Fayette County PA Archives Biographies.....Cooper, William H. September 6, 1821 - ????
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Marta Burns marta43@juno.com September 1, 2024, 8:42 am

Source: Gresham and Wiley, 1889: Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia, Fayette Co, PA, pg 422
Author: John H. Gresham & Samuel T. Wiley

    William H Cooper, A M, born September 6, 1821, in 
Lawrence county, Penna, and is a son of Thomas Cooper and 
Phoebe Dean Cooper.
    His grandfather, William Cooper, was born in County 
Tyrone, Ireland, came to America, served creditably in the 
French and Indian War (1754-63).  His children were: John 
Cooper, Thomas Cooper (father), James Cooper, Nancy Cooper, 
Sarah Cooper and Jane Cooper, who all lived in Lawrence, 
Mercer and Butler counties.
    His father, Thomas Cooper, was raised in Lancaster 
county, Penna, and came to Lawrence, formerly Mercer, county 
where he married Phebe Dean. They had the following 
children: Jonathan Cooper, William H Cooper, John Cooper, 
Robert Cooper, James H Cooper, Jesse Cooper, Marshall 
Cooper, Jacob Cooper, Mary Cooper and Ellen Cooper.  Thomas 
Cooper was a farmer and stock raiser and amassed quite a sum 
of money.
    His wife, Phebe Dean Cooper, was a daughter of Jonathan 
Dean of Scotch descent, a surveyor.  Jonathan Dean came from 
Huntingdon county to Lawrence, and afterward to Butler 
county, Penna.  In these counties many of his descendants 
are now living.  He married Eleanor Thompson and to them 
were born: Aaron Dean, Polly Dean, William Dean, Phebe Dean, 
and Nancy Dean.
    William H Cooper was educated in the subscription 
schools of that day.  He attended the Butler Academy at 
Butler, in Butler county, entered Dennison College, Ohio, in 
1842 and was graduated from there in 1847.
    In September, 1847, he and his young wife were elected 
principals of the London Academy, Ohio.  From 1848 to 1870 
he taught in several colleges in the South; in 1850 was 
president of Muscle Shoals College, Alabama; taught 
mathematics in Enon College, Tennessee; and also in Union 
College, Tennessee.  From 1855 to 1859 he was president of 
Mountain Home Female College, Alabama, and taught two years 
at Christian County College, Christian county, Kentucky.  He 
left the South in 1870 and came to Oil City, Penna, where he 
was elected principal of the Rouseville High School, and 
there in connection with Rev S Williams, D D, established 
the Baptist church at Rouseville.  The next year he served 
as principal of the New Castle Academic School and also of 
the Harlansburg Academy one year.
    He came to Connellsville and preached for the Baptist 
church from 1873 till 1876.  He was licensed to preach at 
the age of nineteen, and has preached more or less ever 
since.  Has spent in the space of thirty two years about 
$6,000 in educating the poor but talented young gentlemen 
and ladies.
    He is a member of the Sons of Temperance and has always 
advocated the cause of temperance, as did his father and 
grandfather.
    In 1847 he married Mary E Butler, daughter of Eli Butler 
of Granville, Ohio.  After her death in 1850 he was 
remarried in 1852 to Margaret Jones of Nashville, Tennessee. 
 They have five children: John Cooper, Charles Cooper, Mary 
Cooper, Annie Cooper, and Agnes Cooper.
    Prof Cooper's sentiments and sympathies in the last war 
were with the North, although he was in the South and 
surrounded by Southern influences.  He was arrested several 
times by Union soldiers, but was always released.  Having 
lost all his earthly possessions to the amount of several 
thousand dollars by issues of war, he returned to his native 
State that his dust may mingle in a few years with the dust 
of a numerous ancestry.
    In spring of 1889 Prof Cooper was elected justice of the 
peace for the borough of New Haven where he is known as a 
scholar, fine theologian, and a man who possesses 
considerable information.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2000.

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