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         JOHN JOSEPH COOK, proprietor of Cook’s Tile and Brick Works, of Columbus Junction, Iowa, was born near Lexington, Perry Co., Ohio, Dec. 2, 1854, and is a son of George and Tressa (Sherron) Cook. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, born near Harrisburg, and is now living at Delphos, Allen Co., Ohio. His mother was born in Perry County, Ohio, and died Nov. 9, 1863. Our subject removed with his parents to Highland County of that State when four years of age, the family residing there for five years, after which they removed to Kossuth, Auglaize Co., Ohio. During the journey to that place John had the misfortune to catch the smallpox, which disease, being taken by other members of the family, caused the death of the mother and two sisters.

When only fifteen years of age John Cook was obliged to start out in the world to fight the battle of life for himself, and his first venture was in the occupation of assistant navigator on the “raging” canal. He was employed at first on the Miami & Erie, and later on the Wabash & Erie Canal and the Erie Canal in New York State, continuing in that service until twenty years of age, when he learned the painter’s trade, and was principally employed in that line for the next two years. At the expiration of that time Mr. Cook went to Peoria County, Ill., where he learned to lay drain tile, being employed at that occupation for about a year, and later spent two years at the same kind of work in Stark and Knox Counties. He then determined to establish a tile and brick manufactory. So with a cash capital of less than $100, after paying the freight on his second-hand machine to Columbus Junction, Iowa, he came to this city and secured a few lots to be paid for out of the earnings of the factory. He subsequently found the title defective, and was forced to again pay for the same property. In June, 1880, he began business in a small way, having to contend with an existing prejudice that the clay at Columbus Junction would not make durable tile. Mr. Cook established the first tile factory in Louisa County, and soon demonstrated that the clay was all right and that he could and did make first-class ware in that line. The first three seasons he worked with horse power, and the fourth put in a sixteen-horse power engine, and a new and improved machine in the fall of 1883. A history of this establishment appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Cook has twenty acres of land and clay enough to last fifty years. He manufactures about half a million tiles of common size a year, besides a large quantity of brick. He also manufactures from clay a patent fancy border for flower-beds and walks, which is his own invention, and is also the inventor of a ditching-machine to be used in tile laying, which has worked with marked success.

Mr. Cook now has his business established upon a safe and sure basis, and has demonstrated that the best grade of drain tile and brick can be made here. He has built up an extensive and profitable business, which is one of the important manufacturing interests of the county. Socially, Mr. Cook is a member of Columbus Junction Lodge No. 365, I. O. O. F., and is independent in politics.