A life of intense and well directed business activity has brought Edward
Everett Cooper to a position where he can now lay aside the heavier duties
and burdens of business life and rest in the enjoyment of the fruits of his
former toil. At the present writing, in 1911, he is living in Girard, giving
his attention merely to the supervision and direction of his various
interests and properties.
His birth occurred in Greene county, this
state, on the 4th of December, 1863, his parents being Edmond Mills and
Martha (Tunnell) Cooper, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of
Tennessee. Extended mention is made of them on another page of this work.
The Cooper family is descended from English and Welsh ancestry and was
founded in America in colonial days.
Judge Edmond Landrum Cooper,
the grandfather of Edward E. Cooper, was born in Orange county, Virginia, on
the 28th of September, 1799, an d on the 20th of November, 1822, in
Christian county, Kentucky, was married to Mary Mills Perry. They removed to
Greene county, Illinois, in April, 1836, becoming pioneer residents of that
district, and there Mrs. Edmond L. Cooper passed away March 6, 1887. Judge
Cooper lived to be more than a hundred years of age and had he lived for
another year his life record would have extended into three different
centuries. He was prominent in the local affairs of the community in which
he resided and was elected assessor and treasurer of Greene county, filling
that position in 1853 and 1854. In politics he was a stanch republican,
following the organization of that party and at all times was deeply
interested in public projects that tended to promote the welfare of the
community. He was a gentleman of the old school, always courteous and
dignified, yet jovial and genial, and his friends delighted in his
companionship.
His son, Edmond Mills Cooper, removed in 1864 to
Girard, at which time Edward Everett Cooper was less than a year old. The
latter was, therefore, reared in this district and is indebted to the
public-school system of the village for the educational opportunities which
were accorded him. He started out in the business world as a clerk in the
dry-goods store of S. McKnight in 1881 and remained with that business until
1890, when he withdrew from active commercial pursuits. He is recognized as
a man of sound business judgment, whose investments have been well placed,
and he now spends the winter seasons in Arkansas, where he has extensive
real-estate interests. He is also one of the stockholders and a director of
the Citizens Bank of Van Buren, Arkansas, and a stockholder and director in
the Girard Building & Loan Association. His insight into business situations
is keen and his sagacity enables him to readily determine the value of any
business proposition in which he becomes interested.
Mr. Cooper
resides with his mother at the family residence in Girard. His fraternal
relations are with the Masons, his membership being in Girard Lodge, No.
171, A. F. & A. M., in which he has filled all of the chairs, being now a
past master. In political affairs he gives his allegiance to the men and
measures of the republican party but has never sought nor desired office,
preferring to concentrate his energies upon his private business affairs and
such interests as are a source of pleasure and enjoyment.
Extracted 18 May 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 21-22.
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