Notes for Capt. John Cooper

According to family tradition John Cooper was a captain of the Choctaw Indians. He lived in Perry, Davidson and Lincoln Co., Tenn. He also lived on Knappa Creek, Miss. (in 1831), on the north side. In 1836, he lived in Perry County on the west side of the Buffalo River near Lindon in Tennessee. Apparently his family went over the Trail of Tears several times. -Pamela Kahler okiemike@ipa.net "The following is an account of the Choctaw Indian Records in Washington, D.C." (from an article in Ohoyohoma, a publication by the Ohohohoma Club at McAlester, Oklahoma and probably written by two sisters, Juanita and Jewel Nichols): General John Cooper was born in northern Mississippi in 1771. He was a Choctaw Indian. When he was a very young man he migrated with his family into Maury County, Tenn. He served in the American Army for several years, but here is no record of how he earned the title of General. He was the father of three children, two girls and a boy. He was known as a man who cultivated his land, raising food for his family and livestock. He was suprised and shocked when the soldiers came in midwinter, January of 1836, and commanded an immediate removal of his family to the Indian Territory. They had only time to gather and pack a few necessities which the soldiers allowed to be tied on their horses' and mules' backs. They rode away toward their new home leaving behind their house, a structure of four rooms, a verandah separating the house from the smokehouse. They also left six cribs of corn and other important foods for their survival. When they arrived at the Mississippi River the ship or boats which they had been promised in writing were not there to take them across this very cold water. The soldiers, who were driving them had not been told of this promise. They used their only means of crossing, riding their swimming animals across. Many of their party drowned and they also lost most of their food and other necessities. General Cooper's wife (Nancy Ann Pile--dpy), who was ill when forced to start on the perilous journey, was physically unable to continue. A few miles from the Mississippi River in the state of Arkansas, the soldiers permitted the sick woman and (their? her?) old mother [probably MOLLY Huston Cooper, wife of Henry Cooper--dpy] to be left in the wild and rugged country with her two daughters, Delitha and Narcissa. General Cooper and his son and sons-in-law were made to continue their journey westward, driving their remaining cattle. There remains today a crossing in southeastern Oklahoma called Cooper's Landing which was named for the courageous and faithful Choctaw husband and father. As soon as possible they escaped from the soldiers and made their way back to where the old mother and daughters were left. The mother had died two days after being abandoned. Delitha and Narcissa had survived by eating bark of trees and other plants and animals. John Cooper was an educated Indian - spoke and wrote the English language. He fought in the war of 1812 with Andrew Jackson. The two men made a Gentlemen's Agreement that the Choctaws of Perry and Maury County, Tenn. were not to be moved to the Indian Territory until the spring of 1836. The two men continued to correspond and Andrew Jackson verified "their promise in writing." Our grandfather, John Cooper was deceived by this Democrat. He asked (page torn: that no one in the family would every vote for a Democrat again. They became staunch Republicans.) Information on CAPT. John Cooper from Dr. Ronald C. Martin, http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/a/r/Ronald-C-Ma... Loves-To-Laught@msn.com In the case Nancy Cooper v. Choctaw Nation, William Cooper's widow, Barthenia Parilla Cooper, 90, testified in 1894 that her husband William Huston Cooper was a nephew of an Isaac Cooper who lived and died in North Carolina. So Isaac and John were brothers. The affadavit of Hyram E. Livingston on August 8, 1895, also mentions a brother Isaac who married an Indian woman and whom he saw alive in 1829 in Perry Co., Tenn. He also mentions a William Cooper, who "married a quadroon Indian." According to witnesses, all these brothers spoke the Choctaw language, were called and were Choctaw Indians. According to descendants, the Coopers moved to Arkansas in 1838, at the time of the Trail of Tears, after spending some time in Illinois and about two years in Missouri. More About CAPT. JOHN COOPER: Fact: 1909, Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned Nancy Cooper v. Choctaw Nation case Fact 1: 1799, Signed Sumner Co. petition (also James Cooper) Fact 2: 1816, Listed on tax roll of Sumner Co., paid no tax Fact 3: 1831, Armstrong Rolls, Choctaw Nation, Kopanna Creek on Chickasawhay River in Clarke Co., Miss., p. 53; Greenwood Leflore's district Choctaw Claims list, with Isaac Perry and others Fact 4: 1808, Issued a passport by governor of Georgia Fact 5: 1831, Relinquished land in Mississippi/Tenn. Residence: 1837, Tishomingo Co., Miss. with Maj. Pharis and household of eight, p. 3 of census (?) Roll: February 11, 1832, Choctaw Muster Roll, for reservation in Red River District, arrival noted 12-12-1833 Notes for NANCY ANN PILES: Was evidently of the Piles Long Hunter family that operated around Wayne Co., Ky. Her father was an Indian spy in the Revolution. Moved to Jackson Twp., Newton Co., Ark. from Georgia/Alabama in 1836. Relative of the famous hunter and gunsmith Conrad (Coonrad) Pile, a friend of the Crocket family in Tennessee who settled in Fentress Co. (formerly Wayne Co., Ky.). Piles was spelled variously, Pfeil, Piel, Poyle, Pyle and Pile. Nancy Cooper went on the TOT with her husband John, beginning in Mississippi, then through Tennessee, then Georgia, possibly Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and finally Arkansas (1836 or 1837). She ended up in Chickasaw country in Indian Territory. Her son Isaac F. Cooper seems to have come from Rutherford Co., Tenn. at a slightly later date. More About NANCY ANN PILES: Ethnicity/Relig.: 1896, Choctaw: Dawes case number 1418 iii. JAMES Cooper, b. Abt. 1772.