The Rev. Fleet Cooper, Sr., (1722-1795) was a pioneer Baptist minister in Sampson and Duplin Counties and was a prominent political figure during the American Revolution. According to a reliable genealogist, the Coopers were descended from at least four of the Barons who signed the Magna Carta and Fleet Cooper was descended from a brother of Anthony Ashley Cooper (Earl of Shaftsbury), who was one of the Lords Proprietors who were granted the Carolinas in 1663 by Charles II.
The first Cooper to come to America was James Cooper, a son of George Ashley Cooper. He came from Stratford on the Avon and landed in Philadelphia in 1682. James Cooper was a member of the Society of Friends. He married and had two daughters and four sons: Isaac, Samuel, William and Benjamin.
Benjamin Cooper (1701-1776) was married in 1720 to Elizabeth Kelly and in 1725 he moved to Isle of Wight County, Virginia, and then to Loudon County, Virginia. They had several children among who was Fleet Cooper, the subject of this article.
Fleet Cooper was born in 1722 in Philadelphia and spent his youth in Virginia. We know nothing about his early education but he was married in 1747 to Margaret Coore of Loudon County, Virginia, whose father, Thomas Coore, later move to Northampton County, N.C.
He moved first to Dobbs County, and in 1764, he received a grant of land on Coharie Swamp in Sampson County. Later he received grants for more than a 1,000 acres of land. This was located at Concord, six miles west of Clinton on Highway 24. After the Coopers arrived in what is now Sampson County, they were members of Coharie Baptist (Rowan) Church, which was founded near Clinton in 1749. We do not know when he became a minister, but he was pastor of the Coharie Baptist Church from 1785 to 1787.
At the beginning of the American Revolution Fleet Cooper, Sr. signed the "Oath of Allegiance and Abjuration" (1777) in Duplin County, that part which later became Sampson. This qualified descendants for memberships in the Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution. In 1784, when Sampson County was established, Fleet Cooper, Sr., was one of the 12 justices appointed to the Court of Pleas and Quarterly Sessions.
The Coopers had several children, all of whom had private schoolteachers and received a good education. His children were: John; Fleet, Jr.; William; Coore; Elizabeth; Grace; and Mary. Fleet Cooper, Jr., (1750-1828) was also a pioneer Baptist minister. He married Sarah Scott in 1777 and had the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth Pope (1779-1848); Wilson (1780-1857); John (1782-1832); Jacob (1783-1826); Daniel (1785-1851); Mrs. Nancy Blackburn (1793-1878); Mrs. Penelope Howard (1797-1881); Mrs. Dicey Howard (1798-1879); Mrs. Rhoda Bennett (1802-1862); Mrs. Sarah Porter; and Mrs. Mary Butler Sessoms. Grace Cooper married Lewis Holmes, a brother of Governor Gabriel Holmes and moved south. Elizabeth Cooper married a Mr.Wiggins. Mary Cooper married a Mr. Peterson.
Many of the descendants of Fleet Cooper had been doctors, lawyers, and teachers and have been political leaders. The descendants are scattered all over the United States. They hold an annual family reunion in Salemburg, N.C.
A historical stone marker is mounted "On the West Side of the Great Coharie" as a memorial to Fleet Cooper on the northeast corner of the Concord crossroads.
*Sources of Information: Mary John Parker and Mamie Chambers Sawyer.
(Editor's note: Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune.)
Read more: The Sampson Independent - Looking back at the Reverend Fleet Cooper Sr .
The first Cooper to come to America was James Cooper, a son of George Ashley Cooper. He came from Stratford on the Avon and landed in Philadelphia in 1682. James Cooper was a member of the Society of Friends. He married and had two daughters and four sons: Isaac, Samuel, William and Benjamin.
Benjamin Cooper (1701-1776) was married in 1720 to Elizabeth Kelly and in 1725 he moved to Isle of Wight County, Virginia, and then to Loudon County, Virginia. They had several children among who was Fleet Cooper, the subject of this article.
Fleet Cooper was born in 1722 in Philadelphia and spent his youth in Virginia. We know nothing about his early education but he was married in 1747 to Margaret Coore of Loudon County, Virginia, whose father, Thomas Coore, later move to Northampton County, N.C.
