SAM HOUSTON COOPER

The following bio was taken from page 156 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

The Cooper name first appeared in Rusk County, Texas in 1845 when Cornelius Cooper III and his wife, Rutha Weems Cooper, came to Texas as early settlers from Georgia. Cornelius Cooper III was the son of Benjamin and Temperance Lamar Cooper, born to this union on May 7, 1801. Cornelius Cooper III served as state senator from Gilmer County, Georgia from 1830 to 1840. To the union of Cornelius and Rutha were born thirteen children. Four of the thirteen children married and settled in Rusk County.

George Washington Cooper I married Henrietta O’Quinn and died on August 2, 1863 while enroute home from serving in the Confederate Army. He is buried in Alexandria, Louisiana and is said to have died from measles or the flu.

William Cooper married Mrs. Martha Elliott, and three children were born to this couple: Neil Cooper, Sallie Cooper Worrell, and Mandy Pierson Cooper, all deceased.

Lemuel Cooper married Julia Brown and to this union three children were born: Charlie, Ben, and Linnie.

Samuel H. Cooper, also known as Sam Houston Cooper, married Mary Jane Elliott. To this couple were born eleven children.

J. M. (Melville) married Martha Frances Smith; Joe married Maggie Harris; Olan married a distant cousin of his, Laura Chandler; Monnie married Georgia Harris; Alma married Nora Cansler; Neal married Bell Laseter; Minnie married Tom Moore; Beulah married Haywood Worrell; Ora married Lamar King; and Lem married Nora Gilstrap.

The Samuel H. Cooper family settled in the Pleasant Hill Community on a farm near the Daisy Bradford farm. Oil was discovered in Rusk County in 1930 on the Daisy Bradford farm. Samuel, or Sam Houston Cooper, as he was more commonly known, operated a cotton gin in this community for many years. After the operation of the cotton gin he was engaged in the manufacturing of wood shingles and later became a carpenter and maker of wood chairs.

J. M. Cooper and wife, Martha Frances Cooper, settled in the Grandview Community in the early 1900’s. The home built by this couple is located on Farm Road 2276 and occupied by the younger daughter, Louise Cooper Dorsey.

For many years on the Sunday after the first Saturday in July, the Cooper Reunion was held at the old home place. It was traditional for the descendants of Sam Houston and Mary Jane Elliott Cooper to gather on this day and reminiscence of times gone by. After the death of Martha Frances Cooper in 1946, the reunion ceased. Even though many deaths have occurred within each family of the Sam Houston Cooper descendants, the heritage laid down by our forefather’s remains with us always.

Submitted by Melvin R. Cooper