 By 1840 , he lived in Leon County , Florida , with a single slave . Cooley was living near the Homosassa River , where the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 allowed the distribution of 160 @-@ acre ( 65 ha ) land grants . His leadership enabled him to get not only his own permit but permits for 28 other settlers . A lengthy correspondence with the General Land Office was eventually concluded satisfactorily for him and the other settlers . In 1843 , he was a candidate for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives for the newly created Hernando County , but he lost to James Gibbons . Two years later , he became the first postmaster in Homosassa and County Commissioner of Fisheries . He sold his land grant to Senator David Levy Yulee sequentially between 1846 and 1847 and moved back to Tampa . 
