From: Oshkosh Public Museum
Cook Ely was born on June 24, 1844 in Lincolnshire, England the son of Ruth Ann Atkinson and Benjamin Ely. He immigrated to the United States in 1860, but one account says the family came in 1852. His sister Cophelia and brother Thomas Ely were living with Mr. And Mrs. D. C. Atkinson (probably an aunt and uncle) in Ripon, WI by 1860. At the age of fifteen, Cook began working for Ripon photographer William M. Lockwood. Cook enlisted as a private on May 7, 1864 in Ripon, WI as a member of Company B, 41st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and served until mustered out on September 23, 1864. He then worked for photographer W. E. Bowman in Peru, Illinois for about two years. In 1870 he is listed in the US Census as residing in Ward 1, City of Racine, WI. On June 21, 1870 he married Lucy J. Snyder, the sister-in-law of William N. Lockwood, in Fond du Lac County, WI. Cook Ely had a studio at 142 Main Street in Racine, WI in 1872. He was also in partnership with William N. Lockwood in Racine at the same location, and possibly later in Ripon, WI during the mid 1870s. This information is based on the imprints of carte de visites and cabinet cards in the OPM collection. In Oshkosh Ely had an early partnership with James Paris in 1879 in Leach’s Block and a partnership with Owen Manzer in 1879. He operated his own studios located at 2 Elm from 1879-1883; at 25 Elm in 1883-1887; 334 Algoma from 1888-1895 (the number was changed to 338 Algoma from 1893-1895). He also had a branch studio in Neenah, WI, which was operated by Charles H. Meddins. Cook Ely is listed in the 1880 US Census with his wife Lucy and their four daughters: May, born 1872; Dorthy ‘Dot’, born in 1874; Grace, born 1876; and Florence, born 1878. A son Ralph was born October 23, 1888. Cook Ely is last listed in the Oshkosh City Directories in 1895. His wife Lucy died in Oshkosh on July 12, 1893. Cook moved to Duluth in the fall of 1895 with his daughters and son. He opened a studio there that same year. He later worked as a photographer for a former associate and brother-in-law, Frank Jay Haynes in St. Paul, MN. In 1909, Cook applied for an invalid pension for his service during the Civil War. He was living with the Haynes family as late as 1920. He is listed in the Oshkosh City Directory in 1922 as living at 471 Algoma Boulevard. Ely died in Oshkosh on September 5, 1923. Probate was petitioned by Dorothy Ely, his daughter. Lucy and Cook Ely are buried in Oshkosh at Riverside Cemetery, Masonic Section, Block Q.