John Parsons Cook

John Parsons Cook (August 31, 1817 – April 17, 1872) was an American lawyer, legislator, and congressman affiliated for most of his public career with the Whig Party, who represented Iowa’s 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1853 to 1855. He was born in Whitestown, Oneida County, New York, on August 31, 1817. In 1836 he moved with his father to the settlement that would become Davenport, Iowa, then part of Michigan Territory and subsequently Wisconsin Territory, during a period of rapid frontier development along the upper Mississippi River.

Cook pursued legal studies after his arrival in the West and was admitted to the bar in 1842. He commenced the practice of law in Tipton, in what was then Iowa Territory, building a professional reputation as the region’s population and institutions expanded in anticipation of statehood. His legal work in Tipton provided the foundation for his entry into territorial politics and public service.

Cook’s political career began in the government of Iowa Territory. He served as a member of the Iowa Territorial Council, the upper chamber of the territorial legislature, from 1842 to 1845, participating in the formative debates over the territory’s governance and future status. After Iowa was admitted to the Union as a state in 1846, he continued in public life as a member of the Iowa Senate, serving from 1848 to 1851. In 1851 he relocated from Tipton to Davenport, where he continued the practice of law in a growing commercial center on the Mississippi.

Cook first sought a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 1850, running as a Whig candidate for Iowa’s 2nd congressional district in the election for the Thirty-second Congress. He was unsuccessful in that effort, losing to Democrat Lincoln Clark. Undeterred, he ran again two years later. In the 1852 election he was elected as a Whig to represent the 2nd district, and he served in the Thirty-third Congress from March 4, 1853, to March 3, 1855. His term in Congress coincided with intensifying national controversy over slavery and sectional issues.

Cook did not return to Congress after his first term. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1854, when James Thorington became the Whig nominee for the 2nd district and went on to win the general election over the Democratic candidate, former Iowa governor Stephen Hempstead. Contemporary commentary held that “the Iowa Whigs shelved Mr. Cook because of his pro-slavery record,” reflecting the growing divide within the party over slavery in the 1850s. Following the subsequent collapse and disappearance of the Whig Party as a national force, Cook aligned himself with the Democratic Party.

After leaving Congress, Cook resumed his legal practice in Davenport and became active in local business affairs. He engaged in banking in Davenport, contributing to the city’s financial and commercial development during the post–Civil War era. He continued these professional pursuits until his death in Davenport on April 17, 1872. John Parsons Cook was interred in Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport.