My Genealogy Hound

William Andrew Jackson Cooper, farmer, Buckner, Ark. Mr. Cooper is recognized as a careful, energetic agriculturist, and as he was trained from an early age to the arduous duties of the farm he is thoroughly acquainted with all its details. He was born in Spartanburg District, S. C., on March 28, 1830, and there remained until eleven years of age, when he moved with his parents to Mississippi. There he finished his growth. In 1852 he went to Texas, remained there six years, and there received a limited education after he was grown. His parents were in straightened circumstances, and as a consequence he was obliged to work at a time when he should have been in the school room. While in Texas he learned the blacksmith’s trade, and worked at this until 1858, when in December of that year, he came to Columbia County, Ark., where he has since resided. He worked at his trade until the beginning of the war, and then enlisted in the Confederate army, Company E, Eleventh Arkansas Regiment Infantry, in 1861, as corporal. He was captured at Island No. 10, on April 8, 1862, was taken to Camp Douglas, Chicago, and there kept five months, after which he was seat to Vicksburg and exchanged. He was in the battle of Island No. 10, siege of Port Hudson, and from that time he was in the mounted infantry. He was in the battle of Clinton, and was also in many skirmishes. After being discharged in April, 1865, he returned to his farm in Columbia County, and here he has since remained. Previous to the war, or in 1859, he married Miss Rebecca C. Powell, a native of Hempstead County, Ark., born in 1845, and the daughter of Caleb Powell, who was born January 10, 1810. Mr. Cooper was made a Mason in March, 1858, at Louisa Lodge No. 66, Cherokee County, Tex., and is now a member of Buckner Lodge No. 121. He has been worshipful master for eighteen years, and is now acting in that capacity. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and is also a member of the I. O. O. F., which he joined in Texas, in 1856. Mr. Cooper has held the office of bailiff of this township for four years, and was elected to that office in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and are held in high esteem by all their acquaintances. Mr. Cooper has over 150 acres of land, and has about forty acres under cultivation. His farm is located two miles north of Buckner and sixteen miles northwest of the county seat. He has been the principal representative of his lodge in the grand lodge since 1868, and was appointed grand senior deacon by Vanhoose, of Fayetteville. The parents of our subject, Jonathan and Mary M. (Massey) Cooper, were natives of South Carolina, and resided in that State until 1842, when the family moved to Mississippi. Here the father died in Lee County, in 1865, but the mother is now living, and makes her home with her son, our subject. They were the parents of nine sons and four daughters, eight sons now living, of whom W. A. J. Cooper is the eldest. The paternal grandfather, Jacob Cooper, was born in Maryland, and was of Scotch descent. He died in South Carolina. The maternal grandfather, John Massey, was born in South Carolina, and died at an advanced age.