USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102
128
COON CREEK FIGHT-COONEY.
sociable of men. Thoroughly in harmony with all that is progressive, he is foremost in furthering the interests of Missouri and in fostering such industries and enterprises as will benefit the State. By his own efforts he has achieved success. He knows what hard work is, and by the hardest of labor, backed by a strong intellect, he has become one of the most prominent figures in Mis- souri politics. Notwithstanding the demands upon him within the political field, and his business interests, which are considerable, he is much of a home man, and never quite so contented as when surrounded by his family. Mr. Cook has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Ella Howard, dauglı- ter of John A. Howard, of Warrenton, to whom he was married in 1879. Of this union two daughters were born. Mrs. Ella Howard Cook died in 1885. Mr. Cook's sec- ond wife, to whom he was married in November, 1888, was Miss Olivia Hord, daughter of Colonel Lewis Hord, a promi- nent resident of Mexico, Missouri. Two sons have blessed this marriage.
Coon Creek Fight .- After the battle of Lone Jack, August 16, 1862, the Confeder- ates under Shelby and Cockrell retired be- fore Blunt's pursuing column of Federals toward Arkansas, and while in camp on Coon Creek, in the southern part of Barton County, were attacked by the Sixth Kansas Volun- teers, under Colonel Cloud. The Confeder- ates took shelter behind the trees in the midst of which they were encamped, and, under the protection of a heavy fence, and after a short·fight, repelled the attack. Con- federate accounts state that the attacking force left eleven men killed and five wounded on the field, while the Confederates had none killed, but a number wounded.
Cooney, James, representative in Con- gress from the Seventh Missouri District, and one of central Missouri's most noted of self-made men, was born in Ireland, Au- gust 28, 1848, son of John and Hannorah (Kelly) Cooney, who came to America in 1852 and settled in New York. James Cooney began his education in the common schools of New York. At the age of eighteen he came west and located in Boone County, Missouri. After a course in the Missouri State University, he devoted three years to
teaching in Boone County, during two of which he acted as principal of the Sturgeon High School. While thus engaged, he se- cured a license entitling him to practice law, and in 1875 opened an office in Marshall, where he has since enjoyed a successful ca- reer. In 1880 the Democrats of Saline County offered him the nomination for the office of judge of the probate court. He ac- cepted, was elected by a large majority, and served one term of two years. In 1882, as the nominee of the same party, he was elected prosecuting attorney, and again compli- mented by a re-election in 1884, serving four years in this office. Upon laying down the cares of the last named position, Judge Cooney resumed his private practice, his dil- igence, integrity, forcefulness of character and constant study rapidly winning for him a position abreast of the acknowledged lead- ers of the legal profession of central Mis- souri. Recognizing the breadth of his thought, the conscientiousness of his effort, and those other personal characteristics which go to make up a prudent, safe and painstaking man of affairs, he was selected, in 1896, as the most satisfactory man to rep- resent the Seventh Congressional Dis- trict at the National Capital, was nominated in convention, and elected by an overwhelm- ing majority. During his first term he showed himself to be thoroughly informed as to the requirements of his constituents, and in appreciation of his efforts in behalf of his district and his party, he was the re- cipient of a renomination and re-election in 1898, and again in 1900. In Congress he has been active in introducing measures for the relief of the citizens of his district, and has effected the passage of many of such meas- ures. He has now pending a bill providing for the establishment of a national park cov- ering the field of the famous battle of Wil- son's Creek. He has received assurances of the passage of the latter bill, which is of di- rect interest to the inhabitants, not only of his district, but of the whole State of Mis- souri. The range of subjects with which he has been connected and in which he has been deeply interested as a legislator, has not been confined to his own district. He in- troduced a joint resolution to amend the Constitution so as to prohibit the admission as States into the Union of non-contigu- ous territory; also a bill for the repeal
129
COOPER.
