COOPER, MEDEDITH
, born April 7, 1792, in Botetourt county, Va. His parents moved to Smith county, Tenn., when he was a young man. Polly Witcher was born July 21, 1794, in Cocke county, Tenn., and her parents moved to Smith county when she was but fifteen years of age. Meredith Cooper and Polly Witcher were there married, June 16, 1812. In September of that year Mr. Cooper enlisted for three months in a Tennessee regiment, and served four months against the Indians in Alabama, who were the allies of the British government, with whom we were then at war. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper had two children in Tennessee. In the spring of 1817 Mr. Cooper went to St. Clair county, Ill., raised a crop, and returning, brought his family in the fall of that year. The moving was done on two horses, as there were no wagon roads; and if there had been, they were unable to own a wagon. As a specimen of real life at that time, I give the statement of Mrs. Cooper, now quite aged, that she rode one horse, carried a child in her arms, and with a feather bed lashed to the saddle behind, wended her way, while her husband carried the other child, with all the household goods and farm implements he could put on the other horse. Three of their children were born in St. Clair county. The fame of the rich soil of the San-ga-ma country was known in St. Clair county, and Mr. and Mrs. Cooper resolved to emigrate thither. This time they put all their worldly goods and five children in an ox-cart, and arrived in the autumn of 1823 in what is now called Fancy Creek township, near the present town of Sherman, where they had seven children. Of all their children--MARTHA, born Oct. 26, 1814, in Tennessee, married in Sangamon county to William Branson. See his name.
JAMES W., born Sept. 16, 1816, in Tennessee, was married in Sangamon county to Zarilda Taylor. They had four children. MELISSA married Charles Wood. They have one child, and live near Edinburg, Ill. PRISCILLA married James Wright. They have four children, and live near Riverton. JAS. M. married Ellen McGinnis. They have two children, and live three miles southeast of Williamsville. AMBROSE died Jan. 27, 1874, in Williams township. James W. Cooper went to Texas, hoping to improve his health, and died there in 1853. His widow died the next year in Sangamon county.
MINERVA, born Sept. 21, 1818, in St. Clair county, Ill., was married in Sangamon county to Jesse Yocom. See his name.
MARGARET J., born Sept. 1, 1820, in St. Clair county, was married in Sangamon county to George W. Yocom. See his name. Three of their children, NETTIE, CLARA and MINNIE, died in the winter of 1876.
MARY, born July 28, 1822, in St. Clair county, was married in Sangamon county, Ill., Jan. 30, 1851, to John Wilson, who was born Feb. 1, 1821, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. They have three children, ANN, JAMES M. and THOMAS H., and reside one and a half miles east of Riverton.
NANCY, born May 7, 1825, in Sangamon county, married John Keagle. They have seven children. CHARLOTTE married Nathan Hussy. See his name. SIDNEY married Samuel Smith. She died, leaving one child, LETITIA, who married Silas Skinner and died. JOSEPH, SUSAN, HARLAN P. and HARRISA B., reside with their parents in Logan county, Ill.
REBECCA, born Aug. 11, 1827, in Sangamon county, married James Mills. She died Oct., 1871, in Sangamon county. James Mills died in the spring of 1874, in Moultrie county. Of their children: MARY F. married Samuel Harsh, and resides near Sullivan. LOUISA and EMMA reside near Sullivan, Moultrie county, Ill.
AMBROSE, born Sept. 13, 1829, in Sangamon county, married Dorothy Keagle. They have five children, MARY J., JOHN M., AUGUSTA, GEORGE E. L. and JAMES W., and reside near Brownsville, Mo.
DAVID D., born August 10, 1831, in Sangamon county, married Juliet Withrow. They have seven children, SUSIE, JAMES A., DOUGLAS, LEE, AUGUSTA and EUGENE, and reside one and a half miles east of Sherman.
ROBERT, born July 8, 1834, in Sangamon county, was married Feb. 9, 1869, to Lavina Garner, who was born in Washington county, Indiana. They live near Sherman, Sangamon county, Ill.
MEREDITH, Jun., born Sept. 11, 1836, in Sangamon county, was married in March, 1873, to Mrs. Emma Jones, whose maiden name was Watson. They have one child, ANNA LEONORA, and reside in east St. Louis, Ill.
LOUISA, born Feb. 3, 1839, in Sangamon county, was married Dec. 26, 1855, to Isaac M. Raynolds, who was born in Pike county, Ohio. They have five children, CHARLES M., JAMES A., POLLY E., EDWIN S. and BERTHA M., and reside one and a half miles east of Sherman. The place was for many years a trading post for the Indians, and from about 1832 to 1856 was the family homestead of the Coopers. Some of the younger members of the family remember a visit to their house by Abraham Lincoln on business. A large back log had just been put on. It was cut from the fork of a tree, and one limb projected quite a distance up the chimney. The children were greatly amused to witness Mr. Lincoln's interest in trying to determine how they brought it through the door and put it in the fireplace. Meredith Cooper, Sen., died Nov. 1, 1870, in Williams township, and his widow resides with their daughter, Mrs. Raynolds.