Cooper, Thomas Simpson, C.S.A. 10th child of Col. Robert Melville Cooper and Catherine Cooper Cooper Born: Friday, 5 Sept 1834 - Maury Co., Tennessee Died: 6 Feb 1923 - Maury County Tennessee Buried: Zion Presbyterian Cemetery, Maury Co., Tennessee Married: (1) Lavonia McClain - daughter of Wm T. and Mary Coleman McClain Born: 13 December 1844 Died: 24 April 1863 - Maury Co., Tennessee Buried: McClain Cemetery, Lewis Co., Tennessee (2) Sarah E. McKennon in 1865 - daughter of Thomas Garner Polock and Nancy (Liles) McKennon Born 24 Aug 1829 Died: 22 Nov 1904 Buried: Zion Presbyterian Cemetery, Maury Co., Tennessee War Record: Volunteered in Company E, 48th (Nixon's) Tennessee Infantry and 48th (Voorhee's) Tennessee Infantry C.S.A. Thomas Simpson Cooper married Lavonia McClain of the old and established McClain family of Lewis County. She was ten years his junior and not over sixteen when they married. She bore him a son, and was never well afterward. She apparently had tuberculosis from which she hemorrhaged, and which finally cause her death. The Civil War broke out and his brothers had all enlisted (except Paris Cooper); so he too, volunteered leaving his sickly wife and infant son. We can imagine the trauma of this parting. Her letters to him are pathetic although brave. His mother wrote on April 6, 1863: "Vony is no worse than when Thomas left home. She has had no hemorrhage since." But Vony lived only eighteen days after the letter was written. Thomas was stationed at Tullahoma at the time of his wife's death and he went home on furlough for her funeral, and never returned to service. He found that he was unable to take care of his son, Martin McClain Cooper, who had been named for his wife's uncle. The baby was only twenty months old when his mother died and his mother's family reared him. He married Sarah E. McKennon in 1865. She was 5 years his junior and bore him 5 children , one son and four daughters. Thomas bought the "What and John" place from her uncle, John Farris which is located eight miles from Columbia on the Hampshire Pike. His daughters lived in the old house until they died. Ref: Lillian Word Roberts, Hugh Cooper Fishing Creek So., Carolina and His Descendants; McMillian Publishing Co., Dallas, Texas, 1976, pg. 585
Thomas Simpson Cooper as an elderly gentleman. Notice the ground there. No grass. I am
sure the livestock including the chickens trampled it down as was usual in the olden times.
Children of Thomas S. Cooper & Sara E. McKennon Cooper:
seated left to right: Lavonia Cooper, Knox Cooper, Thomas Simpson Cooper
standing left to right: Cora Cooper, Nettie Cooper, and Florence Cooper
Photo & Info courtesy of Mary Bob McClain 12 Mar 2013
Submitted by Mary Bob McClain Richardson. 8/24/04 Revised Mary Bob McClain 12 Mar 2013
