Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-05-29
DEATH FOLLOWS SICKNESS
or MORE THAN TWO MONTHS
Joseph N. Cooper Came to Timber
Creek County In 1s4s Whom Boy OF
tt-his Father Joseph Cooper Home.
stsaded First Land Taken From
Government by Settler in County.


a mile west of Ferguson, at ll:lO
Wednesday night. Mr.. Cooper died on
the farm where he had lived for many
years and not far from the neighbor
hood where he came when a boy with
his parents when they settled in Tim
Der Creek township in ls4s.
Mr.. Coopers death was caused by
bronchial pneumonia following sicA-
ness of two and one-half months. He
had been confined TO his bed since only
a week ago Sunday. His sickness, 1t
Is believed, is traceable back TO chro-
mic catarrh with which he had suffered
for long time and to ar attack of In
fuenza last winter when he and all
the members Of the Alva Cooper family
were taken sick.
Remembered Old Days Well.
Having lived thru the earliest pio-
neer days Of the county when boy in
his teens and during his young man
hood, Mr.. Cooper remembered with re-
markable accuracy those times and the
early history of the county. His mem
CRY was unusual and even after he had
grown old he could recall with excGp
tional vividness the happenings of the
rough pioneer times when the early
settlers We're breaking out the wilder
ness OF Marshall county.
Few men have lived il the county
longer than he, a residence that
stretched more than seventy years and
was broken only by stay of three or
four years outside the county For a
ne i,, lar a
resided in this city.
From 1s4S until he was married in
1858 he lived with his parents in Tim
Der Creek township. He took his bride
to the farm where he died and where
they lived until in 1891 when they
moved to ColCax. From 1908 until 1915
Mr.. Cooper resided here and since then
he has made i.Is home with his sons
Alva s., near Ferguson, and J. P.
Cooper in this city.
Family Came From Indiana.
Joseph n. Cooper was born Nov. is,
1886, in Owen county, Indiana. His
parents, Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph Cooper,
started with their family in a wagon
for the west in the fall of 1S41. They
stopped at Adkins Grove two miles
southwest Of Kellogg, taat fall but the
following spring they turned north
and reached Timber Creek the evening
of April s, 1S43. The boy Joseph n.
Cooper was then II years old.
Their first nome was a tent pitched
on what is now the Ed Monohon farm.
six miles south of the city on the
Center street road. At that time there
We're but four other white families In
later the Mononon farm the head of
the family homesteaded from the gov
eminent for sl,25 an acre. This was
a part of the first land entered for
settlement in the county.
eoyhood in Wild Days.
Of the Cooper family of eleven chill
dren three of the boys Of nearly one
age. Marion, aged Is, James Il and
Joseph ~, the youngest, were COM
panions and in those early days,
game being plentiful. the lads supplied
much of the neat for the family table.
1t was in lS49 that the few settlers
We're reused to their defense by an In
dian scare. Indians, returning from the
south, made war like demonstrations
and threats. As a measure of protec-
ton the Timber Creek settlement,
numbering eighteen or twenty families,
built fort and called it Fort Robin
son.
This structure was to be their asy-
lum and place of defense into which all
were to gather in case of an attack.
The fort was ninety feet square, built
of oaken logs. 1t was erected on what
is known now as the Davis Brks
made and soon after the fort was built
government troops arrived and herdeG
the Indians back into Missouri.
Went Long Distance To Mill.
The Cooper boys In their hunting
expeditions tramped all over the coun-
ty and this city, which then gave no
sign of being village, the settlement
not even beginning to appear until 1853.
The site Of the city was then timber
and prairie. Oskaloosa was the near
est point for getting supplies and to
that village the family wert fc- s..ch
things as it was necessary for them to
procure. Their grist they took to the
nearest mill on the South Skunk river,
three miles north of Oskaloosa
Mr.. Cooper often recalled these pi-
oneer experiences with delight and as
time dimmed the hardships he expert
cnced real pleasure in recounting them.
Five Of Family Living.
OF the Cooper family of eleven chill
dren only four Of his brothers and sis
tiers survive Mr. Cooper. They are
James M. Cooper, Of South Pasadena,
Calf; Carl c. Cooper, of Eagle, Neb.;
Mrs. Mary A. Butin, Of Dorchester,
Neb.. and Mrs. Nettie e. wind-en.,
Richmond, Calf. In addition there
are one half brother and two half sis
ters. These are Joshua Cooper and
Mrs. Emma Bradley, of Twin Falls,
Idaho, and Mrs. Lucy Irp, of Dor
chester, Neb.
Miss Mary ]. Jewel, Of Timber Creek
Z township, became the wife OF Joseph
N Cooper Feb. 10, 1858, the ceremony
being performed in Timber Creek Mrs.
Cooper died May 10, 1897. Their chill
4 6ren who survive their father are Mrs
4 C. e. Martin, Of Chicago; J. P. Cooper
and James w. Cooper. city; Mrs. En-
DRY Webster,-Of Washta, and Alva 8.
Cooper, Of near Ferguson. In later
years Mr.. Cooper married Mrs. Lor-
/ etta Stoner, marriage that proved
unhappy.
The funeral will be held at the
Christian church In Ferguson Friday at
v 3: 80 o'clock. Burial will be in Tim
Der Greek cemetery.