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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Albert Cooper, of Oskaloasa, who is engaged in the nursery business, meeting with good success, is a native of Ohio, the place of his birth being Columbiana county, and his natal year 1839. He is a son of Evan and Mary (Middleton) Cooper, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. The father was born in Lancaster county in 1801, and came of English lineage. He was reared to the occupation of farming, which he chose as a life work, and he removed from Pennsylvania to the Buckeye state at an early day, residing there until 1854, when he came with his family to Iowa, settling in Keokuk county, where he purchased land and carried on general agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1885. He was a prosperous man, carefully conducting his business affairs so that success resulted. His religious faith was that of the Society of Friends, and his political belief was in accord with the whig principles until the organization of th new republican party, when he joined its ranks and upon its ticket he was called to several local offices. His wife survived him, dying in 1881, at the age of seventy-five years. Like him, she was of English lineage and a member of the Society of Friends. In their family were eight children: William. who died in early manhood; Chalidey, who died when a young man; Martha, the wife of Benjamin I., Bates, a farmer of Keokuk county; Mark, who died in infancy; Hinchman, a furniture merchant of Arcada, Oregon; Albert; Ann, who became the wife of David Holloway and died in the old homestead; and Sarah, the deceased wife of Henry Bacon. Albert Cooper was reared to farm life with the advantages of a country-school education. He taught for one term and since that time has given the greater part of his attention to the nursery business. In 1898 he came to Oskaloosa, where he established a nursery and has since successfully conducted it. He carries an excellent stock of nursery goods and his patrons have found that the trees and shrubs which he sells are in thrifty, hardy condition. He is always reliable as to price in all business transactions and has thus gained a growing trade. In 1862 Mr. Cooper was united in marriage to Miss Sina Ellen Heald, who was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, July 21, 1844, a daughter of Abner and Sina Heald. Her father was a noted preacher of the Friends church. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have six children: Ida, the wife of Alonzo Halstead, a farmer living near Grinnell, Iowa; Fannie, the wife of John B. Baxter, a merchant of Pasadena, California, Elsworth E., a farmer of Keokuk county, Iowa; May B., the wife of Smitb Clendennon, who is employed as a stationary engineer by the Crescent Coal Company at White City, Iowa; Earl E., who is engaged in farming near Grinnell; and Clyde G., deceased. At the time of the Civil war Mr. Cooper manifested his loyalty to the government by enlisting for service in the Union Army at Sigourney in August, 1862, becoming a member of Company H, Thirty-third Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He served, for three years, was in the Department of Arkansas and the Department of the Gulf and took part in a number of important engagements. He attained the rank of second sergeant and was mustered out at Davenport in 1865, by order of the war department. He belongs to Phil Kearney post, G. A. R., of which he is now junior vice-commander. In politics Mr. Cooper votes with the republican party, which stood loyally by the Union in the dark days of the Civil war, and in the spring of 1906 he received the nomination of his party for alderman from the fifth ward, but owing to his temperance principles, was defeated by a small majority, receiving one hundred and forty-five votes and his opponent one hundred and sixty-four. The issue was saloon or no saloon and the inclement weather had much to do with the result of the election. The ward is republican, and the cleanest in the city, and usually casts about five hundred votes. He is an active and prominent member of the Central Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has served as class-leader and took a leading part in the erection of the new house of worship, which cost twenty-two thousand dollars. He was succeeded in office by his son.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy