FREDERICK W. COOPER. Among the successful and popular citizens of Nottingham township, none have been more prominently identified with the interests of the community than the Cooper family. Frederic Cooper, grandfather of the present generation, was an active business man, conducting a farm, distillery, carding-mill and gristmill, in which he was assisted by his sons Samuel F. and Frederick K. Cooper. Samuel F. Cooper was born May 2, 1807, in Nottingham township, and received a good education at the schools of Waynesburgh, and assisted with the farm work, and other interests with which his father was identified. In 1831 he was married to Sarah Van Voorhis, who was born in 1814. Her father, Daniel Van Voorhis, was a prominent man, owning a large distillery and oil mill, and dealing extensively in stock. Five children were born to this marriage, namely: John P., Frederick W., Mary J., Clara E. and Van. Of this family, the latter three are deceased, and John P. moved to Tennessee in 1869, where he followed farming. The father was a Democrat, and filled almost every office in Nottingham township. He possessed a remarkable memory, and was a well educated man, enjoying the respect and confidence of all who knew him. He was extensively engaged in the fruit-growing business. He died May 3, 1875, his widow May 19, 1892. Frederick W. Cooper was born March 31, 1837, in Nottingham township, this county, and passed his early boyhood on the home place. On January 4, 1860, he married Miss Maria L. Stewart, of Allegheny county, Penn., who bore him two children, both deceased in early infancy. The mother died April 20, 1864, and for his second choice Mr. Cooper married October 20, 1870, Mary W., daughter of John Manown. They have four children, namely: Frank A., Samuel F., Clara G. and Ella F., all living at home. Mr. Cooper has been an extensive traveler. He left home when a young man, and herded cattle six months for his uncle Van Voorhis, in Illinois, in 1854; then returned home, and in the autumn of 1856 went to Missouri and Kansas, arriving in the latter State just at the close of the Kansas troubles. He then traveled throughout the West. In 1860 he and his wife moved to a tract of land in Iowa which his father had entered of the Government, remaining there three years, improving the land, when, his wife's health failing, they returned to her home in Pennsylvania, where she died. He stayed at home the following summer, and in 1865 shipped a carload of horses to Illinois, sold his horses, organized a company with Mr. V.B. Ward, of Richland, Keokuk Co., Iowa, and on April 13, 1865, they started for California, in wagons, arriving at Salt Lake City, Utah, on the 4th of July following. They remained there one year, thence going to northern Montana, where they passed a year in the mines. He then entered the commissary and quartermaster's office as clerk in Montana, and was employed there six months under James L. Fisk, afterward riding his horse 500 miles from Helena, Mont., to Walla Walla, on the Columbia river, thence going to San Francisco, Cal., where he sold books three months for H.H. Bancroft, finally returning to his present home in Nottingham township. He is now proprietor of 160 acres, known as the "Nottingham stock farm," near Venetia post office. The farm is principally pasture land, and he makes a specialty of raising fine Jersey cattle, also a good grade of roadsters. Mr. Cooper in his political affiliations is a Democrat.

Text taken from page 510 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed March 1997 by Jack McNatt of Valrico, FL as part of the Beers Project. Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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