PETER COOPER (1805-1886)
Peter Cooper, born Sept. 21, 1805, in Preston, Lancashire, was a stonecutter by trade, as was his brother, William, founder of the Cooper Marble works of Buffalo, N.Y.
ANN KING (1811-1858)
Ann King, born March 18, 1811, was the daughter of a drum major in the British Army. The family home is believed to have been either in Leicester, Leicestershire, or at nearby Strafford-on-Avon, home of Wm. Shakespeare.
Landing in New York harbor, after their long voyage by sailing vessel, the Cooper and King families made their home in “The Village.” There it was expected that they would soon be joined by Mr. King, Ann’s father, and the two or perhaps three other brothers, who had fully expected to follow, as the father planned to retire from the British Army. Unfortunately the well laid plans of the King family did not materialize, due to several unforeseen circumstances. Soon after the landing in New York City, the great cholera plague swept the metropolis. Mrs. King, Ann’s mother, was an early victim of its fury and, as required for the protection of the living, was buried immediately. Mr. King was unable to obtain his discharge, and may have died early. With the mother gone, correspondence lagged. It is said that one or two of the boys later came to America, but all were lost track of through the years. John King remained with his sisters, Mrs. Ann Cooper, Mrs. Charlotte Sutton and Mrs. Sarah Peck.
During their residence in New York, Peter and Ann Cooper’s first child, Martha, was born on May 18, 1832. Their eldest son, Theophilus, from census records, also appears to have been born in the Metropolis. The families next removed to Philadelphia, where Peter Cooper continued working at his trade; that of a stone-cutter and stone-mason. There, on October 7, 1836, another son, Peter, Jr., was born.
Following along those paths where his trade led him, we next find the Coopers and Kings at Joliet, Illinois, a few miles southwest of Chicago. Isaac, Lydia, Watson [Richard] and William joined the family circle there. In the midst of a very busy life, Peter Cooper was very active in his work of a lay minister, preaching throughout the region.
John King, then in his late 20’s, went on to California, joining in the gold rush of 1849 to the San Francisco area. Upon making a sizeable “stake” he returned to his sisters and families, interesting them in the gold country of the Pacific. In a short time we find the Cooper, Peck and Sutton families (Ann’s sisters Charlotte and Sarah, had married Mr. Sutton and Mr. Peck respectively) bound for ‘Frisco,’ via prairie schooner. As evidence of the primitive modes of travel of those earlier years by covered wagon, family legend tells of the cows of the caravan being milked, and the morning milk, placed on the shady side of the wagon boxes. From the constant jolting of the wagons lumps of butter would form in the containers before evening.
Thus, in June, 1851, the travel-weary company reached Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Iowa. Due to illness the Coopers were unable to continue their journey. Other complications ensued, and there being an abundance of work in his trade at “The Bluffs”, Mr. And Mrs. Cooper decided to make their home in the Missouri River “boom town.” Peter Cooper thus preached the first sermon – other than Mormon – in council Bluffs, and their daughter, Martha, taught the first school. There, too, the youngest child Cornelius “Neal” joined the family.
It was in Council Bluffs, Iowa that the Cooper’s oldest daughter Martha C. met and married her husband, William Addison Scott. William was descended from his father, Dr. Solomon Johnson Scott (1798-1893), and his grandfather John Gilmore Scott (1773-1798), both of Nova Scotia. John Gilmore Scott died at a young age of Yellow Fever. Dr. Solomon Johnson Scott traveled far and wide and was a well respected doctor of his time. His travels eventually landed him in Sherman, Texas, where he passed away at the age of 75.
MEMOIR OF MARTHA C. SCOTT
[By her husband, William A. Scott]
"Martha Cooper Scott was born in New York City, May 18, 1832, and died of complicated puerperal peritonitis, January 18, 1861, near Magnolia, Iowa, in the twenty-ninth year of her age.
The subject of this memoir was blessed with religious parents, her father, Rev. Peter Cooper, having been for years an effectual and useful local preacher in the M E. Church. As a consequence her religious impressions began early, and in her sixteenth year, on New Year's Eve, she joined the M. E. Church, under Rev. W. Palmer in Chicago; where she was attending school. The writer's acquaintance with her began in 1852, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, which resulted in our marriage on April 24, 1853.
About two years after our marriage we entered the itinerancy. Our first work was Magnolia Mission, Iowa Conference, where we traveled a year, and made many warm friends, who proved their devotion by administering to her in her last sickness. Our last work was Indianapolis circuit, Iowa conference, over two hundred miles distant, and in order to go to it, she must leave all her friends and go among strangers. How hard is the lot of the itinerant's wife.
During this year her health began to fail, and was never good to her death. Last spring we journeyed to the Rocky Mountains, which seemed beneficial, but proved delusive. About three weeks before she died her little infant preceded her to the "blessed land." She has left her husband and two little children to mourn her early departure; but we mourn not as those who have no hope. Little Willey, the oldest, who is nearly five years old, says his "ma has gone to help the lord take care of the little baby." The day before her departure, having been to all appearance dead, she suddenly aroused from her lethargy and commenced praising God aloud, and told , while her face beamed with heavenly radiance, of having seen the glories of heaven. She describe its beauties with rapture, and longed to be back again, and said that in a few hours she would b e gone, and exhorted us to meet her in heaven, Shortly after, delirium came on, during which she sang sweetly and pathetically.
Thus a beautiful life was ended, the sad event taking place at Magnolia, Harrison County, Iowa, 35 miles north of Council Bluffs. Some years later her brothers arranged for re-burial beside the sainted mother in the little rural cemetery, a mile east of Hillsdale. Her son, William H. Scott, has erected a red granite memorial to her memory, reading: "Martha C. Scott, May 18, 1832-Jan. 18, 1861"
1 comment:
What a beautiful story. I liked the memoir written by Mrs. Scotts husband.
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