of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, which is the first attempt to repeal a treaty of the United States by direct legislation of Con- gress. Mr. Cooney believes that these measures must either expressly or impliedly become the law of this country if it builds the Nicaraguan Canal and annexes distant territories. Aside from his professional and political career, Judge Cooney has always been interested in farming, and is still prom- inently identified with that industry. The Lexington branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad passes through one of his farms. When that road was opened he gave the site for the present thriving village of Black- water, thereby securing the convenience of a station for that neighborhood, and virtu- ally becoming the founder of the town. Since the day the first house was erected there, he has been constantly devoted to its welfare and is responsible in a large measure® for its development to present proportions. Judge Cooney limits his interest in fraternal orders to Odd Fellowship, with which he has been identified since 1869. In the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, he has served as steward for several years. He was married December 21, 1882, to Dotia Trigg, a native of Cooper County, Missouri, and a daugh- ter of John A. Trigg. The last named was one of the early pioneers of Saline County, of which he became the first circuit clerk. Subsequently he removed to Cooper County, but returning to Saline County was again elected circuit clerk in 1872 and died while occupying that office. No man who ever bore an active part in public life in Saline County stands higher in the esteem of his fellow citizens, regardless of their political predilections. As a public official no act of his has ever been brought into question, and his private life has been without taint or blemish.
Cooper, Jessie Bain, a conspicuous leader in Christian Science work, was born in New York City. Her father is of the Bain- McKenzie family of Scotland; her mother came from a long line of Welch Episcopalian clergyman, remarkable for scholarship in the classics. Her early education was under her mother, in the public schools at a later day, and afterward under the tutorship of Robert Curry, LL. D, founder of the Curry Insti- tute, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Her early
religious views were formed by her mother and grandmother, and the strictest reverence for all pertaining to God was early instilled in the already conscientious child. She early joined the Congregational Church, but with broadened education she began to question the truthfulness of Bible miracles. After marriage, the influence of her husband's thought increased her rationalistic tendency, and she became connected with the Unitarian Church. During these years she was an earnest worker in clubs, and was for five years an active member of the Friends in Council. She was also zealous in public and private charities, and served as clerk of the Woman's Board of the Provident Associa- tion, and chairman of the visiting committee of the Instructive Nursing Association. Her association with these bodies, and her fine personal qualities, drew about her a wide cir- cle of friends. While she was thus pleasantly occupied, and in the enjoyment of the de- lights of a happy home, her husband became ill as the result of an injury, and despite the best medical assistance grew steadily worse. In this extremity, Christian Science was brought to her notice, and Mr. Cooper was healed in three days by a Christian Scientist neighbor. All her early religious teachings of God's power, the miracles of the New Testament, came back to her and she asked, was it possible that it was true, after all? She began the study of Mrs. Eddy's works with deep earnestness, from the first putting to the test every statement which she com- prehended, and proving the text-book step by step. For nine months she studied little else, and at the end of that time announced herself a Christian Scientist. To do so re- quired great moral courage. The new sect was unpopular, and no people of standing or of her circle of friends, were instructed in the science. Her position necessarily made her, in a way, a pioneer among the more in- telligent and educated classes. Her first introduction to Christian Science was under the influence of Mrs. Behan, the year follow- ing its establishment in Kansas City. She then studied under Alfred Farlow, C. S. B., and connected herself with the Third Church, in which, at various times, she served as sec- ond reader, teacher of a Bible class, clerk of the church, and a director. To her broad christian view, and personal independence, is largely due the wonderful development of
Vol. II-9
130
COOPER COUNTY.
Christian Science in Kansas City. She was an earnest advocate of union of the churches, and her influence was great in bringing to- gether the First and Second Churches; at a later day, in spite of the appeals of intimate personal friends, she attached herself to the united organization, and her example was a powerful agent in bringing the Third Church to the other united bodies some six months later. In 1892 she began healing, her first and successful case being one of tuberculosis in the knee, where amputation had been pro- nounced indispensable. In 1896 she formed a class of twelve persons in Christian Science healing; nearly all her pupils are now heal- ers, but not professionally, and one of the number, Mrs. Isabel Best, is her associate in practice. In September, 1899, she opened an office in the Altman Building, and without financial necessity conscientiously devotes herself to the relief of suffering and to the propagation of scientific truth. She enjoys the retirement and silence of her practice, loves her patients, and sympathizes with them in their ills in that helpful manner which lifts their cares, and blesses them with better health and morals. Mrs. Cooper has had fre- quent offers to enter the lecture field. She has attained some note as a ready public „speaker, particularly when advocating some charity; she is always clear, logical and convincing, and at times her earnestness moves her to real eloquence. The platform would have become her habitually, but with- out liking for public life, she only came upon it as a means to an end, to effect a laudable purpose. Her pen is ready in elucidation of the science which she has chosen for her life work, and an excellent example is found in the article on "Christian Science in Kansas City," in the "Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri." In 1883 she was married to Frank Cooper, then a recent graduate of the Wisconsin State University, and immediately came to Kansas City, which has since been their home. Mr. Cooper is now president of the Elmore & Cooper Live Stock Commis- sion Company, of Kansas City, and holds high position as an upright and capable busi- ness man, and a gentleman of intelligence and refinement. Two children, William Bain and Helen Cooper, were born of the marriage.
