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Permanent LinkRepresentative John King Cooper View All Years
JOHN KING COOPER was born near Hollandsville, Kent County, Delaware, April 1, 1845, and died in Council Bluffs, Iowa, July 26, 1931. Burial was in Fairview Cemetery, Council Bluffs. His parents were Benjamin Abbott and Anna Jump Cooper. At sixteen years of age he enlisted in the Union Army–Company D, First Eastern Shore, Maryland Volunteers, and served thirty-seven months. Among other great battles he was in was Gettysburg. After the war he prepared himself for teaching by attending Felton Seminary, near the place of his birth. In 1870 he removed to Shelby, Iowa, and in 1882 to Council Bluffs. He was county superintendent of schools of Pottawattamie County from 1880 to 1884, and again from 1888 to 1893. After retiring from teaching he was in insurance business, and still later he operated a grocery. In 1893 he was elected representative and served in the Twenty-fifth General Assembly. He served for years as a member of the school board, and for fourteen years was a justice of the peace. He was a Democrat politically, but was supported by people of all parties for the positions in which he served.