William Findlay Coolbaugh was born in
Pike County, Pennsylvania, on July 1, 1821, to Moses and Mary Coolbaugh. He was raised on the family farm and attended school in the winter.
William Bross was one of Coolbaugh's teachers. When he was fifteen, three years after his last schooling, Coolbaugh left the family to work in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He took a position as an assistant porter in a dry goods house. When he was eighteen, he was promoted to confidential clerk. He continued to learn the trade and was eventually tasked with all Western operations of the dry goods house. In 1842, Coolbaugh left the house to set up his own operation in
Burlington, Iowa. He sold goods for eight years, then left the business to become a banker. Co-founding Coolbaugh & Brooks, his bank was eventually merged into the Burlington Branch of the State Bank. Coolbaugh was active in early Iowa politics as a
Democrat. The First General Assembly named him the state's first Loan Agent in 1847. He was a delegate to the
1852 Democratic National Convention and voted for
Stephen A. Douglas in all 49 ballots. In 1854, Coolbaugh was elected to the
Iowa Senate, serving until 1862. Coolbaugh was the Democratic candidate for
United States Senate in
1855, but was narrowly defeated by
James Harlan. He chaired the Iowa delegation to the
1856 Democratic National Convention. Coolbaugh sided with the
War Democrats upon the outbreak of the
Civil War, supporting the
Union. He was buried at
Graceland Cemetery. The Union National Bank merged into the
First National Bank of Chicago in 1900. Coolbaugh married Jane L. Brown in 1844. They had seven children, though only three survived to adulthood. In 1864, after the death of his first wife, Coolbaugh married Addie Reeve. They had three surviving children. Daughter Mary Ellen married
Chief Justice of the United States Melville Fuller in 1866. ==References==