Biography: Thomas Benton Coopwood of Monroe County, Ms. Source: From the family files of researcher Tom Clarke Submitted for inclusion in USGenweb Project Archives by Thomas I. Clarke ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ************************************************************************ Aberdeen, Monroe County. Thomas Benton Coopwood was born September 11, 1793 in Albemarle County, Virginia, the second of seven children born to Benjamin Coopwood and Millie Thomason. When in his teen years his family migrated to Tennessee, where he took on the task of helping to provide a living for his widowed mother and younger siblings. He married Nancy Hess in 1815 while living in Smith County, Tennessee. He obtained his law degree through self- education before relocating to Moulton, Lawrence County, Alabama, where he represented that county in the Alabama House of Representatives and Senate. He and Nancy would have seven children before her death in 1832. Soon after marrying his second wife Minerva Ellis in 1836, Thomas moved his family to Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi, where he purchased a section of land from the Chickasaw Puck-a-no-tubby, and set up a law practice. He and Minerva would have three children together. In addition to his law practice and real estate dealings, Thomas owned a successful plantation outside Aberdeen, with his young son James overseeing the operation. In 1852 Thomas was elected to represent Monroe County in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He later ran for the governor of Mississippi and lost the election to Albert G. Brown by fifteen votes. At the beginning of the Civil War Captain Thomas Coopwood organized and equipped Co. L, Monroe Rangers (Athens Guard) Twenty-Fourth Regt., Infantry, using his own funds, and was killed at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, while leading his company in a charge against the Union forces. He was sixty-nine years old, an age when most men considered themselves much too old to go to war.