Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-01-25
REAL PIONEER Of
COUNTY IS DEAD
J. F. M. COOPER, RESIDENT OF
COUNTY NEALY sIxTY-ThREE
YEARS, DIES.
MEMBER OF FIFTH WHITE
FAMILY TO SETTLE HERE
Cooper Witnessed First Election in
County. Attended First Court, Heard
First Sermon. and Helped Build First
School House in county-An Inter.
estns Career.

SChool mouse IN County-An Ihter-
estins Career.
j. +. NJ. Cooper. aged 80. real
pioneer OF Marshall county. a member
of the fifth white family to settle in the
county, and continuous resident here
for nearly sixty three Years. died this
morning at $50 at his home. No. s
death was due to a gradual breaking
down, a complication of a partial par
alytic condition that has been appar-
ent since las. July.
Mr.. Cooper improved materially at
ter the light stroke OF the past sum-
lner. ana waS able TO get about the
house with the aid of a cane About
three weeks ago. however. he grew
worse. and since then has failed rap
ld!N His death was a peaceful one,
ana the old man entered into his long
sleep fifteen minutes after relatives
had called 10 him and had then en-
pee ted he would survive several days
Has Had interesting Career.
MIR. Cooper has had a remarkably
interesting career, and especially so
from the fact of his long residence in
the county and his active interest in
affairs Of the day, which he retained
until the last year Of his life. He has
seen Marshall county grow from bar
rem wilderness TO its present high
state OF cultivation and Improvement,
land good memory. with which he was
blessed. made it possible for him to
napart the knowledge of the early
days 10 others.
Beginning his residence in Timber
Creek township il the spring of 1S4s.
Mr.. Cooper was privileged to witness
some of the distinctive features of
early development. His family made
the first permanent Improvement to
land in the south part of the county.
Mr.. Cooper witnessed the first election
held in the county. He attended the
first session of court ever held in the
county, and heard the frs, public SER
mon preached in the county. Aside
from these interesting incidents he as
sisted in building the first school house
ever erected in the county.
Came Here From Indiana.
When Joseph and Martha Jane Fer
guson Cooper decided in their Owen
county. Indiana, home that they would
come to the far-dStant territory of
Iowa, it was not without due con-
sideration of the dangers they must
brave ere they became safely settled
in a new home. They started with one
team of horses, and one of oxen, in the
fall of 1s41. and finally landed at Ad-
kin's Grove, two miles southwest Of
Kellogg, in Jasper county
Accompanying this sturdy couple
We're their large family of children ten
il number. Their son Marion was Their
little past 16
1t was no easy task, emigrating in
those pioneer days, for there was not q
railroad IL any of the country Travelled.
and but very few bridges. The route
taken was via Terre Haute. Ind. where
a bridge was found over the Wabash
river over the San CANON, which was
crossed al Bloomington. the river was
forded, but at Peoria, the Illinois had a
bridge A steam ferry boat let the
emigranrs cross the Father Of Waters
at Burlington, but every other stream,
Z big or little. was forded.
This big pioneer family of Iowa
spent the winter of Al III the little
Jasper county grove, and in the spring
migrated farther north. with the ex-
ception of the two married daughters,
who remained u Jasper until the
spring of 40, before joining their peo-
pie in Timber Creek.
But Four White Families Hero.
ON the evening of April 6, 1S4S,
when the Cooper family reached Tim
Der Creek township from Jasper
county, and pitched their tents on what
is now the Ed" Monohon farm. six
miles south of this city on Center
n; f.y
lilies in all Marshall county. Joe
Davidson was the first white settler,
having come here in June. 1876. Will
liam Asher came in the spring of A.,
and Or. Bush and Wash" Asher land
ed here in the fall of Al. The fifth
family to arrive began at once to get
settled" and to young Marion fell a
large portion of the work in hewing
the native oak timber into substan-
tial log hut. In that time there was
not a single foot of land owned by q
l white man in the county, the earliest
of the settlers not having yet got their
| grants from the government.
| The Coopers had not been in their
| new home long until another child
/ came, son, Carl Clinton, born June
i u, 1S49, who was one Of the very first
white children born in the county.
Indians Were Numerous.
At the very time the Coopers reache
| Marshall county the Indians were not
l so numerous as they had been or as
they were a year or two later. Old In
dian Town, in Tama county, was then
/ the reserva ton, and at times there
| We're anywhere from 1000 to 1000
camped along the Iowa river depend
/ ing on the season of the year. The
/ government had bought much OF the
land and moved the tribes down into
/ northwestern Missouri. The reds die
/ not like the new country, however
for they became i'll with the ague ant
it's attendant cfills and fever. The,
began coming back in 1S49-not onl,
the Iowa Sacs and Foxes, but Whine.
} bagos, and Pottawattamies. "Indiar
heap sick: heap shake. Ugh! Ugh.
. was about all the English they knew.
Begin to Get sassy; Whites Scared
q Upon returning in large number!
from the south the Indians began t,
Z get obstreperous in 1s49, and the set
: tiers became alarmed. There was quit
a Large settlement" in Timber Creel
township by the time-eighteen O
twenty families-numbering between
q fifty and Sixty neoDJo Tho mon foo "a