A Guide to the Cooper Fry Scott Family Papers, 1816-1950 #M 076, VC 0047

Biographical Information

The Cooper Fry Scott Family Papers contain materials primarily from three families: Cooper, Fry, and Scott. Other related families connected through marriage are represented in the collection as well: Grubb , Smoot , Morrison , McDaniel , Baker , Brown , Virts , Haynes , and Sanbower . The three primary families originate from an area previously known as the "German Settlement" in the northwest corner of Loudoun County, Virginia known today as Lovettsville. There is some dispute as to exactly when the first Germans arrived in Loudoun County but it is believed to have been between 1727 and 1734. Attracted by the availability of land, the Germans migrated from both Pennsylvania and the eighteenth-century state of Palatinate of the old German empire. Both Cooper and Fry are listed among the earliest German families to arrive in Loudoun County according to Briscoe Goodhart's (1845-1927) account of the German Settlement written in a series of articles for the Loudoun Telephone newspaper.

Cooper Family

George Cooper (14 February 1770-18 August 1846) was born to Michael Cooper Sr. (20 June 1742- 19 February 1815) and Anna Catherine Cooper (1743-05 June 1834) in Loudoun County, VA. He was one of eight children. On 11 October 1796, George married Anne Maria (Mary) Edelmann (12 August 1774-16 February 1858). A letter in the collection notes that George Cooper lived "near Philip Everhart's in the German Settlement. He is uncle to a person of his own name and a son also of his own name." The collection contains receipts for land documenting Cooper's steady expansion of his real estate holdings during the first half of the nineteenth century and the 1850 U.S. Agricultural Schedule for Loudoun County shows the estate of George Cooper consisted of land valued at $5,000. Together, George and Mary had eight sons and three daughters. Two sons, Daniel (05 November 1812-20 January 1813), and David (November 1813-29 January 1815) died very young.

At the time of his death, George had farm and household items totaling over $3,936 and payments and receipts of over $256. George made his son, John Cooper (01 August 1797-12 December 1863), executor of his estate. Many of the receipts in the collection refer to "John Cooper of the George Cooper estate." The collection also contains a receipt dated 22 April 1847 in the amount of seventeen dollars as payment for the coffin made to bury George Cooper.

The settling of his father's estate was not without controversy, as attested by letters and court documents in the collection. A dispute over property resulted in a court case involving family members that was appealed. The defendant in the case was Joshua Cooper. The plaintiffs in the case were listed as the "Heirs of George Cooper" specifically the son of George, Michael Cooper (26 November 1798-18 May 1884) et al." The case ultimately ended in fourteen acres of land in Lovettsville sold at public auction to the highest bidder on 16 July 1869.

According to the New Jerusalem Church parish register in Lovettsville, George Cooper's oldest son and executor, John Cooper, married Sarah Ann McGachen (December 1802-04 December 1895) on 17 March 1831. Together, John and Sarah had four sons and four daughters that can be verified: William Washington (07 Jan 1831-26 June 1845), Mary Amanda (19 March 1833-1917), Sarah Rebecca (20 October 1847-20 May 1914), George Thomas (5 March 1837- 12 January 1908), Rachel Ann (5 June 1839-11 August 1839), William Henry Harrison (25 November 1841-30 April 1926), Matilda Jane (14 April 1835-26 March 1860) and Henry Clay (b. 9 December 1844). Throughout the 1850s, John proved to be fiscally adept, purchasing land, bonds, horses, dogs, tobacco, equipment, and many other items as evidenced by receipts in the collection. The collection also contains two receipts for shares of stock in the Loudoun and Berlin Turnpike Road, one dated 20 February 1852 and the other dated 25 March 1854. The Loudoun Berlin Turnpike established a route from Purcellville, VA to Berlin (now Brunswick), Maryland, and was completed in 1852. It is now known as Route 287.

Further proof of John's growing financial success and reflecting the era was his purchase of a forty-nine year old slave named Phillip from the estate of Edward Morrison (22 May 1785-13 April 1858). The collection contains a receipt for this purchase dated 27 December 1858 in the amount of five hundred and one dollars. In addition to the receipt, there is a slave pass dating from 12 November 1859, signed by John Cooper. Ownership of slaves by those of German descendent was a bit unusual. According to author Briscoe Goodheart, as a whole, Loudoun Germans were generally opposed to slavery. Loudoun County was divided in loyalty during the Civil War and that may have also been the case with the Coopers. Records indicate that two members of the Cooper family were enlisted in the Loudoun Rangers, one of the few Union units raised in Virginia.

Other documents in the collection reference another court case with Joseph P. Grubb (14 December 1808-09 February 09 1895) as the defendant and Archibald J. Wightman (fl. 1850s), et al as the plaintiffs. The case was another dispute over assets following a death, specifically bonds and notes of about $4000 from the estate of Joseph P. Morrison (d. 08 March 1856). The collection contains a court summons dated 01 February 1859 for John Cooper to appear as a witness in the case for the plaintiffs. Also included are four different Loudoun Circuit Court orders dating from April 1858 to October 1859 directing the executors of Joseph Morrison's estate to pay John Cooper for attending as a witness.

