Born in Champaign, Ohio, on the 29th of January, 1817. He received but a common school education and learned the carpenter's trade. In 1839 he came to Iowa making his home at Muscatine where he worked at his trade several years. His evenings were spent studying law and at the end of six years without instruction he was able to pass an examination which admitted him to the bar. In 1851 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney and rose to prominence in his new profession. The office of Attorney-General was created in 1853 and D. C. Cloud was nominated by the Democratic State Convention for the position. He was elected, serving four years. In 1856 he was elected to the House of the Sixth General Assembly and was made chairman of the committee of ways and means. When the Republican party was organized, Mr. Cloud, being strongly opposed to slavery, united with that party. He wrote and published several books on political and industrial subjects. The chief among these were works on "The War Power of the President" and "Monopolies and the People."