Cooper County, Missouri

Genealogical and Historical Portal

    

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Welcome

 This site is part of The MOGenWeb and The USGenWeb

With Thanks to James Thoma.

Cooper County is available for adoption.


If you have a local connection to Cooper County or an interest in Missouri in general,

Please consider joining the MOGenWeb as a County Coordinator.
Requirements are simple, peruse them here.MOGenWeb Policies and Procedures
Contact Bob Jenkins if you are interested.
In addition:, we would appreciate any contribution that you would like to make to
this site: biographies, obituaries, birth, marriage, death info, grave info, photographs, etc



History ~ Biographies
I was interested in the reason for the name of Cooper County:
Here is what Gemini AI dug up:

Sarshell Cooper (also spelled Sarshall or Sarshel) was a prominent frontier settler and militia leader in early 19th-century Missouri. He is best known as the namesake of Cooper County, Missouri.

Key Facts & Historical Background

Early Life: Born on August 25, 1762, in Culpeper County, Virginia, he later moved to Kentucky before migrating to the Missouri Territory.

Settlement of Missouri: In 1810, Sarshell and his brother, Colonel Benjamin Cooper, led a group of settlers to the Boonslick region in central Missouri. They established a community on the north side of the Missouri River in what is now Howard County.

Military Leadership: During the War of 1812, Cooper served as a Captain of the Missouri Rangers. He was a primary leader of the settlers in the region, organizing defenses against frequent Native American raids.

Cooper’s Fort: He was instrumental in building "Cooper’s Fort," a large stockade that housed approximately 20 families and served as a critical defensive hub for the Boonslick area settlers.

Death and Legacy

Sarshell Cooper’s life ended tragically during the conflict of 1812. On the night of April 14, 1814, while sitting by the fireplace in his cabin inside the fort with his family, he was shot through a hole in the cabin wall by a hidden assailant. He died instantly in front of his wife and children.

Namesake: When the Missouri legislature formed a new county from the southern portion of Howard County on December 17, 1818, they named it Cooper County in his honor.

Burial: He is buried in the Cooper Family Cemetery in Howard County, Missouri (near the former site of Petersburg).

There is more interesting data: Cooper's Fort and The Santa Fe Trail

 

Biographies

Note: Links to files will be added tomorrow

 

History of Cooper County, Missouri
By
W F Johnson
Historical Publishing company,
Topeka ~ Cleveland: 1919
Possible Chapters of Interest
Incidents of the War: Ch XIII
Pgs 203-213
Twps History Ch XV
Pgs 218-249
Biogreaphical History: Ch XXIV
Index: 23-30
Bios: 390
Separate Bio Index
Contains: Name, Date & Place of Birth, Given Name of Father
Maiden Name of Wife

Read Online or Download

A History of Cooper County, Missouri
"From the first visit by White Men, in February 1804, to the 5th day of July, 1876"
By Henry C Leyens and Nathaniel M Drake
St Louis
Perrin & Smith, Steam Book and Job Printers, 701 Washington Avenue
1876

Ch's XIII - XVI - Towns and Townships: Pgs 126-171
Ch XVII - Bio's of some Old Citizens: Pg 196
Corrections: Pg 249 [232]
'Not placed in the Twp where thye lived':
Robert P Clark, Joseph Stephens, Sr, John Miller, Pgs 212- 218

Read Online or Download

 

Cooper  County Communities


Cooper Cemeteries: Online Resources
F~A~G Genealogy Trails ~ List, Few Links
LDS, Genealogical Resources [Cemeteries]
American Cemeteries, MO ~ Missouri Cemetery Registry ~ MO Gravestone Project
People Legacy, Cemeteries, Memorials ~ People Legacy: Burial Records

Historical Maps ~ Military ~ Newspapers ~ "Categorical Resources"

 

 Maps

Historical Landmarks ~ ILGenWeb Project ~ Maps from the MO Historical Society
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps [Scroll Down] ~ USGS Maps for Missouri
Maps from the MO Historical Society
The American Civil War in Missouri
Digitized Newspapers from the Civil War Era
Plat Maps ~ Digital Library of Missouri
Interactive Atlas ~ David Rumsey Collection
USGS Historical Topo's ~ Missouri State and Regional Maps ~ "Route 66"
"Map Geeks" State and Township Maps ~ Getty Geographical Thesaurus

Bureau of Land Management
USGS Maps for Missouri ~ Missouri State and Regional Maps
Historical Maps ~ Perry Castaneda ~ Quadrangles ~ Surveyor's Base Maps
Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Maps ~ MapGoose

"The History of Plat Books"

Until a new County Coordinator adopts Cooper County,
Military Resources have been gleaned from Family Search and formatted into Searchable PDf files:

Missouri Catagorical Resources

Below are Searchable & Linked PDFs

Military:
2 Pages: Link 1 ~ Link 2

 

Here is the link for the National Archives: A Great Resource

 

 

Newspapers, Miscellaneous Historical Resources:

Digital Newspaper Project [MO Digital newspapers]
Free Digital Newspapers:
Chronicling America ~ Google Archives 

California Digital Newspapers [There are Articles for MO]

MMO Digital Heritage: Genealogical Collections

Missouri "Odds and Ends"

 

Family Search: Catalog Resources

Below is a list of Resources

Biography (6)~ Biography - Indexes (2)
Cemeteries (2)
Church history (1) ~ Church records (2)
Court records (6)  ~ Directories (1)
Genealogy (4) ~Genealogy - Periodicals (1)  ~ Guardianship (2)
History (10) ~History - Indexes (2)
Land and property (3) ~Maps (3)
Military history - Civil War, 1861-1865 (1)
Probate records (10)
Schools (1)
Social life and customs (1) ~Societies (1)
Vital records (6) ~ Voting registers (1)
Note: Census Records are not listed

 

 DAR Collections

Crime and Punishment [Scroll]

"Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association"

This pdf file has information of an ecletic nature - Many 'Missouri Only' Resources

 

 Lookups

'Ask an Archivist'
National Archives
New Reference Service

 Search for Living People: Zaba Search ~ RAOGK
Local Historical, Museum, and Genealogical Agencies and [Research Requests]
The above list has local resources, web pages and information that may help with research.

   "The Fine Print"

MOGenWeb Admin Team
Stoddard County Coordinator:
State Coordinator: Martha Graham

Assistant State Coordinator: Bob Jenkins
Assistant State Coordinator/Tech Advisor: Lynda Peach

Information contained on all of the pages within the Stoddard County portion of the MOGenWeb may be used for personal genealogical and historical purposes. Please be considerate of copyright information and give credit where credit is due.