He moved first to Dobbs County, and in 1764, he received a grant of land on Coharie Swamp in Sampson County. Later he received grants for more than a 1,000 acres of land. This was located at Concord, six miles west of Clinton on Highway 24. After the Coopers arrived in what is now Sampson County, they were members of Coharie Baptist (Rowan) Church, which was founded near Clinton in 1749. We do not know when he became a minister, but he was pastor of the Coharie Baptist Church from 1785 to 1787.
At the beginning of the American Revolution Fleet Cooper, Sr. signed the "Oath of Allegiance and Abjuration" (1777) in Duplin County, that part which later became Sampson. This qualified descendants for memberships in the Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution. In 1784, when Sampson County was established, Fleet Cooper, Sr., was one of the 12 justices appointed to the Court of Pleas and Quarterly Sessions.
The Coopers had several children, all of whom had private schoolteachers and received a good education. His children were: John; Fleet, Jr.; William; Coore; Elizabeth; Grace; and Mary. Fleet Cooper, Jr., (1750-1828) was also a pioneer Baptist minister. He married Sarah Scott in 1777 and had the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth Pope (1779-1848); Wilson (1780-1857); John (1782-1832); Jacob (1783-1826); Daniel (1785-1851); Mrs. Nancy Blackburn (1793-1878); Mrs. Penelope Howard (1797-1881); Mrs. Dicey Howard (1798-1879); Mrs. Rhoda Bennett (1802-1862); Mrs. Sarah Porter; and Mrs. Mary Butler Sessoms. Grace Cooper married Lewis Holmes, a brother of Governor Gabriel Holmes and moved south. Elizabeth Cooper married a Mr.Wiggins. Mary Cooper married a Mr. Peterson.
Many of the descendants of Fleet Cooper had been doctors, lawyers, and teachers and have been political leaders. The descendants are scattered all over the United States. They hold an annual family reunion in Salemburg, N.C.
A historical stone marker is mounted "On the West Side of the Great Coharie" as a memorial to Fleet Cooper on the northeast corner of the Concord crossroads.
*Sources of Information: Mary John Parker and Mamie Chambers Sawyer.
(Editor's note: Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune.)
Read more: The Sampson Independent - Looking back at the Reverend Fleet Cooper Sr .
The Rev. Fleet Cooper, Sr., (1722-1795) was a pioneer Baptist minister in Sampson and Duplin Counties and was a prominent political figure during the American Revolution. According to a reliable genealogist, the Coopers were descended from at least four of the Barons who signed the Magna Carta and Fleet Cooper was descended from a brother of Anthony Ashley Cooper (Earl of Shaftsbury), who was one of the Lords Proprietors who were granted the Carolinas in 1663 by Charles II.
The first Cooper to come to America was James Cooper, a son of George Ashley Cooper. He came from Stratford on the Avon and landed in Philadelphia in 1682. James Cooper was a member of the Society of Friends. He married and had two daughters and four sons: Isaac, Samuel, William and Benjamin.
Benjamin Cooper (1701-1776) was married in 1720 to Elizabeth Kelly and in 1725 he moved to Isle of Wight County, Virginia, and then to Loudon County, Virginia. They had several children among who was Fleet Cooper, the subject of this article.
Fleet Cooper was born in 1722 in Philadelphia and spent his youth in Virginia. We know nothing about his early education but he was married in 1747 to Margaret Coore of Loudon County, Virginia, whose father, Thomas Coore, later move to Northampton County, N.C.
He moved first to Dobbs County, and in 1764, he received a grant of land on Coharie Swamp in Sampson County. Later he received grants for more than a 1,000 acres of land. This was located at Concord, six miles west of Clinton on Highway 24. After the Coopers arrived in what is now Sampson County, they were members of Coharie Baptist (Rowan) Church, which was founded near Clinton in 1749. We do not know when he became a minister, but he was pastor of the Coharie Baptist Church from 1785 to 1787.
At the beginning of the American Revolution Fleet Cooper, Sr. signed the "Oath of Allegiance and Abjuration" (1777) in Duplin County, that part which later became Sampson. This qualified descendants for memberships in the Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution. In 1784, when Sampson County was established, Fleet Cooper, Sr., was one of the 12 justices appointed to the Court of Pleas and Quarterly Sessions.
