294

BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

various ways for the material of advancement of his borough. He is a member of Coopersdale Methodist Episcopal church, which he has served as trustee for several      On September 20, 1883, Mr. Cooper married Nannie Stutzman, a daughter of George W. Stutzman, a retired merchant of Coopersdale. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have five children: James, Blaine, Sarah Elizabeth, Myrtle Stutzman, George Stutzman, and Anson Boyd.      James Cooper, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a son of Joshua and Jane (Boyd) Cooper, and was born in Somerset county, February 27, 1821. His early life was passed in farming and teaching, and in 1847 he removed to Ben's Creek furnace, where he entered upon a remarkable career as a furnace manager. He ran Ben's Creek and Washington furnaces, and in 1851 became manager of Cambria furnace, which he ran successfully until it went out of blast in 1860. The Cambria Iron company, not willing to lose his services, then made him general farm manager, and placed all of their stables under his supervision, a position which he held until his death June 8, 1887. He was a man of excellent judgment, keep discernment and good taste, served one term as county commissioner, and was complimented by the republicans with a nomination for the legislature, but as a natural consequence was defeated at a time when the county was so strongly Democratic. He was a member and one of the pillars of strength of the Coopersdale Methodist Episcopal church. Coopersdale was laid out on his land and named in honor of him, and numerous positions of trust and responsibility were given him on account of his integrity and stainless character. He lived a life of honor and usefulness, and died regretted by the whole community. He married Elizabeth Boyd, who

was a daughter of James Boyd, and their children were: Dr. Joshua M., Maggie J. (Mrs. D. A. Harris), Kizzie E. (Mrs. N. B. Griffith), Emma L. (Mrs. C. H. Loughrey), and Anson B., whose name heads this sketch. JOSEPH A. GRAY, ex-sheriff of Cambria county, and an extensive dealer in coal and real estate in Clearfield and Indiana counties, is a son of Philip and Susan (Lantzy) Gray, and was born in Susquehanna township, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, Septemer 5, 1846. He was reared on the farm, receiving his education in common schools, and after he reached his majority, was engaged for a short time in farming, which he left to embark in a wider and more active field of operations -- the lumber business, along the Susquehanna river and its western branches. During a period of ten years, from 1876 to 1886, he did a large business, and ranked as one of the leading lumbermen of the State. His lumbering operations made his presence often necessary in Clearfield and Indiana counties, where he became impressed with their mineral and agricultural resources, and about 1887 he founded his present coal and real-estate business in those counties, where he has often handled and sold tracts of ten and twelve thousand acres of land at a single sale. Lack of railway transportation retarded the development of the coal fields of Central Pennsylvania, and Mr. Gray was one who had faith in their extent and good quality, and helped to bring to public notice their merits and area. With new railroads and increased output of mines, a marked development will come to the future, and with it others of that class of men whose faith in any enterprise is attested by active and continuous work under all kinds of circumstances.

Title Page

Contents

Image

Index