HORACE A. COOLEY, a representative general agriculturist, successful stock-raiser and Drainage Commissioner of Allendale Township, Ottawa County, is a native of Ohio, but has been a resident of the Wolverine State since 1845, and is intimately associated with its upward growth and progressive history. Born in Knox County, Ohio, August 2, 1829, he was the son of Horatio and Mehetabel (Crowell) Cooley, native New Englanders, but early settlers in the farther West. The father, born in Connecticut, and the mother in Vermont, migrated to Ohio while young, and were married in the Buckeye State. The father was by occupation a mechanic, and remained in Ohio until his death. His widow removed to Michigan in 1847, and survived him for some years.

The parents were blessed by the birth of nine children, seven of whom lived to adult age. Horatio, the eldest-born is deceased; Tryphena is the widow of R. S. Randall; Arminta is deceased; Horace A. is our subject; Havillat is deceased; Henry C. is a resident of Ottawa County; and Harriet, who is deceased was the wife of George Starks. Mrs. Mehetabel Cooley again married, and by her second husband, Benjamin Bellows, became the mother of two children: Sarah, the wife of Sidney Starks; and Thomas E., residing in Sparta, Mich.

Our subject was reared on the Ohio homestead, and attending the district schools of the neighborhood was likewise trained in the agricultural duties devolving upon the farmer boy. He was sixteen years of age when, upon October 28, 1845, he arrived at his new home in Tallmadge Township, Ottawa County, Mich., and, remaining in that locality for thirty-two years, was during twenty-eight years of that period employed by various milling concerns as engineer. For fourteen consecutive years he remained with one firm, his faithful discharge of the work intrusted to his care winning for him the appreciation of those interested in the business. When he became a resident of Tallmadge Township the population of the surrounding country was sparse, and most of the business of that part of the State was transacted at Grand Rapids, then the headquarters for merchandise and all the necessaries of life. The milling interests were the mainstay of Tallmadge Township, and the establishment of numerous sawmills soon caused an influx of people, and gave our subject, with many others, regular and remunerative employment.

In 1861 were united in marriage Horace A. Cooley and Miss Lavilla A. Hall, a native of Michigan and the daughter of Orrin and Matilda (Reynolds) Hall, pioneer settlers of the Wolverine State. Some years subsequent to his marriage, our subject purchased a farm in Allendale Township, which he sold in 1877, and later also disposed of property he owned in the village of Lamont. He afterward bought his present farm, consisting of forty highly cultivated acres, improved with an attractive residence and substantial barns. The pleasant home of our subject and his estimable wife has been blessed by the birth of seven children: George H.; Carr F., of Duluth; H. Grant, Frank C., Cora S., H. B. and T. W. F. Mr. Cooley is one of the most popular men of the county of Ottawa, and has several times been elected Drainage Commissioner, and is now holding the office. For two years he was Justice of the Peace, and in that position gave universal satisfaction to his fellow-townsmen, among whom he has a host of friends and well-wishers.