Reuban Jackson Cooper

1828-1862

Reuban Jackson Cooper was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Tucker) Cooper and the grandson of Joseph and Elizabeth (Jordan) Cooper. He was born February 1828 in Macon County, GA.

He married first, Rebecca Austin, on November 18, 1840 and second, Sarah Ann Austin, on December 24, 1844, both in Barbour County, AL. Both Rebecca and Sarah were the daughters of John and Sarah (Youngblood) Austin.

Reuban and Rebecca had two daughters, Frances F.(1841) and Rebecca L. (1843). Reuban's and Sarah's children were Matthew C. (1846), Marion (1847), John Arter (1850), Sarah Elizabeth (1853), Eli Shorter (1855), Albert (1858), and Clara I. (1862). All of the children were born in Dale County, AL.

Before the Civil War, Reuban was a Justice of the Peace in Daleville, Dale County, AL. He enlisted on March 8, 1862 in Daleville and was elected Captain of Company G, Alabama 33rd Infantry. Company G was known as the Daleville Blues. He fought with his company in the Battle of Perryville on October 8 and was killed in the train wreck near Cleveland, TN on November 4, 1862.

Shortly before his death, he wrote a letter home. The letter was never delivered and was discovered in the belongings of one of his men many years later. After his death, his sons, then only teenagers, ran away from their mother and enlisted. Matthew enlisted on November 20, 1863 at Newton, AL and surrendered and was paroled at Gainesville, AL on May 4, 1865.

Reuban's widow remained in Dale Co. until after 1870. By 1880, she was in Texas with two of her sons, John Arter and Eli Shorter. She (and they) are buried in Montague County, Texas. Matthew and Marion survived the war and later moved to Coffee County, Alabama.

Contributed by Sara Causey.

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