ID: I02647
	Name: William B. Cooper
	Sex: M
	Birth: ABT. 1788 in Madison Co., KY

                   

Death: 1848 in on the Oregon Trail

Note: William died while crossing the Oregon Trail in 1848. Several of his children are thought to have been with him. Daughter Nancy Cooper Simpson crossed with her husband in 1846 Father: Benjamin Cooper Marriage 1 Susan Higgins Married: 25 FEB 1819 in Howard Co., MO                         Children Nancy Cooper b: 29 MAR 1820 in Howard Co., MO Francis Cooper Margaret E. Cooper b: 7 FEB 1821 in MO Barbara Ann Cooper b: 31 JUL 1828 in MO William R. Cooper b: 6 AUG 1831 in MO Susan Cooper b: 1832 in MO Joseph D. Cooper b: 1833 in MO Philomen Cooper b: 8 MAR 1834 in Saline Co,. MO Benjamin F. Cooper b: 1838 in MO Jaly Ann Cooper b: 15 SEP 1841 in Howard Co., MO _______________________________________________________________

Copied from pages 14 and 15 of "THE PLATTE PURCHASE, The Simpson and Cooper 

Families, 1836 - 1846", by Kirke Wilson, San Francisco, August, 1999.

Born in Madison County, Kentucky, William Benjamin Cooper (1797/8- 1848) was the sixth of ten children of Benjamin and Anna Fullerton Cooper and cousin of the Browns.54 As a young man, William Cooper had been active with his brothers and cousins in the defense of the Boonslick forts during the War of 1812. He also participated briefly in the fur trade when he and his cousin Joseph Cooper assisted mountain man Ezekiel Williams to recover furs hidden on the Arkansas River during the winter of 1814-1815.55 In 1818, William B. Cooper married Susan Higgins at Cooper's Fort in Howard County, Missouri. Susan Higgins Cooper (1801-1877) was the daughter ofJosiah Higgins (1782-1841) of Tennessee and Barbara Smelser Higgins (1779-1840). The Higgins family had lived at Coopers Fort at the end of the War of 1812.56 After his marriage, William Cooper is likely to have accompanied his father and cousins on the second successful trading expedition on the Santa Fe Trail in 1822.57 He later served with the Illinois Mounted Volunteers in the Black Hawk War of 1832.

The following is from a letter from Kirke Wilson to Lynn Beedle:

 KIRKE WILSON.. 172 HANCOCK STREET..SAN FRANCISCO 94114

 28 November 1997

 Dear Lynn:

 My wife Anne and I recently returned from a mid-western trip. I had meetings in 

 Dayton and Kansas City and combined business with several days in Missouri

 including the Boonslick area in the central part of the state and the Platte area of

 Western Missouri. In the Boonslick area, we stayed at a bed and breakfast in

 Arrow Rock (an historic town where the Santa Fe Trail crossed to the South side

 of the Missouri River, also the home of Dr. John Sappington and George Caleb

 Bingham) and spent time with local historians.  Anne and I were successful in 

 resolving several questions and locating several sites  which had previously 

eluded me:

 1. The location of Sarshel Cooper's bloody shirt:

 I had heard the story that the shirt that Sarshel Cooper was wearing when he was

 killed by Indians in 1815 at Cooper's Fort was displayed at the old Arrow Rock

 Tavern. In previous visits, the tavern was always closed and I was unable to verify

 the story. While the Tavern was again closed (for a funeral), I was able to locate

 the shirt in the State Visitors Center (a museum) at Arrow Rock. The "shirt" is a

 stained piece of plaid fabric approximately four inches by five inches mounted on a

 hand-written card claiming that the cloth was from Sarshel's vest and had been

 preserved by Sarshel's grandson Nestor Boone Cooper. Whether or not this is

 actually the shirt, it is part of a well-organized local history exhibit which includes

 a few artifacts and many visual representations of the early period including the salt

 manufacturing at Boone's lick, the Cooper settlement and Indian wars and the

 establishment of the Santa Fe Trail

 2. The location of the Benjamin Cooper property in Howard County:

 In previous visits, I had located and visited the site of Coopers Fort but had never

 located the property Benjamin Cooper had claimed after the War of 1812. The

 site of the fort is marked and is 9/lO of a mile west of Petersburg on Road 330

 (a gravel road through farm lands on the Missouri River Bottoms). Petersburg is

 an uninhabited village 9.7 miles west of the US 40/SR 87 junction on Road Z (the

 north end of the bridge across the Missouri River from Boonville). The 40/87

 junction is approximately the location of Old Franklin (the beginning point of the

 Santa Fe Trail) which was wiped out by floods in 1828 and relocated to higher

 ground. The route from the junction to Coopers Fort is along the edge of wooded

 hills and follows the route of the Santa Fe Trail.  The Benjamin Cooper property 

is on the north side of Road 330 and west of Road 337. The Santa Fe Trail (unmarked) 

was the southern boundary of the Cooper land (the gravel road ends after 1/2 mile 

and the Missouri River has moved away  from Arrow Rock and closer to the Cooper 

property). It appears that the fort was located on a slight rise in an otherwise 

treeless bottom land where soil was rich and sneak attacks would be difficult.