Cooper County .- This county is situ- ated on the south bank of the Missouri River,
and is one of the central counties of the State. Originally its territory, with more than thirty of the present counties of the State, formed a part of Howard County, which was organ- ized by the Territorial Legislature January 23, 1816. December 17, 1818, Cooper County was organized, its area comprising all the territory of Howard lying south of the Mis- souri River. Its boundaries at that time were the Missouri River on the north, the Osage River on the east and south, and what was then known as the western boundary of the Territory (and the present boundary line between Missouri and Kansas) was its west- ern boundary. It included the territory of the present counties of Cooper, Saline, La- fayette, Jackson, Cass, Henry, Johnson, Pettis, Morgan, Moniteau and Cole, and parts of Bates, St. Clair, Benton, Camden and Miller Counties, eleven of the present coun- ·ties and parts of five others. At different times since, the other counties were organ- ized out of the territory of Cooper, the last being Moniteau, which was formed February 14, 1845, and reduced Cooper County to its present limits. The county was called Cooper County in honor either of Colonel Benjamin Cooper or Captain Sarshel Cooper. The former, with his family, originally of Madison County, Kentucky, came to the present ter- ritory of Howard County from Loutre Island and settled in the Missouri Bottom, opposite Arrow Rock and near Boone's Salt Lick. Governor Lewis ordered this adventurous settler and his family back for better protec- tion, but in 1810 he returned to the place which he had selected for his home and settled there permanently. Colonel Cooper was a member of the Senate in 1820. Sar- shel Cooper was a great Indian-fighter, and built Cooper's Fort, near Boone's Lick. On the night of December 14, 1814, he was shot through the "chinkin'" of his cabin, by an Indian and killed. At the time of the shooting he was holding in his lap an infant son, who escaped injury. Cooper was the grandfather of Colonel Stephen Cooper, of Howard County, the present State Senator from that district. William Christy and John G. Heath are said to have been the first white men who remained long enough within the limits of the present county of Cooper to establish a business of any kind. In 1808 they ascended the river from St. Louis, and for a time engaged in the manufacture of
131
COOPER COUNTY.
salt at the Salt Springs, on Heath's Creek, in the present township of Blackwater, Cooper County. Kinsmen of Christy now reside in St. Louis, and descendants of Heath in Howard County. The first permanent white settlers in Cooper County were Stephen and Hannah Cole, the last named being the widow of Stephen's brother, Nathan Cole. Stephen Cole and his family lived about a mile and a half east of the present location of Boonville, and Hannah Cole lived with her family east of the site of the city also, on a bluff overlooking the river on the top of which was built Cole's Fort. Stephen Cole's family consisted of himself and his wife Phoebe, and their children, James, Rhoda, Mark, Nelly and Polly Cole. In Hannah Cole's family there were herself and her children, Jennie, Mattie, Dickie, Nellie, James, Holbert, Stephen, William and Sam- uel, and in the two families there were seven- teen persons in all. The first circuit court held in Howard County, then embracing the present territory of Cooper, was held in Cole's Fort, July 8, 1816, it then being the county seat of Howard County. David Bar- ton, afterward United States Senator, was the judge of the court ; Gray Bynum, clerk; John B. Heath, circuit attorney, and Nicholas S. Burckhartt, sheriff. The attorneys present at that session of court were Edward Bates, Joshua Barton-brother of Judge Barton, and afterward killed in a duel by Thomas C. Rector on Bloody Island-Lucius Easton and Charles Lucas. The first tavern was es- tablished within the present limits of Cooper County by William Bartlett, near the mouth of Roupe's Branch, and within the present limits of the city of Boonville. The first dance ever given within these limits by white people was given at Bartlett's tavern on the occasion of its opening. The first courthouse of the county was completed in 1823, and was a small two-story brick. The second court- house, also a two-story brick, but much larger than the first, was erected in 1840, and, although about sixty years old and shivering in the weather to be displaced by a new one, is still used as the courthouse of Cooper County. The first newspaper established in the county was the "Boonville Herald," pub- lication of which was begun by James O. Middleton, with Benjamin Emmons Ferry as editor, in 1834. There are now eleven weekly papers published in the county, five
