Ira Cook
American businessman and politician (1821–1902)
Ira Cook (October 6, 1821 - March 11, 1902) was an American surveyor, mayor, banker, tax collector, city council member, investor and entrepreneur from Des Moines, Iowa.
Background
Cook was born October 6, 1821, in the Town of Union, Broome County, New York. His father, one sister and her husband moved to Iowa in 1835 and settled on land in what is now Davenport. Ira and the remainder of his family moved to Iowa in the spring of 1836. He lived in Tipton, Iowa, from 1838 to 1941, working on the family farm and having the chance to meet then Iowa Territorial Governor Robert Lucas.
Early career
In 1849, he teamed with John Evans on a contract which began his four-plus year career as a government surveyor. After leaving his surveying career and Davenport, Cook moved to Des Moines in 1855 and entered the banking business with the firm of Cook, Sargent & Cook.
He married Mary C. Owens on April 25, 1854. He and his wife were given a three-year-old girl to care for by the child's father in 1857. Fearful that they might lose the child due to provisions in her father's will, Cook consulted with John A. Kasson, then practicing law in Des Moines.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ira Cook” is american businessman and politician (1821–1902). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Cook, American and businessman, not as a finished interpretation.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6066006. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1821, 1902, 1835 and 1836.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ira Cook” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.