John Cooper

As printed in 1912

JOHN COOPER.

It is both gratifying and profitable to enter record concerning such a man as he whose name appears at the head of this life record, and in the following outline sufficient will be said to indicate the forceful individuality, initiative power and sterling character which have had such a decided influence in making their possessor a leader in enterprises requiring the highest order of business talent, and to gain for him wide publicity among those who shape and direct policies of more than ordinary consequence in Knox county and who ranks among the most representative of her citizens.

John Cooper, well known real estate and business man of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was born three miles northwest of this city, on May 30, 1824, and his long, useful and industrious life has been spent in this vicinity, whose interests he has ever had at heart and sought to promote, and which he has witnessed develop from the pioneer stage to one of the foremost sections of the great

Buckeye state. His youth was spent on the farm of his parents, Cary and Elizabeth (Ruple) Cooper, sterling early settlers of this vicinity, they having come from Washington county, Pennsylvania, and settled in the woods in Morris township, Knox county, in 1811. There they erected a rude log cabin, began clearing a farm, and, by hard work and economy, became very comfortably established in due course of time. This country was then wild and sparsely settled, still being the above of Indians and many varieties of wild game. These parents had a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, namely: James, born February 26, 1804, died in 1834; Phoebe, born February 1, 1806, died April 15, 1854; Ann, born July 13, 1808, died September 14. 1832; Charles, born February 2, 1811, died February 7, 1901; Elias, born February 26, 1813, died August 16, 1850; Fewis, born May 20, 1818, died August 18, 1845; John, of this review; Nancy, born August 1, 1827, died April 17, 1911, the immediate subject of this sketch being the only surviving member of the family. The father of these children was born on July 29, 1781, and died April 20, 1831; his wife was born March 11, 1784, and died on December 25, 1868; both are buried in the Mt. Vernon cemetery. They were devout Presbyterians and they reared their children in that faith.

John Cooper, of this review, had little opportunity to obtain an education, but got what he could in the log cabin schools of his district during the winter months, until he was fourteen years of age, when he was bound to a coppersmith and as an apprentice he thus mastered the trade in three years, buying his unexpired term when he was seventeen years of age and he engaged in business for himself on the west side of the public square in Mt. Vernon. Two years later he engaged in the stove and sheet iron business in what was known as the old market house on the square. He was married on March 17, 1844, to Eliza Murphy, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Hanna) Murphy, an early pioneer family who came from Washington county, Pennsylvania. This union resulted in the birth of three children: John E., deceased; Hugh N., deceased; and Ella, who resides with her father. The wife and mother passed away on January 26, 1883.

Mr. Cooper continued in business in the old market house, which he had purchased, for several years. In 1848 he erected a building on the east side of the square where the Banner newspaper is now located, and there he continued the stove and tin business. In 1854 he engaged in the foundry business with his brother Charles and he began the manufacture of stoves, which grew to include the manufacture of plows, farm machinery, portable engines, grist mill machinery, this really being Mt. Vernon’s first manufacturing industry and it did much to advertise the town abroad, the plant grow-

6i8 ing to large proportions and employing many men, the products finding a wide and ready market. The partnership with his brother Charles continued until 1869, when John Cooper withdrew and purchased the General C. P. Buckingham Foundry at the foot of Main street, and he continued that business along the same lines as when with his brother, enjoying a very liberal patronage. Mr. Cooper managed the sales department and spent considerable time on the road, selling goods direct to the purchaser, and he built up a very satisfactory business, which was continued by him until 1893, when the Buckingham plant was destroyed by fire, all except the foundry. A portion of the plant was rebuilt and business continued until 1895, when Mr. Cooper sold his interest, since which time he has been engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business and has built up a very satisfactory patronage. He maintains his office in his own building, the substantial Cooper block, on the east side of the square.

In politics Mr. Cooper was originally an abolitionist and from the formation of the Republican party he has been a loyal supporter of the same, but lias never been an office seeker. He was a warm personal friend of President Lincoln, and it is a well known fact of inside history that Mr. Lincoln named May 30, Mr. Cooper's birthday, as Decoration day. He was also a friend of Hayes, Garfield, McKinley and many other prominent men of the party. He was long an intimate friend of John Sherman. During the latter half of his life he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he is the oldest member and the oldest past grand master of the same in Knox county. Religiously he is a member of the Congregational church, in fact is the oldest member of the local church; he has long been active in church work. He has always been a busy man of affairs and yet in his old age he maintains a keen interest in and a close touch with all business and public matters. He has been a great influence for progress and general good in the community where he has for so many years been a prominent factor and where he is so universally esteemed.

In his active days as a manufacturer, Mr. Cooper had considerable of a national reputation and did a great deal of work for the United States government, having put in, among other things, the first steel and glass patent model cases in the patent office building at Washington. The cast iron lighthouse at Hell Gate was built by him, as were many other lighthouses in the country. The government also bought of him a number of saw mill outfits for use in clearing their Indian reservations.

Mr. Cooper was instrumental in securing the State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis just outside of Mt. Vernon, as the site he labored for so successfully was finally selected as being the finest in the state.

As printed in Past and present of Knox County, Ohio (1912). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.