Henry T. Cooper Biography


	This biography appears on pages 489-490 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				HENRY T. COOPER. 

	Henry T. Cooper, of Whitewood, has been for a number of years 
actively connected with the business development of his part of the 
state and has also served for four terms as state senator. He is 
cashier of the Whitewood Bank and for a long period was extensively 
interested in cattle-raising in this state but has now transferred most 
of his interests in that line to Louisiana. He was born in 
Warwickshire, England, June 25, 1850, and his parents were Fred and 
Emma Cooper, likewise natives of that country. The father became a 
merchant in early manhood and continued to follow that business until 
his demise, which occurred when his son, Henry T. was but seven years 
of age. 

	The latter attended public school in England and continued to 
reside in that country until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he 
crossed the Atlantic and located in New York city. He followed the 
Union Pacific Railroad to Bismarck, North Dakota, in the employ of the 
Northwestern Freight & Transportation Company, remaining there until 
1880, and then removed to Pierre, South Dakota, with the same company, 
continuing at Pierre for five years. At the end of that time he went to 
Chadron, Nebraska, and engaged in the freighting business for himself 
for a short time. He then removed successively to Buffalo Gap, Rapid 
City, Sturgis and Whitewood, arriving in the latter place in the fall 
of 1887. He continued there until 1890, when he disposed of his 
interests in the freight and transportation business, gradually selling 
his wagons, horses and mules. Subsequently he became bookkeeper in the 
Merchants National Bank of Deadwood although he continued to make his 
home in Whitewood. In 1895 he was elected county treasurer and during 
his term of office discharged his duties to the satisfaction of his 
constituents. In 1890 he put in a waterworks system in Whitewood, which 
he sold to the city a number of years later, and in 1900 became cashier 
of the Whitewood Bank. in which capacity he is still serving. He 
understands well the minutiae of banking and also the larger monetary 
and financial problems that so closely affect all banks, and under his 
direction the institution has prospered. He is president of the 
Whitewood Electric Light &: Power Company and for at number of years 
operated a large cattle ranch north of Whitewood. However, he recently 
abandoned the raising of stock in South Dakota and became interested in 
the cattle business in Louisiana, where he owns a large ranch and where 
he considers climatic conditions more favorable than in this state. He 
still owns considerable land in South Dakota, however. 

Mr. Cooper was married in April, 1888, to Miss Kate Grimshaw and to 
that marriage were born two children: Henry Grimshaw, who died at 
Grinnell College in 1911, when twenty-one years of age; and Ellwood, a 
resident of Chicago. The wife and mother died in 1901 and in April, 
1904. Mr. Cooper was married to Miss Dollie Pray, a native of Omaha, 
Nebraska, and a daughter of John Pray. Her father was an early settler 
of Omaha and was for a number of years a master mechanic in the employ 
of the if Union Pacific Railroad Company. He now draws a pension from 
the railroad for long service and also is on the pension list of the 
government, as he was a soldier in the l~nion army during the Civil war 
He lives part of the time with Mr. and Mrs. Cooper in Whitewood, spends 
part of each year' upon the ranch in Louisiana of which Mr. Cooper is 
one of the owners, and the remainder of the time with a son in Omaha. 

	Mr. Cooper is a republican and for one term served as county 
treasurer and for four terms, in 1899, 1901, 1905 and 1907, represented 
his district in the state legislature, where he made an enviable record 
for efficiency and devotion to the public good. His religious belief is 
that of the Presbyterian church and he takes a helpful part in the work 
of that organization. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order. 
The ranch in Louisiana which Mr. Cooper owns together with a partner is 
situated north of Baton Rouge and comprises twenty-eight hundred acres 
of land, which is devoted to the raising of highs grade beef cattle. He 
finds conditions more favorable there to successful ranching than in 
South Dakota and has great faith in the success of his venture. He has 
been connected with the west for many years, coming here when the 
railroads had just begun to open up the country, and as a freighter 
learned much of pioneer conditions, as he continued in that business 
until the extension of the railroads made it no longer profitable. As 
the country became more thickly settled and as towns and cities sprang 
up he adapted himself to the changing conditions of life and took 
advantage of opportunities as they arose. He has gained financial 
prosperity and has also the satisfaction of knowing that he has had a 
part in the development of his adopted state.