Samuel Cooper, U.E.

•Event: 1790 On Spanish censuses with Henry, William and others •Event: 16 MAR 1780 Swore allegiance to the King of Spain as an English citizen of Mobile, West Florida

•Will: 18 SEP 1777 Made will in Rowan Co. N.C. (never probated), Vol. B page 75. Another will prob. in Book E, p. 122.

•Occupation: Smith  •Note: Probably the Samuel Cooper who received a Spanish land grant on Sandy Creek dated Feb. 24, 1795. He evidently returned with Absalom Griffin in 1805 and claimed William Cooper's land based on a Spanish grant of Jan. 1, 1793. This would indicate William was his father or at least he was an heir. Samuel Cooper's will was dated Sept. 18, 1777 (during the American Revolution) and was probably made as a safeguard in case he was killed. It mentions his smith's tools. It was witnessed by James Brandon, Hugh Jenkins, and John Hagin. With William Cooper and Henry Cooper on list of debtors to Benjamin Monsanto who died in N.O. about 1792 (Natches Court Records C p. 116f.). Fact: William Cooper, 1750, Granville Co., N.C. tax list, with 2 slaves Ben and Sam, again 1755. Sam may have been considered a slave in Granville Co., then a freeman in Roan Co.

Samuel was a former slave of Portuguese Jewish / African descent, British loyalist expelled from the State of Georgia.

"Samuel Cooper who received a Spanish land grant on Sandy Creek dated Feb. 24, 1795. He evidently returned with Absalom Griffin in 1805 and claimed William Cooper's land based on a Spanish grant of Jan. 1, 1793. This would indicate William was his father or at least he was an heir. Samuel Cooper's will was dated Sept. 18, 1777 (during the American Revolution) and was probably made as a safeguard in case he was killed. It mentions his smith's tools. It was witnessed by James Brandon, Hugh Jenkins, and John Hagin. With William Cooper and Henry Cooper on list of debtors to Benjamin Monsanto who died in N.O. about 1792 (Natches Court Records C p. 116f.). Fact: William Cooper, 1750, Granville Co., N.C. tax list, with 2 slaves Ben and Sam, again 1755. Sam may have been considered a slave in Granville Co., then a freeman in Roan Co.

On March 2, 1790, Carlos de Grand Pre wrote a letter to Spanish governor Don Estavan Miro listing the pounds of tobacco producted by growers of Natchez in 1790. Henry Cooper's name appears on it, along with his two brothers William and Samuel: COOPER, WILLIAM 11,600 COOPER, SAMUEL 3,600 COOPER, HENRY 6,000
  With William Cooper and Samuel Cooper on list of debtors to Benjamin Monsanto who died in N.O. about 1792 (Natchez Court Records C p. 116f.).
  As Henry Cason (transcription error for Labon) Cooper in Natchez Court Records p. 323: 3 Feb. 1799, James White, for $800, 400 acres on Sandy Cr. granted by Spanish Govt. to Henry Cason [sic] Cooper and surveyed 18 Aug. 1787, to James Griffin ... then to Eben Rees, 1804. Witness Samuel Cooper, 16 Apr. 1805. Claim no. 1796.

Brother of William Cooper (abt. 1753 - abt. 1820), called a "Portuguese half-breed fort builder". Arrived with other Coopers before 1787 as one of numerous North Carolinians in Natchez District, under Spanish rule, and became a cabo (corporal) in the Second and Sandy Creek District along Tennessee and headwaters of Tombigbe River (tristate area of TN/MS/AL). Returned in 1806 and got grant on Big Black River. Early Settlers of Mississippi as Taken from Land Claims in the Mississippi Territory."

"Proof of Henry Couper to Henry Cason Cooper Relationship by Angela Pope Reid
Henry Cason Cooper, Jr., witnesses marriage of his cousin, John Lanier and Elizabeth Ryan. As a witness, Henry informs the priest that he was born in the Carolinas (Baton Rouge Archdiocese, Volume II, p. 452).

April 1766, Hillery Cason witnesses Henry Couper’s purchase of 29 acres in Pitt County, NC, from Lemuel Lewis.

16 October 1770, Henry Couper sold out his 150 acres on Grindal Creek to John Hodges. This deed was also witnessed by Hillery Cason. Henry is described as a planter in the deed (Pitt County Deed Book D, p. 138).

By June 1771, Henry Cooper, “setting forth he came lately in the Province” with his wife and five children, petitions for a headright of 200 acres at Bark Camp. Bark Camp is approximately five miles from the banks of the Ogeechee River (Colonial Records of the State of Georgia, vol. 11, p. 389-90).

