Cooley, Horace S.

Born: 1806-XX-XX Hartford, Connecticut

Died: 1850-03-21 New Orleans, Louisiana

Cooley was the son of a doctor and studied medicine as a young man. However, after moving to Maine, he commenced the study of law and gained entry to the bar of that state. In 1840, he settled in Rushville, Illinois, and then moved to Quincy, where he practiced law. In 1841, Cooley served as quartermaster general of the Illinois State Militia. On August 9, 1845, he married Helen Mars Reed in Adams County, Illinois.

Governor Augustus C. French appointed Cooley, a Democrat, to fill a vacancy as secretary of state in 1846. Cooley won election to that office in 1848, and he held the position until his death. In 1849, Cooley went to New Orleans to recover from an illness, but he died there in the spring of 1850.

John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 104; The History of Adams County, Illinois (Chicago: Murray, Williamson & Phelps, 1879), 612; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Adams County, 9 August 1845, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 2 April 1850, 2:1.