Born in Rush County, Indiana, on the 23rd of April, 1824. He grew to a vigorous manhood in this section of the country and it was here that he met and married Louisa A. Brott, September 28, 1843, near South Bend, Indiana. They came west after a short time and settled at Galena, Illinois, at that time a mining camp of the wildest variety and quite a bit larger than Chicago. In the fall of 1862, the family again took up their westward trip and on September 18th of that year arrived in Fort Dodge. Mr. Corey was by trade a carpenter, millwright, coal miner and coal mine developer. With the advent of the following spring they moved to Holiday Creek, and in 1877, he with his family removed to Lehigh where he acquired considerable coal property which he developed. He represented Webster County in the lower house of the Fifteenth Iowa General Assembly, 1874.