The Coopers had several children, all of whom had private schoolteachers and received a good education. His children were: John; Fleet, Jr.; William; Coore; Elizabeth; Grace; and Mary. Fleet Cooper, Jr., (1750-1828) was also a pioneer Baptist minister. He married Sarah Scott in 1777 and had the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth Pope (1779-1848); Wilson (1780-1857); John (1782-1832); Jacob (1783-1826); Daniel (1785-1851); Mrs. Nancy Blackburn (1793-1878); Mrs. Penelope Howard (1797-1881); Mrs. Dicey Howard (1798-1879); Mrs. Rhoda Bennett (1802-1862); Mrs. Sarah Porter; and Mrs. Mary Butler Sessoms. Grace Cooper married Lewis Holmes, a brother of Governor Gabriel Holmes and moved south. Elizabeth Cooper married a Mr.Wiggins. Mary Cooper married a Mr. Peterson.
Many of the descendants of Fleet Cooper had been doctors, lawyers, and teachers and have been political leaders. The descendants are scattered all over the United States. They hold an annual family reunion in Salemburg, N.C.
A historical stone marker is mounted "On the West Side of the Great Coharie" as a memorial to Fleet Cooper on the northeast corner of the Concord crossroads.
*Sources of Information: Mary John Parker and Mamie Chambers Sawyer.
(Editor's note: Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune.)
Read more: The Sampson Independent - Looking back at the Reverend Fleet Cooper Sr .
The first Cooper to come to America was James Cooper, a son of George Ashley Cooper. He came from Stratford on the Avon and landed in Philadelphia in 1682. James Cooper was a member of the Society of Friends. He married and had two daughters and four sons: Isaac, Samuel, William and Benjamin.
Benjamin Cooper (1701-1776) was married in 1720 to Elizabeth Kelly and in 1725 he moved to Isle of Wight County, Virginia, and then to Loudon County, Virginia. They had several children among who was Fleet Cooper, the subject of this article.
Fleet Cooper was born in 1722 in Philadelphia and spent his youth in Virginia. We know nothing about his early education but he was married in 1747 to Margaret Coore of Loudon County, Virginia, whose father, Thomas Coore, later move to Northampton County, N.C.
He moved first to Dobbs County, and in 1764, he received a grant of land on Coharie Swamp in Sampson County. Later he received grants for more than a 1,000 acres of land. This was located at Concord, six miles west of Clinton on Highway 24. After the Coopers arrived in what is now Sampson County, they were members of Coharie Baptist (Rowan) Church, which was founded near Clinton in 1749. We do not know when he became a minister, but he was pastor of the Coharie Baptist Church from 1785 to 1787.
At the beginning of the American Revolution Fleet Cooper, Sr. signed the "Oath of Allegiance and Abjuration" (1777) in Duplin County, that part which later became Sampson. This qualified descendants for memberships in the Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution. In 1784, when Sampson County was established, Fleet Cooper, Sr., was one of the 12 justices appointed to the Court of Pleas and Quarterly Sessions.
The Coopers had several children, all of whom had private schoolteachers and received a good education. His children were: John; Fleet, Jr.; William; Coore; Elizabeth; Grace; and Mary. Fleet Cooper, Jr., (1750-1828) was also a pioneer Baptist minister. He married Sarah Scott in 1777 and had the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth Pope (1779-1848); Wilson (1780-1857); John (1782-1832); Jacob (1783-1826); Daniel (1785-1851); Mrs. Nancy Blackburn (1793-1878); Mrs. Penelope Howard (1797-1881); Mrs. Dicey Howard (1798-1879); Mrs. Rhoda Bennett (1802-1862); Mrs. Sarah Porter; and Mrs. Mary Butler Sessoms. Grace Cooper married Lewis Holmes, a brother of Governor Gabriel Holmes and moved south. Elizabeth Cooper married a Mr.Wiggins. Mary Cooper married a Mr. Peterson.
Many of the descendants of Fleet Cooper had been doctors, lawyers, and teachers and have been political leaders. The descendants are scattered all over the United States. They hold an annual family reunion in Salemburg, N.C.
A historical stone marker is mounted "On the West Side of the Great Coharie" as a memorial to Fleet Cooper on the northeast corner of the Concord crossroads.
*Sources of Information: Mary John Parker and Mamie Chambers Sawyer.
(Editor's note: Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune.)
Read more: The Sampson Independent - Looking back at the Reverend Fleet Cooper Sr .
Inscription
Civil Officer; Judge, Court of Common Pleas, First Court in Cam_____, Signer of Oath of Allegiance and Abduration for Duplyn(?) County; Wed Margaret Coore 1747 and had issue: John; Fleet, Jr; William; Coore, Elizabeth; Mary; Grace
Family Members
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