James Merrill Cook was born on November 19, 1807 in Ballston, New York, United States. He was the son of James Cook, the head of an established New York family settled in Saratoga County, New York. The father was a lawyer and judge living in Ballston Spa.
James received classical education and professional training.
Cook's first job was as a clerk in a commercial house in New York. He retained close relationship with affairs in his own town, nevertheless, and when about thirty-one years of age returned to Ballston Spa to live, where he became conspicuous in party politics, strongly advocating Whig principles. Much of his time thereafter was spent in running for, and in holding, elective offices. He was chosen a member of the constitutional convention of 1846, and his service in that connection was followed by an election to the state Senate in 1848. He served as state senator 1848-1851. From that position he passed to a place as state treasurer. An election contest led to a decision in favor of his opponent, but after a brief period out of office he was named state comptroller, a place which he held from 1854 to 1855.
At this time, New York, in common with a good many other states, was passing through a period of banking disturbance. While the panics and commercial stringencies of the decade 1850-1860 were not, even locally, due to the banking system of the State of New York, that system at least did not much alleviate them. Leading citizens rightly ascribed an important influence upon the financial stability of the State to the management and supervision of the banks. In these circumstances Cook was offered and accepted the position of superintendent of the state Banking Department in the year 1856. He was at that time president of a local institution, the Ballston Spa Bank, and, being a man of substantial means, was a large stockholder both in it and a number of other institutions. He was thus in a very distinct way representative of the country banking interests which have always been powerful in New York.
His notable success in the department of banking was followed by another election to the state Senate in 1864. In 1858 he had been considered by the Republican state convention as a candidate for the governorship, for he represented the same ideas that were entertained by William H. Seward, with whom he was closely associated, but at his own suggestion the candidacy was withdrawn. He was throughout his life largely interested in the local affairs, both business and political, of his own county, and was in a real sense its leading citizen.
Cook's five years of service in the New York State Banking Department proved a notable period in the history of the Banking. He was able to restore a very substantial degree of order among the banks and to repress and punish many frauds. His major achievement was his skillful analysis of the state banking laws and effective management of the department during the financial panic in 1857 and 1859.
Cook was originally a Democrat. Later he allied himself with the Whig Party after Martin Van Buren's election to the presidency in 1836.
Cook was married to Anna Cady. Their daughter, Catherine Phillips Cook, married George Sherman Batcheller.
