A Summary of the Life of Joseph Phillips Cooper.
Joseph Phillips Cooper was born on his father’s plantation in South Carolina, on January 16, 1847. He was the son of John Cooper and Sarah Ann Phillips Cooper. At the death of his father, J.P., together with his mother and older brother and sister, made his home with his grandfather until the beginning of the Civil War. At the age of fifteen, he entered in Company 2, 30th Alabama Regiment, Pettus Brigade, with Lt. Col. J.R. Eliott in command. He served throughout the remainder of the war, going on the famous march through Georgia. Here he was actively engaged in the Atlanta Campaign, taking part in most of the battles in that section between May 6 and May 15 when he was wounded in the battle of Resacca and lost his left arm and where he was the only member of a company to escape with his life.
He returned to his home in Alabama and engaged in farming, teaching, and in business in order to make less bitter the struggle of reconstruction days for his widowed mother and others dependent upon him. He then went to Tupelo, Mississippi, and while there married Miss Alvaretta Dandridge. In 1875, he brought his bride to Texas in a covered wagon and settled at Milford where he engaged in the implement business. He returned to Ellis County and was elected District Clerk in 1884, in which capacity he served until 1902. Since that time he made his home in and near Dallas. Here he was a member of Sterling Price Camp of Confederate Veterans and seldom failed to attend one of their reunions. He was one of the remaining few to go to the reunion in Jackson, Mississippi.
As age approached he spent his time in reading and discussing history, especially the stirring days of the Old South which he loved so well. He wrote the GENEALOGICAL HISTORY of the PHILLIPS, COOPER, and DANDRIDGE FAMILES at the age of 85. He was visiting a daughter and was a victim of paralysis two weeks before he entered into rest on August 5, 1937. He was survived by the following children: Mrs. A.W. Lavender of Ore City; J. Whitfield Cooper of Dallas; Mrs. Willie Cooper Odom of Brownwood; Mrs. Olin Keitt of Hubbard; Mrs. M.M. Moody of Mullin; C.H. Cooper, Corpus Christi; Mrs. M. McGalliard of Aryle; also a brother, W.L. Odell of Hubbard.
Source: Texas State Genealogical Society, Stirpes, Volume 40, Number 2, June 2000; Pg. 45