According to the 1860 census, John had real estate valued at $7200 and personal property valued at $3250. In 1863, John died and, like much of the family, was buried at the New Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Lovettsville. The photographs in the collection primarily represent John's four daughters and their descendents: Matilda Jane Cooper Brown (13 April 1835-16 February 1917), Mary Amanda Cooper Fry (10 March 1833-22 April 1917), Rachel Ann Cooper Scott (05 June 1839-03 June 1917), and Sarah Rebecca Cooper Smoot (20 October 1848-20 May 1914).

Fry Family

Considering the Fry family arrived in the German Settlement at approximately the same time as the Coopers, it was only natural that members of the two families would eventually intermarry. Author Briscoe Goodhart notes that during the Revolutionary War, the Germans of Loudoun were "intensely loyal" and this was certainly the case with John (Nicholas) Fry (1748-23 March 1840), an immigrant from Germany. Nicholas Fry, also spelled Frye or Frey, married Anna Margaret Ansell (01 July 1768-12 October 1851) on 11 March 1794 in Loudoun County. According to the Muster Rolls of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Fry served as a private in the German Regiment of the Continental Army in 1776 under Captain Henry Fister and Colonel Nicholas Hussecker. The grandson of Nicholas, William Martin Fry (b.1833), married John Cooper's daughter, Mary Amanda, on 3 January 1856 in Loudoun County. At the time of their marriage, William was listed in the census as a shoemaker. Together, Mary Amanda and William Martin had ten children: Sarah C. (b. 1857), Anna (b. 1859), John W. (1861-16 January 1922), Charles H. (b.1863), Ida (b .1865), Rose Mary (b. 1868), Eliza L. (b. 1869), Frank (b. 1870), Mary M. (Mattie) (1871- 5 December,1937) and David T. (b. 1874). The 1860 census shows the family living in Lovettsville with William still working as a shoemaker. By 1870, however, the family had moved to Hopewell in Perry County, Ohio. The census shows William as a farmer with real estate valued at $1500 and other personal assets at $150. By 1900, Mary Amanda was widowed and living with two of her daughters, Ida and Mattie. In the collection is a photograph of Mary Amanda Cooper Fry and her children. One picture included is Mary M. (Mattie) Fry who never married and two of Mary Amanda Cooper Fry's unidentified grandchildren. A number of unidentified pictures in the collection may very well be Fry family members.

Scott Family

Armistead Thompson Mason Scott (b.1822) and Sarah A. Ramsey (b. 1830), both of Loudoun County, married in 1848. Census records indicate that Armistead worked as a day laborer, and by the time of the 1860 census Armistead and Sarah had four sons: Charles W. (b. 1850), Armistead T.M. (b. 1852), James W. (b. 1853) and Bushrod (b. 1854). Charles W. Scott married John Cooper's daughter, Rachel Ann on 10 December 1874 at her mother's home. Rachel and Charles had a son named Charles Daniel William Scott (b. 26 April 1876) who married Bessie Jane McDaniel (4 January 1876-5 November 1953) on 4 January 1899. Together, Bessie and Charles had three daughters: Katherine Phoebe Scott (4 February 1906-28 September 1985), Helen Nellie Scott Sanbower (2 December 1899-01 January 2000) and Anna Frances Scott Bender (20 February 1915-17 November 1984).

Many of the photographs (vc_0047_024 through vc_0047_090) in the collection originate from a scrapbook of Bessie Jane McDaniel Scott and date from approximately 1910 to 1915. Bessie Jane McDaniel Scott was the first to have a telephone installed in Morrisonville, VA, an event represented by four photographs in the collection showing workers and their equipment. Although the majority of the photographs from Bessie McDaniel Scott's scrapbook are believed to be of the Scott family, many individuals in the photographs are unidentified.

Also appearing in this collection is a photograph of Annie Grigsby (b. 1850), an African American woman born into slavery. Although no death date has been identified, the 1930 census for Loudoun County shows Annie still alive at 80. A few of the photographs from this album include members of the Baker family as well. The Browns and Bakers enter the picture in relation to this collection through the line of Matilda Jane Cooper who married Thomas J. Brown (10 February 1834-27 January 1896). Their daughter, Ida Rebecca (18 January 1861-29 January 1861), married George Baker (29 April 1855-09 February 1907) and was the grandmother of noted author and Leesburg resident Russell Baker (b. 14 April 1925). Included in the collection is a photograph of Matilda's other daughter, Rachel Alberta Brown Thompson (11 May 1867-17 March 1949). Other family members by relation of marriage to Ida's grandchildren appear in the photograph collection including Miriam (Mimi) Nash Baker (b. 4 April 1927), wife of Russell Baker.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

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Loudoun County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1868-1869. Heirs of Michael Cooper et al v. Joshua Cooper, 1870-006. Local Government Records Collection, Loudoun Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=107-1870-006 (accessed August 09, 2012).

Loudoun County (Va.) Chancery Causes,1853-1870. Archibald J. Wightman, etc. v. Joseph P. Grubb, 1870-009. VA. Local Government Records Collection, Loudoun Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, http://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=107-1873-009 (accessed August 09, 2012).

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Presgraves, Jim, ed. Loudoun County, Virginia, Families and History. Wytheville, VA: Bookworm & Silverfish, 1999.

Scheel, Eugene. The History of Loudoun County, Virginia: Ample Land Drew German Settlers to Loudoun County. (accessed July 21, 2012). http://www.loudounhistory.org/history/loudoun-german-settlers.htm

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Bibliography