The names of Henry Cooper, Sr., Henry Cooper, Jr., William Cooper, and Henry Sr’s probable brother Samuel, appear as residents of Effingham County, Georgia, who have been recognized as traitors to the Revolution, and thereby subject to the penalties of confiscation and banishment (The Story of Georgia an the People of Georgia, George Gilmore Smith, p. 105).

Two letters written in the fall of 1783 by Major Patrick Carr to the Gov. Lyman Hall. Carr had been sent by the governor to rid the Georgia back country of Loyalists who refused to give up the fight and continued to wreak havoc. Carr locates Henry Cooper’s brother-in-law, Benjamin Lanier, at Rocky Ford, Georgia, who agrees to act as an intermediary between Carr and Cooper. Through Lanier’s diplomacy, Carr agrees to allow Cooper and his family to leave Georgia in peace. The Johnson’s, who were also in the Cooper party, had stolen horses with them. Carr discovers this and pursues the group all the way to St. Mary’s, where he stops rather than cross the East Florida border. This letter is critical since it illustrates why the Coopers left Georgia and introduces the Benjamin Lanier factor, which is critical to proving the Coopers’ identity in the Natchez District. We know that Benjamin Lanier’s wife was Ealiff, since their marriage and the births of their eldest children are recorded in the 1754- 81 Record Book of Ebenezer Church in Ebenezer, Georgia (Johns and Exley, Ebenezer Record Book, p. 64).

In late 1783, Spain orders all British Loyalists out of East Florida. Attracted by the generous Spanish Land Grants of the Natchez District, the Cooper family leaves East Florida in the hope of acquiring farm land in Natchez.

On 4 January 1787, Henry Couper, Henry Caison Cooper, William Cooper and Samuel Cooper sign the Oath of Allegiance to the Spanish Crown in the Natchez District. The oath was required of all Natchez District inhabitants in order to acquire Spanish Land Grants (Curtis, “Fearless, Faithful, and Forgotten”).

1787 Spanish Census, Henry Cooper and Henry Cooper, son, (next door), also William Cooper and Samuel Cooper, are listed as residents of Seocnd Creek in the Natchez District. This census record clearly proves that Henry Cason Cooper, Jr., was the son of Henry Couper (Feldman, “Anglo-American,” 105-6).

Henry K. Cooper purchases a slave from Jacob Monsanto, 12 November 1788. William Cooper acts as surety for Henry “his brother.” (McBee 419). This document proves that Henry, Jr., and William were brothers. With the previously mentioned 1787 Spanish Census proving that Henry, Jr., was the son of Henry Sr., we can connect William, Henry Jr’s brother, as another son of Henry, Sr. Furthermore, the “second” Samuel Cooper, whose name appears in later Spanish documents, and who is sometimes referred to as Samuel Cooper, Jr., can be proven to be William Cooper’s brother, based on Samuels’s testimony found in Division D, Private Land Claims at the National Archives. Samuel testifies concerning “his brother” William’s sale of a part of his Spanish Land Grant for the sum of about a dozen beaver hats (West of Pearl River, MS, 1803-07, Vols. 146-50, 341-2). This same Samuel purchased his brother, William’s, second Spanish Land Grant on Sandy Creek. The older Samuel Cooper, who appears to be the brother of Henry, Sr., died in 1797 in Natchez.

Benjamin Lanier and wife, Ealiff, appear in the Natchez District before 1792 (McBee 394). Ealiff’s name appears as a charter member of Mississippi’s Cole Creek Baptist Church (Curtis, “Fearless, Faithful, and Forgotten”). On 8 May 1792, Benjamin Lanier sells to Henry Cooper, Jr., a slave named Grace (McBee). From the Ebenezer Church Records and Major Patrick Carr’s two letters, it is evident that this is the same Benjamin Lanier. Benjamin Lanier provides a strong proof that the Loyalist Coopers who fled Georgia are the same Coopers who settled in Spanish-held Natchez District.

Benjamin Lanier and wife, Ealiff, appear in the Natchez District before 1792 (McBee 394). Ealiff’s name appears as a charter member of Mississippi’s Cole Creek Baptist Church (Curtis, “Fearless, Faithful, and Forgotten”). On 8 May 1792, Benjamin Lanier sells to Henry Cooper, Jr., a slave named Grace (McBee). From the Ebenezer Church Records and Major Patrick Carr’s two letters, it is evident that this is the same Benjamin Lanier. Benjamin Lanier provides a strong proof that the Loyalist Coopers who fled Georgia are the same Coopers who settled in Spanish-held Natchez District.

When the Spanish relinquish the Natchez District to the United States in 1798, Henry Cooper, Jr., and his brother, William, sell their land grants over a period of time and move to West Florida, now a part of Louisiana, where they both acquired more Spanish Land Grants. Samuel Jr., remains in Natchez. Benjamin Lanier and his family also leave the Natchez District and move to West Florida."