William Thomas Cooper was born in Green township, Hancock county, January 15, 1867. He is a son of William and Miami (Cass) Cooper, both natives of North Carolina. His paternal grandparents were Vercent and Almira Cooper, the grandfather a native of North Carolina, the grandmother of Ohio. They came to Indiana at an early day and were among the early settlers of Hancock county. The elder Cooper entered government land in Green township, all of which was timber land without improvements of any kind. He built a cabin and began life in Indiana in the woods. He cleared the land of the heavy growth of timber, built a comfortable house in which to live and put up all the other buildings on this farm. He added other acres to his real estate holdings from year to year and at the time of his death he was the owner of a body of land comprising three hundred and fifty acres. The maternal grandparents were also among the early settlers of Green township, Hancock county.

William Cooper was educated in the schools of Hancock county and his life vocation was that of a farmer. He was the owner of a farm of one hundred and thirty-six acres, forty of which was a part of the old home place owned by his father. He served as a soldier during the Civil War in an Indiana regiment. He had a family of six children.

William T. Cooper was educated in the public schools of Green township, Hancock county, and worked on his father's farm in his early years. Later he began farming on his own account and has followed that business all his life. He now owns a farm of eighty acres on which he lives in a comfortable home. He was married in 1904 to Mrs. Martha L. (Hunt) Shipley, and to this union one daughter, Mary Lucile, was born. Mrs. Cooper's first husband was Willard Shipley; Salina was the one daughter by this marriage. Mr. Cooper's only fraternal affiliation is with the Independent Order of odd Fellows.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Page 1109-1110.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI November 17, 2001.

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