ARTHUR L. COOPER, a representative business man and manufacturer of Frankfort,
Ind., of which city he has been a resident since the spring of 1883, was born
in Philadelphia, Pa., March 4, 1861. His parents were Jacob and Rebecca
(Shurtz) Cooper, both natives of the Keystone state and of German lineage.
The father was born in the town of Coopersburg, where the Cooper family have
lived for generations. He was a son of Daniel Cooper, whose father, David
Cooper, a son of a Hessian soldier in the war of the Revolution, was born in
Virginia. Jacob Cooper was a soldier in the Civil war and died while in the
service, the subject of this sketch being hardly two years old at the time.
Mrs. Cooper afterwards married Alonzo Koons, of Allentown, Pa,, and died when
Arthur had reached the age of six years.
Arthur L. Cooper was brought up in Allentown, in the schools of which he
obtained a good English education, which was afterward supplemented by a
business course in what was known as Blackman's business college. At the age
of fifteen he went to Philadelphia, where he remained until attaining his
majority, in the meantime learning the cigar-makers trade. In 1881 Mr. Cooper
was united marriage to Miss Eleanora Anewalt, immediately thereafter located
in Allentown, and thence, in 1883, moved to Frankfort, Ind. On coming to the
latter place Mr. Cooper embarked in the machine business, and later he became
associated with F. A. Colver, under the firm name of F. A. Colver & Co., which
the Excelsior machine works have since been known. Both Mr. Cooper and his
partner are practical machinists, and their establishment is well equipped for
all kinds of foundry and machine work in their line. They manufacture steam
engines, boilers, do all kinds of heavy work and make a specialty of wrought
iron and steel fencing, malleable iron cresting and rail work, turning out
over seventy different styles of fences, which have a large sale throughout
the United States. They also do a great deal of jail work, and all in all
their establishment is one of the most important manufacturing institutions of
Frankfort. Politically Mr. Cooper is a republican and as such was elected, in
the spring of 1894, a member of the common council of Frankfort. He is a
prominent member of the knights templar Masons, also the Pythian order and
captain of the uniform rank, and with his wife is identified with the
Presbyterian church. Socially Mr. and Mrs. Cooper are very popular in
Frankfort, and during their residence in the city have gained a large circle
of friends and acquaintances. Their home is blessed with the presence of four
interesting children, namely: Warren, Grace, June and Aurora.
Transcribed by Chris Brown from page 626of "A Portrait And Biographical Record
of Boone and Clinton Counties, Ind.," published in 1895 by A.W. Bowen & Co.
Chicago.