Walsh County ND Archives Biographies.....Cooper, Thos. E. 1822 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nd/ndfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 July 18, 2008, 12:56 am Author: Unknown THOS. E. COOPER. Thos. E. Cooper was born in England May 29, 1822. His mother was of Scotch descent, his father was an Englishman, and held for some years the position of revenue collector in the city of Dublin. In 1829 the family moved to Stanstead county, Quebec. They resided in the town of Stanstead many years, and here both his parents are buried. In 1852 Cooper came west by lake steamer to Milwaukee. He followed the first railroad to its terminus at Jefferson, Wisconsin, and worked a farm there for two years. In 1S54 he bought a farm a few rods south from where the city of Tomah now stands. During the years of 1856-7 he held the position of superintendent of schools for the townships of Adrian, Greenfield, and Tomah, in Monroe county. In 1858 Mr. Cooper came west again and the next year bought a farm six miles south of Rochester, Minn. At this time the Colorado gold fever was at its height and Mr. Cooper with several others started for the Pikes Peak gold fields. They turned back, however, at Council Bluffs, not liking the prospect either at this place or at Omaha, a rising young town across the river. In 1SG0 he sold his Wisconsin farm and located at Pine Island, Minn. As chairman of the board of supervisors of Pine Island township he drew up the resolutions adopted at a mass meeting of citizens that was called to meet when the news of the firing on Fort Sumter was received. In 1803 after all the single men of his township had enlisted, he was asked by a merchant, Mr. Thomson, to fill a draft of 22 men. At a meeting held in the school house it was decided to raise $2,000 on a joint note signed by the men who were drafted, and then to buy substitutes to fill the draft. This difficult task Mr. Cooper accomplished to the satisfaction of all. He raised the money in Red Wing, where he had friends, and bought the 22 substitutes in St. Paul, paying as high as $300 for some of them. The unexpended balance he turned over to the township treasurer, Sylvester Dickey. On May 2, 1864, Mr. Cooper joined a wagon train of 122 wagons bound for the Montana gold fields. A little below Fort Rice in the present state of North Dakota, they found Gen. Sully's army in pursuit of the hostile Sioux. They were transferred to the western side of the Missouri and then by his advice they accompanied his army till they had crossed both Yellowstone and Missouri rivers and were in the vicinity of old Fort Union. Gen. Sully then returned with his army, while the wagon train, after the leader had tried to hire a Frenchman to act as guide, kept on up to Fort Benton, in spite of the gloomy predictions of the white trader at Fort Union. At Fort Benton the wagon train broke up into small parties, and on September 21, 1S64, Mr. Cooper's party camped on the spot where the city of Helena, Mont., now stands, the oxen being picketed on the site of the present railway station. In June of the next year Mr. Cooper returned on a Missouri river steamboat to St. Louis, and thence by rail to his home. During the winter of 1865-6 he organized a quartz mining company, of which later Gen. F. S. Hubbard was the chief Stockholder. During the same winter he went to New York city to arrange for sale of stock and to purchase a mining outfit. The following spring he returned to Montana on the steamboat Marion, paying $300 for his passage from St. Louis to Fort Benton. In 1867, owing to the failure of Gen. Hubbard, the quartz mining company in which Mr. Cooper had taken such an active part, did not develop the mining property which they had purchased, and was later dissolved. In 1870 Mr. Cooper was made a member of the county committee to meet at La Crosse, Wis., and confer with the officials of the railroad which was to pass through Pine Island. During his residence in Minnesota he was a correspondent of the St. Paul Pioneer and the Red Wing Argus. The files of these papers contain many letters written by Mr. Cooper, recounting his Montana experiences. In December, 1878, Mr. Cooper removed to Dakota territory, and with characteristic energy at once took the same active part in its development which he had shown during his residence in the adjoining states. He was one of the first settlers of the present city of Grafton, Walsh county, naming the city from his wife's home town in northern New Hampshire. The first hotel in Grafton was one put up by Mr. Cooper in 1881, the Cooper House. As chairman of the town board he carried the first election returns of Walsh county to Pembina, walking the entire distance with the ballot box carried over his shoulder. He later held the office of post master of Grafton, 1879-81. He has four children, all living, one son in Minnesota, and the others in this state, a daughter at Hope and a son and daughter at Grafton. Like most of the early settlers in this state Mr. Cooper has retired from active participation in the affairs of the state and county, but he is still in perfect health, and takes a lively interest in every effort to preserve the records of the pioneer days of the northwest. Additional Comments: Extracted from: COLLECTIONS OF THE State Historical Society OF NORTH DAKOTA VOL. I BEING FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NORTH DAKOTA TO THE GOVERNOR OF NORTH DAKOTA FOR YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1906. BISMARCK, N. D. TRIBUNE, STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS 1906 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/nd/walsh/photos/bios/cooper11nbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nd/walsh/bios/cooper11nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ndfiles/ File size: 6.0 Kb