Cook, John P.

Born: 1817-08-31 Oneida County, New York

Died: 1872-04-17 Davenport, Iowa

Flourished: Iowa

John P. Cook was a lawyer, territorial and state politician, and U.S. representative. He received his early education in public schools of his native county. In 1836, Cook moved with his father to the frontier town of Davenport, then part of the Michigan Territory. He read law, earned admission to the Iowa territorial bar in 1842, and commenced practicing law in Tipton, Cedar County, Iowa Territory. Gravitating to territorial politics and the Whig Party, Cook served in the Legislative Assembly of the Iowa Territory in 1842 and 1843, representing Cedar, Linn, and Jones counties in the Territorial Council. From 1848 to 1850, he represented Cedar, Linn, Benton, and Tama counties in the Iowa Senate. In 1852, voters in Iowa's Second Congressional District elected Cook as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from March 1853 to March 1855. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1854. After his term in Congress, Cook moved to Davenport, where he practiced law and engaged in banking. After the demise of the Whig Party, Cook became a Democrat.

Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century (New York: Century History, 1903), 3:445, 460, 461, 530; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996(Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1996), 857; "John Parsons Cook," The Iowa Legislature, accessed 24 April 2020, https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=2&personID=5936; Gravestone, Oakdale Memorial Gardens, Davenport, IA.