Elijah Fox Cook

{{infobox officeholder

|name = E. Fox Cook

|state = Wisconsin

|state_senate = Wisconsin

|district = 1st

| term_start = January 5, 1857

| term_end = January 3, 1859

| predecessor = David Taylor

| successor = Robert H. Hotchkiss

|order1 = 3rd

|title1 = Mayor of Sheboygan, Wisconsin

| term_start1 = April 1855

| term_end1 = April 1858

| predecessor1 = F. R. Townsend

| successor1 = William N. Shafter

|office2 = District Attorney of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin

| term_start2 = January 1849

| term_end2 = January 1853

| predecessor2 = William R. Gorsline

| successor2 = Edward Elwell

|state3 = Michigan

|state_senate3 = Michigan

|district3 = 5th

| term_start3 = January 1, 1838

| term_end3 = January 6, 1840

| predecessor3 =

| successor3 =

|party = Democratic

|birth_date = {{birth date|1805|12|3}}

|birth_place = Palatine, New York, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1886|10|8|1805|12|3}}

|death_place = La Crosse, Wisconsin, U.S.

|restingplace = Oak Grove Cemetery, {{nowrap|La Crosse, Wisconsin}}

}}

Elijah Fox Cook (December 3, 1805{{spaced ndash}}October 8, 1886) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. He served in the state senates of Michigan (1838–1840) and Wisconsin (1857–1859), and was the 3rd Mayor of Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

Biography

Born in Palatine, New York, Cook moved to Oakland County, Michigan Territory, in 1831. He was admitted to the Michigan bar and practiced law in Farmington, and Pontiac. He served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1835 which drafted the first Constitution of Michigan. He went on to serve in the Michigan State Senate during the 1838 and 1839 sessions of the legislature.{{cite report|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CEqIAAAAMAAJ |title= Manual for the use of the Twenty-Ninth Legislature of the State of Michigan |publisher= State of Michigan |year= 1877 |location= Lansing, Michigan |editor1-first= Allan L. |editor1-last= Bours |pages= 553–555 |accessdate= April 18, 2021 }}

In 1847, Cook moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin Territory, and practiced law. Just after Wisconsin achieved statehood, he was elected to two consecutive terms as district attorney of Sheboygan County, serving from 1849 through 1853.{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historysheboyga00compgoog/ |title= History of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, Past and Present |publisher= S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. |year= 1912 |last= Zillier |first= Carl |location= Chicago |pages= 106, 137, 227 |accessdate= April 18, 2021 }}{{rp|106}} During these years, he also promoted the Cascade & Lake Michigan Railroad Company, which planned to build a line from Sheboygan to the more inland village of Cascade.{{rp|137}}

In 1855, he was elected Mayor of Sheboygan, serving until his defeat in the 1858 election.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76003560/local-elections/ |title= Town Elections |newspaper= The Daily Milwaukee News |date= April 5, 1855 |page= 2 |accessdate= April 18, 2021 }} Concurrent to his mayoral term, he was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate for the 1857 and 1858 sessions, defeating incumbent Republican David Taylor.

Subsequent to his Senate term, Cook moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he practiced law for a few years. In 1862, he moved to Milwaukee. In March 1867, he slipped and broke his leg on a patch of icy sidewalk near his office, sustaining an injury that would leave him dependent on crutches for the rest of his life. He sued the city of Milwaukee for damages. Though he was initially successful in the circuit court, the city appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and had the earlier decision vacated.{{cite court|url= https://cite.case.law/wis/24/270/ |litigants= Cook v. City of Milwaukee |vol= 24 |reporter= Wis. |opinion= 270 |date= June 1869 |court= Wisconsin Supreme Court |accessdate= April 18, 2021 |via= Case Law Project }} Cook tried again, resulting in a similar outcome.{{cite court|url= https://cite.case.law/wis/27/191/ |litigants= Cook v. City of Milwaukee |vol= 27 |reporter= Wis. |opinion= 191 |date= June 1870 |court= Wisconsin Supreme Court |accessdate= April 18, 2021 |via= Case Law Project }} Years later, Cook broke his leg again at the same place in Milwaukee, resulting in a paralysis of one side of his body that resulted in his retirement from his legal career.{{cite report|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=S9YDAQAAIAAJ |title= Report of the Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin State Bar Association |publisher= Taylor and Gleason, Book and Job Printers |year= 1901 |page= 225 |chapter= Memoirs |accessdate= April 18, 2021 }}{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76001816/e-fox-cook-obit/ |title= Departed Pioneers |newspaper= Wisconsin State Journal |date= October 9, 1886 |page= 1 |accessdate= April 18, 2021 |via= Newspapers.com }}