BIOGRAPHY: James COOPER, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 157-8
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JAMES COOPER, in honor of whom Coopersdale is named, so lived that his life 
presents one of the marked examples of success as the reward of ability, 
integrity and industry. He was a son of Joshua and Jane (Boyd) Cooper, and was 
born in Jenner township, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1821. His 
family is on of the respectable and well-connected farmer families of North 
Ireland, whence his father, Joshua Cooper, emigrated, when a boy of eight years 
of age, about 1786 to Somerset county, where he was reared, followed farming and 
served for many years as a justice of the peace. He married Jane Boyd, and died 
in 1838 at the age of sixty years.
     James Cooper was the eldest child of the family, and at his father's death, 
although but seventeen years of age, took upon himself the care of his mother 
and sisters. He acquired the limited education of his section, and taught 
several winter terms of school. He married in 1841, and six years later removed 
to Ben's Creek furnace, which he was to furnish with ore from the Mill Creek 
mines. Two years later he was employed by J. Bell & Bro. to manage Washington 
furnace, in Westmoreland county, which position he resigned in 1851 to become 
manager of Cambria furnace, where he remained until it went out of blast, in 
1860. The Cambria Iron company appreciating his services, was desirous of 
retaining him and made him superintendent of farms and stables, which position 
he held until his death in 1887.
     On November 25, 1841, Mr. Cooper married Elizabeth Ann Boyd, a daughter of 
James Boyd, of Jenner, and who died on September 8, 1894. To their union were 
born eleven children: those surviving are: Dr. Joshua M., of Johnstown; Maggie 
J., now Mrs. D. A. Harris; Kizzie E., now Mrs. N. B. Griffith; Emma L., now Mrs. 
C. H. Loughery, and Anson B. now holding his father's position with the Cambria 
Iron company.
     James Cooper was an old-line whig and republican in politics, and served 
several terms as a school director, besides acting as an aide-de-camp to 
Governor Pollock during his term of office. He served one term of three years as 
commissioner of Cambria county, and was the nominee of his party for the 
legislature, but was defeated, although running ahead of his ticket in the 
county, which was then strongly Democratic. He was a man of integrity in 
business, and in 1858 purchased the tract of land on which Coopersdale is built. 
The place was named in honor of him and received many substantial favors at his 
hands. He was a man of remarkable capacity, and transmitted these qualities in a 
marked degree to his children. He was a trustee of the Savings bank of Johnstown 
and president of Ridgeview Park association at the time of his death.
     Mr. Cooper was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Coopersdale, 
to which he donated a lot and contributed liberally towards the erection of the 
present church edifice which stands as a monument to his liberality and loyalty 
to his church. James Cooper attained a position of independence and influence 
entirely by his own force of character and industry, and when he passed from 
time to eternity, on June 8, 1887, his loss was felt by the entire community. 
His remains rest in a pleasant spot in Grandview cemetery, but the memory of 
life well spent remains as a monument to him ore enduring than those of iron or 
stone.