HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      231

    By persistent application and activity and untiring energy, mentally
and physically, he acquired, cleared up and improved a larger acreage of
land, perhaps, than any other man in the south end of the county, all of
which he devised to his children ten years before his death, devoting
months of time and thought to the difficult task of an equitable division
in acreage, owing to diversity in quality, improvements and value. At his
death the legatees came into full possession of his bequests, and the prop-
erty is still all held in right and possession by the family. The first ditch
in Harrison township for drainage was cut on his lands and by his own
hands. About the year 1890 he introduced Holstein cattle into the south
part of the county.
    In all matters of public moment, social, political or otherwise, he
ever maintained an independence of thought and expression. The good
judgment and stable integrity of the man were a source of service and
gratification to his neighbors, who sought his counsel freely, and to whom
he never turned a deaf ear nor an empty hand.
    A memorable event in the experiences of this family was that of
Sunday, June 22, 1890, when the aged couple were given a surprise by the
previously unannounced visitation of all their children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren, numbering more than a hundred, who had come
on the occasion of Mrs. Cooprider’s seventy-eighth anniversary, to pay
their filial respects to their oldest surviving ancestry. The invited guests
who participated in this happily significant family reunion were S. A.
Edmonson and Wife, Benjamin Adkins and wife and James Moody and
wife.
In the winter of 1883-’84, in acceptance of an invitation, Mr. Coop-
rider delivered two addresses before the Middlebury Literary Society on
early times and experiences in the south part of Clay county. On the
first occasion, December 23, 1883, he said—
“Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
    “I was born in Harrison county, Indiana, November 23, 1810, the
oldest of a family of fifteen children, eleven of whom are living. In
the month of March, 1822, my parents emigrated to this part of the state
and settled on the west side of Eel river, at the Kossuth bluff, where we
landed on the evening of the 6th day of the month, having traveled that
day from Smith’s Ferry, on White river, all the way through the snow
and slush. Our emigrant train consisted of two horses, carrying mother,
myself, the smaller children, and our goods, including some meal. with
father afoot, driving five cows, accompanied by two dogs, and carrying
his faithful gun, We had occupied our new home in the wilderness
but a short time before our supply of meal was exhausted and none to
be had within reach of us. But we were surrounded by game on all
hands—bear, deer, turkeys and squirrels in abundance. We soon learned
from the Indians, Delawares and Pottawattomies, that turkey meat
could be substituted for bread, with bear and venison used as meat. It
was not long before our salt was consumed. As none was to be had we
were obliged to do without it, which the Indians told us they had done
for months at a time. We came over here to this sand hill in 1823, and
cleared our first ground just on the east side of the site of this Baptist
church house. Father was sick and mother and I had to do the clearing,
when we used to chop races. After we had the corn planted and culti