Following up on my post about William Vilas, I was interested in photographing another famous gravesite at Forest Hill Cemetery.
I set out to photograph the grave of University of Wisconsin President Charles Van Hise. In the process, I discovered a very intriguing but sad story about a lesser-known education leader and fellow Maine native.
Charles Van Hise received the first PhD degree granted by the University of Wisconsin. After serving as a geology professor, he was appointed president of the campus in 1903. He and Governor Robert La Follette shared a strong belief that the university should benefit the entire state — a philosophy of university-community engagement that gave rise to the historic Wisconsin idea.
“I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every home in the state.” ~ UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904
Van Hise died unexpectedly in Milwaukee on November 19, 1918, following what was considered minor surgery.
Looking past the Van Hise memorial, I spied another familiar Madison name, and walked over to the Doty memorial. Along the way, I noticed an unadorned white military headstone facing the wrong direction. Struck by odd placement, the absence of a date, and the proximity to two such famous names, I began wondering about Quartermaster Sgt. Ezekiel H. Cook.
Thanks to the magic of Google, I discovered that Cook was born in 1845 in Madrid, Maine, not far from scenic Rangely Lake. His studies at Bowdoin College were interrupted by service in the First Maine Light Artillery. He returned to Bowdoin and pursued a career in education, including service as principal of the State Normal School at Potsdam, NY — now known as SUNY-Potsdam.
His career in education administration took its toll, as reported by the Wisconsin State Journal on Nov. 8, 1907:
In a fit of temporary insanity, brought on by ill-health and worry over the financial stringency, E.H. Cook, president of the Wisconsin Association, committed suicide this morning by cutting his throat with a knife. The tragedy occurred in the bathroom of the boarding house of G.M. Pierce, 424 North Pinckney Street… Because of ill health, induced by close application to teaching, he suffered several attacks of nervous prostration when principal in several Rhode Island schools. He then was heard several times to suggest suicide as the shortest way of relieving himself of worry, but never made any attempt to harm himself.
That boarding house at 424 N. Pinckney is known today as the Mansion Hill inn.
