Frank Henry Cooney

Frank Henry Cooney
9th Governor of Montana
In office March 13, 1933 – December 15, 1935
Lieutenant	Tom Kane Ernest T. Eaton Elmer Holt
Preceded by	John E. Erickson
Succeeded by	Elmer Holt
11th Lieutenant Governor of Montana
In office January 5, 1933 – March 13, 1933
Governor	John E. Erickson
Preceded by	Frank A. Hazelbaker
Succeeded by	Tom Kane
Personal details
Born	(1872-12-31)December 31, 1872 Norwood, Ontario, Canada
Died	December 15, 1935(1935-12-15) (aged 62) Great Falls, Montana, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Relations	Mike Cooney (grandson)

Frank Henry Cooney (December 31, 1872 – December 15, 1935) was a Canadian-American politician and businessman who served as the ninth governor of Montana from 1933 to 1935.^[1]

Cooney was born in Norwood, Ontario, Canada, and received a limited education in Catholic schools. He dropped out of school at the age of fourteen and worked as a delivery boy in a grocery store and for a short time, he tried working with his father in the nursery business.

Cooney moved to Butte, Montana in July, 1891, and found employment in a grocery store. He then found a position in the wholesale department of the Davidson Grocery Company.

In 1894, Cooney and his brother, Howard C. Cooney, started the firm of Cooney Brothers. Later it was incorporated under the name of Cooney Brokerage company, a success from the beginning. The company continued to expand with the additions of livestock and agricultural holdings.^[2] He was public administrator for Silver Bow County, Montana from 1898 to 1900.

Elected lieutenant governor in 1932, Cooney served until March 13, 1933, when he assumed the duties of Governor John Edward Erickson, who resigned so that Cooney could appoint him to Thomas J. Walsh's senate seat after Walsh's untimely death. Cooney is credited for reforming the state liquor laws and establishing a water conservation program.

He married Emma May Poindexter Cooney on December 27, 1899, and the couple had six children, Francis H, John Phillip, Mary Margaret, Walter Poindexter, and twins, Tyler Thompson and Virginia Elizabeth.^[3]

Cooney died of heart failure on December 15, 1935, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Elmer Holt.^[4] He is interred at Saint Mary Cemetery in Missoula. His grandson, Mike Cooney, is a politician who served as the 36th lieutenant governor of Montana.^[5]

• List of U.S. state governors born outside the United States

• State of Montana profile
• National Governors Association biography
• The Political Graveyard
• Silver Bow Genealocy Trails
• Frank Henry Cooney at Find a Grave