|
1879 - Tom was the second child, second son of six children born of Henry Moses Cooper and Elizabeth Reed Cooper. He was born at home near Harold, Florida on September 30, 1879.
Tom's siblings were: Henry born 1874, Melissa born 1880, Sally born 1881, Vinie Louisa born 1884 and Jordan Cooper born 1890. After Tom's mother died, during the great flu epidemic in 1892, his father remarried in 1895 to a woman by the name of Louisa S. Bodiford. Tom also had two half siblings by his father's second marriage, their names were Archie Moses Cooper born 1896 and Belle Cooper born 1898.
Tom was a farmer and during part of his life was the mail carrier between Holly and Harold, Florida.
1902 - Tom was twenty three years old he married a pretty little girl from the Adams clan by the name of Roxie Ann (Roxsanna) Adams. They were married on October 15, 1902 when Roxsan was seventeen years old. Roxsan was born sometime in 1885 in Florida. During Tom and Roxsan's sixteen years of marriage they had seven children. Their first child was Mattie Cooper born July 25, 1903, followed by Maggie born January 1, 1905, Agnes born February 02, 1907, Luther Cooper born 1909, Maebelle born June 30, 1911, Rosie Lee born December 23, 1913, and Thomas Lynn Cooper, b. February 20, 1917.
1912 - Based on the story by Bebe Morrell, "An Investigation into the Murder of Wiley Morrell on Christmas Eve of 1912", He stated that Mr. Houston Davis observed Tom and his younger brother, Jordan Cooper, with a group of four other men leave Holt, FL in pursuit of Ed Taylor who was believed to be hiding in the woods near Log Lake with a man named Black. Tom's younger brother, Jordan, and Aaron Morrell eventually caught Ed Taylor and killed both him and his horse and buried them on the river back somewhere on the Yellow River.
One of the stories that is remembered concerning Tom and his younger brother Jordan was that Tom had a blue-tick coonhound that his younger brother Jordan always liked and wanted, but Tom wouldn't part with. One day Tom had returned home from work and his dog was missing. This wasn't like his dog which was always home waiting to meet his master. Tom decided to walk down the dirt road to his younger brother's cabin to ask him if he had seen his dog. When he walked up to the front porch he saw his brother sitting on the steps just a whittling on a piece of wood and much to his surprise there was his dog tied up to one of the porch railings. Tom asked his brother "Why do you have my dog tied up to your porch?" and Jordan's response was, "He ain't your dog anymore he's mine." After some heated words and the fact that Jordan wasn't going to relinquish his hold on Tom's blue-tick Hound, Tom left. Tom briskly walk back home and got one of his shotguns and headed back to Jordan cabin. When he got there Jordan was still sitting on the steps of his porch and the hound was still tied-up so Tom raised the shotgun and killed his old dog and then told his brother Jordan now he's your dog. He then turn and walked back home.
1918 - Tom died February 20, 1918 in Santa Rosa County, Florida. His final resting place is next to his sister, Vinie Louisa, and his father, Henry Moses Cooper in the old Cooper Cemetery near Cooper Basin. Six years after Tom's death, Roxanna died and was buried August 1924 in the Holt Cemetery, Holt, Florida. Roxsanna said that she didn't want to be buried in the old Cooper Cemetery next to her husband, Tom, because she was afraid that if it ever flooded in that area she didn't want to have water over her grave.
|
|
