companies on
charges of using the U.S. mails to defraud. |
| 1923,
Oct. 15 |
Trial
began with Marie at Cook's side. |
| 1923,
Nov. |
Cook
convicted and received 14 year, 9 month prison
sentence and $12,000 fine. all defendants who
fail to plead guilty receive maximum sentences. |
| 1925,
April |
Cook
sent to federal prison in
Leavenworth, Kansas. Worked with drug
addicted prisoners, served as physician in the
hospital, and was superintendent of the prison
school. |
| 1926 |
Cook
became editor of prison newspaper New Era
and paper achieved national circulation. |
| 1928 |
Helene Cook married Elliott J. Vetter, executive
with the National Lumber Company of Buffalo, NY. |
| 1929,
Aug. 8 |
Received offer of $20,000 from American
Magazine if he recants his claim to North
Pole. |
| 1930,
March 9 |
Paroled and moved to Chicago. |
| 1931 |
Completed memoirs and searched for publisher. |
| 1935 |
Cook
filed law suits for libel against anti-Cook
Arctic Adventure by Peter Freuchen and against
Encyclopedia
Britannica. |
| 1936,
Dec 9. |
Interviewed on CBS Radio "We the People." |
| 1938 |
Ted
Leitzell's expedition to Mt. McKinley cast doubt
on Belmore Browne's account of Cook's fraud.
Janet Cook Vetter born to Helene and Elliot
Vetter. |
| 1939,
Nov. |
Cook
met
Sir Hubert Wilkins who plans submarine trip
along Cook's route to Pole. |
| 1940,
May 5 |
Suffered cerebral hemorrhage. |
| 1940,
May 16 |
Received pardon from President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. |
| 1940,
June |
Ralph
Shainwald-von Ahlefeldt formed Cook Arctic Club
to find Bradley Land and promote the recognition
of Dr. Cook's discovery of the North Pole. |
| 1940,
Aug. 5 |
Dr.
Frederick A. Cook died and willed papers to his
daughter, Helene. |
| 1951 |
Cook's memoir Return from the Pole
published. |
| 1955 |
Bradford Washburn climbed Mt. McKinley to take
pictures of Ruth glacier as part of Life
magazine article about the 50th anniversary of
Cook's climb. |
| 1956 |
Walt
Gonnason retraced Cook's route and claims that
Cook reached the summit; Washburn's photos
published in Life; Vetter and other
Cook supporters formed the Dr. Frederick A. Cook
Society. |
| 1965 |
Historical marker erected to commemorate Cook's
birthplace in Hortonville, NY. |
| 1974 |
Rejuvenated Cook Society held its first meeting
at the Sullivan County Historical Society to
coincide with the opening of the Cook Room
display on the second floor of the museum. |
| 1976,
Oct. 7 |
Frederick A. Cook Society incorporated in New
York State as a charitable, not-for-profit
corporation "...to gain official recognition for
the scientific and geographic accomplishments of
Dr. Frederick A. Cook." |
| 1977,
July 31 |
Helene Cook Vetter died and estate passed to
daughter Janet who moves into family home in
Tequesta, FL. |
| 1977 |
Society arranged for commemorative marker at
Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY. |
| 1989,
Aug. 10 |
Janet
Vetter died and gave Dr. Cook's papers to
Library of Congress. Research records collected
by the Vetter's are bequeathed to the Cook
Society. |
| 1996 |
The Ohio State University Archives received
Cook Society records and Vetter research files. |
