Eleutheros Cooke (December 25, 1787 – December 27, 1864) was a lawyer and U.S. representative from Ohio (1831–1833).

Biography

Cooke was born in Granville,

Washington County, New York Washington County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,302. The county seat is Fort Edward. The county was named for U.S. President George Washington. The county is part of the Capital Dis ...

. He was the son of Asaph Cooke (1748-1826) and Thankful Parker (1745-1819). His grandfather was Asaph Cooke (1720-1792). His first name commemorates the framing of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

in 1787, the year of his birth. He was educated at Union College in Schenectady. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began a law practice in Granville. He later moved to

Madison, Indiana Madison is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. As of the 2010 United States Census its population was 11,967. Over 55,000 people live within of downtown Madison. Madison is the large ...

in 1817 and to

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in Erie County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( west) and Cleveland ( east). At the 2020 United Stat ...

in 1819. He was elected to the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

in 1822, 1823, and 1825 and 1840. He obtained from the Ohio Legislature in 1826 the first charter granted to a railroad in the United States — the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad (later the Sandusky, Dayton and Cincinnati Railroad) — and ground was broken for it in 1832. He was elected to represent Ohio's 14th congressional district in the

22nd United States Congress The 22nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1831 ...

in 1831 as an anti-Jacksonian candidate. He was not reelected to this office, notwithstanding his receipt of a majority of votes. While he was in Congress, fellow Ohio Representative William Stanbery was assaulted on the street by General

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two indi ...

, in consequence of remarks made on the floor of the House. In bringing the matter before Congress, Cooke said that if he and his friends were denied protection by that body, he would "flee to the bosom of his constituents," and this expression was taken up by his political opponents and remained a catch word for some time.

Family

His son

Jay Cooke Jay Cooke (August 10, 1821 – February 16, 1905) was an American financier who helped finance the Union war effort during the American Civil War and the postwar development of railroads in the northwestern United States. He is generally acknowle ...

was a prominent railroad financier. Another son, Henry D. Cooke, was a noted financier and journalist.

Notes

;Attribution *

References

COOKE, Eleutheros, (1787 - 1864)
at congress.gov {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Eleutheros 1787 births 1864 deaths Members of the Ohio House of Representatives Politicians from Sandusky, Ohio National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio People from Granville, New York 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly

Biography

Family

See also

Notes

References