BIOGRAPHY: Ezekiel E. Cooley
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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Honorable EZEKIEL E. COOLEY - Born in Victory Cayuga County, New 
York, January 12 1827; brought up there till the age of thirteen, when he 
removed to St. Lawrence County, and the received an academic 
education. At the age of seventeen he commenced teaching school, 
which he followed as an occupation about five years; removing in 1847 
to Cynthiana, Kentucky, where he taught and read law with Judge 
Trimble of that place, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. 
 
Returning to Ogdensburg, New York, he read law another year with 
Honorable A. B. James, now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court 
of New York, and on the 2d of September 1850, was admitted to practice 
in the New York courts, and commenced his professional career in the 
town of Hermon, St. Lawrence County. Soon after removing to 
Ogdensburg, he practiced there till October, 1854. 
 
At the last named date, he removed to Decorah, Iowa where he has ever 
since continued the practice of his profession, with the exception of one 
year spent in the army. 
 
In the Spring of 1855 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Winnesheik 
County. On the incorporation of the Town of Decorah he was elected 
President of the Council, having been efficient in the matter of securing 
the town incorporation and the management of the business connected 
therewith. 
 
In 1857 he was elected a member of the first legislature under the new 
state constitution, and served with marked ability in the house. 
 
In 1861 he was appointed Postmaster at Decorah, and held the office till 
he resigned in 1863. 
 
In September, 1864 President Lincoln appointed hin Commissary of 
Subsistence in the cavalry department with the rank of captain. 
 
In October, 1865, he was brevetted major by Andrew Johnson for gallant 
and meritorious services, and in November following was honorably 
discharged. 
 
In civil life he has been engaged in all enterprises for the promotion of 
the interests of his city and county. 
 
In 1868 and 1870, he was warmly supported by the Republicans of his 
county for the nomination to Congress, but the other counties of the 
district carried the majority for his competitor, who was duly elected. 
 
For the past three years Mr. Cooley has been Counsel for the Board of 
Supervisors. He has also held the office of City Attorney. Few men in this 
section of Iowa have achieved more eminent success in the legal 
profession, or made for themselves a better public and private record 
than the subject of this brief sketch. 
 
He was married at Dubuque, in 1856, to Miss Jane M. Rhodes, then of 
that city, and has two sons.