 3. The Benjamin Cooper Cemetery:

 Since my last visit, the South Howard County Historical Society has marked and

 fenced the cemetery in which Benjamin Cooper (our great-great-great-great

 grandfather) and his wife Anna (according to other sources she was Anne

 Fullerton Cooper-our 4 great grandmother) are buried. The little cemetery is in a

 pasture surrounded by woods 9.4 miles from the 40/87 junction on Road Z. The

 cemetery appears to have 38 marked graves (it is unclear who) but only six with

 headstones. Benjamin and Anna have proper headstones (in reasonably good

 condition) and foot stones as well His grave is also marked by the DAR for

 Revolutionary War service.

 4. The Sarshel Cooper Tombstone:

 Many years after his death in 1815, the descendants of Sarshel Cooper had a fine

tombstone cut but the tombstone ended up in a museum at Central Methodist College

in Fayette (where the tombstones of Daniel Boone and his wife remain to this day).

Someone in the 1990s, at least 175 years after his death, the tombstone caught up

with his remains (which had been unearthed in one of the many Missouri River

floods). He is buried in the Joseph Cooper (his son) cemetery 8 miles from the 40/87

junction on Road Z. This cemetery is smaller than the Benjamin Cooper cemetery but

has an iron fence and is locked. This cemetery is also on a wooded hillside and is

maintained by the South Howard County Historical Society.

5.  The other War of 1812 forts:

Coopers Fort was the largest and strongest of the Missouri forts built at the time of

the War of 1812. Several other forts were built and used during the same period in

the Boonslick Region. With help from a local historian, I was able to locate the

(unmarked) site of Fort Hempstead and to obtain directions to the other forts.

6.  The Thomas Simpson grave and William Simpson land in Johnson County:

I know the general location of the land and where the tombstone was many years ago

but was not able to stop in Johnson County this trip.

7.  Simpson and Cooper Property in Platte County:

Using a variety of old and current maps, I was able to locate the land that William

Simpson, William Cooper and others claimed in Platte County in the 1840s. The

lands were a mile apart (perhaps contributing to the marriage of Nancy Cooper to

Benjamin Simpson after his first wife died in childbirth) and a few miles 

southwest of what is now Kansas City International airport. The lands, along with 

quarter sections claimed by James Simpson and various Kimsey relatives, are 

seven miles due south of Platte City on Road N (4th Street in Platte City). 

Road N is along the west side of the William Simpson property and into the 

William Cooper property. The land is well-watered, rolling hills and several 

miles away from the Platte River and the Missouri. The land is being farmed 

but includes some recently-built suburban houses on large lots. The Cooper 

property is near the intersection of 1-435 and SR 152.

8.  The death of William Cooper:

For all the Platte County documentation of land ownership and marriages, there has
always been some element of mystery about William Cooper. We have evidence of
his participation in the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War. From others, we know
of his involvement in the fur trade and his travels on the Santa Fe Trail We know he
had ten children (including several who went to Oregon) but I have found no
documentation of the story that he died crossing the plains sometime between 1848
and 1851 and that his widow Susan Higgins Cooper (our 3 great grandmother)
married for a second time in Oregon in 1856 (I suspect that this will be easy to
confirm—I simply have not researched Oregon marriage records yet).
When Anne and I were at the National Frontier Trails Center in Independence,
Missouri, I found evidence that five persons named William Cooper had been on the
trail between 1849 and 1852. Four of the five seem unlikely to have been our William
(Pittsburgh Company of 1849; St. Louis Company, no year; Iowa Company, no year;
from Rome, Ohio in 1852). The best candidate (who may be the same person as the

Rome, Ohio William Cooper) is someone who died 4 June 1852 on the trail to
California.   The California destination is unlikely.  Our William had his oldest
daughter in Oregon (our two-great grandmother Nancy Cooper Simpson) as well as
other children and we have reason to believe that his wife went to Oregon. The June
4 date is early enough (using 1846, they would have been somewhere near Fort
Laramie and far before the trail split) that companies may not have decided on their
destination. According to the best estimates, 50,000 of the 60,000 on the trails in
1852 went to California. As a consequence, it is possible that this William was part
of a large party, most of which went to California but some of which, including his
widow, went to Oregon.
I took photographs of some of these sites. Unfortunately, in my rush to catch the
plane, I left the camera in the rental car and lost both the camera and the roll of film
with the Sarshel graveyard and the Platte County properties of William Simpson, the
Kimsey's and William Cooper. As soon as I get duplicates, I will send some photos
of the Boonslick.
I have very much enjoyed Helen's recording of 19th century music and Jonathan's
vocals. Perhaps it is the power of Ken Bums, but I am very fond of "Believe me if
afl those endearing young charms" and "Lorena".  My guide in Boonslick, Bob Dyer,
in addition to editing the Boone's Lick Heritage is also a poet and folksinger. Anne
and I bought "Rebel in the Woods: Civil War Songs from the Western Border" which
Bob recorded with Cathy Barton and Dave Para of Boonslick. My fantasy would be
a joint concert bringing together these disparate views of the same period.
I will keep you informed of my progress.