of which are printed at Boonville. The first election was held in the county August 2, 1819, to choose a delegate to Congress, and 138 votes were cast, nearly all of which were for John Scott, of Ste. Genevieve. The first circuit court held in Cooper County proper began its session at the house of William Bartlett, March 1, 1819, with David Todd as judge; R. P. Clark, clerk; William Mc- Farland, sheriff, and John S. Brickey as pros- ecuting attorney. Samuel Peters was foreman of the first grand jury. The first in- dictment presented was against Stanley G. Morgan for assault and battery, and this was done at the second term of the court, which began July 5, 1819. The first civil suit was instituted in the county July 5, 1819, by George Wilcox, against R. P. Clark and Sam- uel S. Williams. The first account rendered against Cooper County was by William Bartlett, who presented a bill of $6.00 for the rent of his house for court purposes. July 19, 1819, Asa Morgan, one of the owners of the land on which Boonville is located, was licensed to keep a ferry at Boonville across the Missouri River. The first church was erected in the county in 1817, by the Baptist denomination. It was called Concord Church and was located about six miles south of the site of Boonville, with Rev. Luke Williams as its pastor. "Old Nebo Church," as it is now called, was erected in 1820, about one mile north of the present site of Bunceton, and was the second church built in the county. The first school was taught in the county by William Anderson, near Concord Church, in 1817. The first Fourth of July celebration was held in the county at Boonville in 1820, and the orator of the day was Benjamin F. Hickox, father of Colonel Truman V. Hickox, an old and honored citi- zen, who yet lives near Boonville. It was for this occasion that a small wrought iron cannon was made by the pioneer village blacksmith, James Bruffee.
Cooper County has furnished two Govern- ors of Missouri, John Miller, elected in 1825, and Lon V. Stephens, elected in 1896. Three of her citizens, John G. Miller, Theron M. Rice and John Cosgrove, have been Repre- sentatives in Congress, and one, Washing- ton Adams, served as a member of the Supreme Court of Missouri.
It is conceded that it is legitimately a part of the history of a county to record its most
132
COOPER COUNTY.
important happenings and the progress, step by step, and year by year, of the development of its material, commercial, educational and moral interests; an account of the manners and customs of its people, its wars with In- dians, and the participation of its inhabitants in other wars; the increase of its population, trade and production; and the organization and cultivation of the social forces which up- lift human life to a higher plane. But it is not the purpose of this paper to attempt all this, for to accomplish it, an exhaustive his- tory far beyond the space to be occupied would be required. Therefore a sketch, or skeleton, is all that is possible under the cir- cumstances, furnishing another, among many illustrations, of an oft quoted couplet from "David Everett's School of Declamation," written more than a century ago:
" Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow."
We have noted the condition of Cooper County at, and for a few years after, its or- ganization, more than three-quarters of a century ago. An answer to the question, "What are its conditions, environments and possibilities to-day?" will suggest, if it does not record, the history of the efforts and agencies employed to achieve the results.
An unusual, but very suggestive, incident will demonstrate not only the smallness of the population of the county in 1821-then only 3,483-but the insignificance of the tax- able wealth of the people. During that year John V. Sharp, a Revolutionary soldier, who was a resident of the county, became par- alyzed and wholly disqualified for making a living. Therefore he was a charge upon the county, and his board, clothing and care cost the county $2.00 per day. The county court, being unable to pay the bill, petitioned the Legislature, in 1822, to make an appropria- tion for his support, stating in the petition that the entire revenue of the county from taxes was not sufficient for his maintenance, the total taxes being only $718 per annum and the charge for Sharp $730. The Legis- , lature did not respond and the court was compelled to make a special levy for the pur- pose from 1823 to 1828.
Cooper County has a long river frontage on its northern and northwestern boundaries. At the date of its organization it had a pop- ulation of about 3,000. With its greatly re-
duced area, it now (1900) has a population of 22,532. The natural environments of both the county and its chief city, Boonville, assure them in large measure the advantages of natural drainage and consequent healthiness of topography. The surface of the county is rolling, and the lands are, as a rule, very fertile. While, of course, portions of the county are broken and the soil thin, there are many long and wide stretches, covering in the aggregate a large portion of the coun- ty's area, that are very sightly and attrac- tive and as productive as any lands in the State.
The county now has many school and church edifices that are an honor to the Chris- tian character, intelligence and enterprise of its people. Besides Boonville, there are in the county a number of beautiful and thrifty towns, chief among them being Bunceton, named for Harry Bunce; Otterville, Pilot Grove and Blackwater, with excellent schools, large churches, mills, banks, stores, news- papers, mechanical industries, improved streets, etc. Of lesser pretensions, and yet centers of activity and business, thrift and enterprise, are Pleasant Green, Clifton City, Sardine, Overton, Prairie Home and Pisgah.
No great interest in the county has shown more development than the breeding and im- provement of horses, mules, cattle and hogs, and the stockmen of Cooper can justly claim as fine products in these lines as any in the State. Such streams as the Lamine, with its numerous confluents, Blackwater, Clear Creek, Petite Saline, Clark's Fork and oth- ers, which in earlier times were often unford- able because of high water, are spanned by good bridges and are crossed by footmen, horsemen or wheeled vehicles, as if the streams did not exist.
Within the lifetime of a large proportion of the present population not a mile of rail- road or telegraph existed in the county. Now two trunk lines of railroad, the Mis- souri, Kansas & Texas, and the Missouri Pacific, run through the county, the former from Boonville in a southwestern direction to Clifton City, near the Pettis County line, and the latter from Blackwater, near the Saline line, eastwardly and down the Missouri River to Boonville, thence south through the cen- ter of the county by way of Palestine, Bunce- ton and Vermont, to the northern boundary of Moniteau. In addition to all this, long-
133
COOPER'S FORT-CO-OPERATION.
distance telephones connect many of the more important towns with Boonville.
WM. F. SWITZLER.
Cooper's Fort .- See "Howard County."
Co-operation .- This word has become the economic term for the various forms of industry, trade or service in which the partici- pants share in the profits and benefits. There are co-operative stores, co-operative fac- tories, co-operative creameries and produce shipping, co-operative housekeeping. Build- ing associations, mutual insurance companies and mutual savings banks are strictly co- operative associations, but having been pro- jected without any theoretical altruistic motive, and without affiliation with the co- operative movement, they are not usually embraced in that term. Neither are the col- ony settlements like Plymouth, and James- town, and Greeley, and Riverside, and Salt Lake, which were, in fact, highly co-opera- tive.
Business co-operation is one of the impor- tant economic movements of the century, and co-operative communities have recently taken on new life. Its first appearance in St. Louis and the West was the advent of the Icarians, who passed through St. Louis in 1849 on their way from Texas to Nauvoo, Illinois.
Cabet, a French statesman and author, wrote a book, "A Voyage to Icaria," in which he described a land of happy equality, peace, plenty and loving service, similar to Utopia, without its army or religion, or the New Bos- ton of "Looking Backward." The idea was taken up in Paris. A colonial association was formed, and in the midst of the revolu- tion of 1848 the first installment of 200 set sail for New Orleans. A million were counted on to follow as soon as the land of Canaan was possessed and cities laid out. Across 200 miles of vacant prairie, west- ward from the Red River into rich and bound- less Texas, the Parisian ouvriers and savants went, without houses or proper food, in broil- ing sun and drenching rain ; disease and dis- couragement soon turned them back to such civilization as there was along the Mississippi River. The Mormons had just been driven from Nauvoo, and there the colonists took refuge. They prospered, but in time Cabet quarreled with other leaders, and he, with his following. came and settled in Cheltenham, in
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.