San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1459
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 11/3/2009
J. OLIVER COOPER
A representative of the best interests of his community from the standpoint of public-spirited citizenship and useful activity in industrial affairs is found in J. Oliver Cooper, the efficient towerman for the Western Pacific Railroad at Lathrop, Cal. He was born at Columbus, Ohio, April 18, 1872, a son of Henry H. and Mary (Whitbeck) Cooper, both natives of New York. J. Oliver Cooper is the eldest of three children and the only one residing in California. The parents are now residing in Greene County, N.Y.
J. Oliver Cooper was educated in the grammar and high schools of Greene County until he was fifteen years of age, then went to work in a store at Leeds, N.Y., where he remained for three years; later he worked in a large creamery business. Later, when he went to Galilee, Pa., he became superintendent of a cooperative creamery and was occupied successfully for three years. In 1902 he resigned his position and came to California, locating first at San Diego and then he went into the Imperial Valley and opened up a creamery business where he remained for three years. Mr. Cooper was active for fifteen years as an expert creamery man, but since 1909, when he came to San Joaquin County, he has been in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at Turlock. Due to ill health he was forced to seek outside work, so disposed of his creamery interests and took up railroad work as a member of the section gang. He soon became a foreman and moved to Lathrop where he had charge of eight miles of track on the Fresno division and remained in that capacity for three years when he became identified with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as towerman at Lathrop, his service extending over a period of nine years.
The marriage of Mr. Cooper occurred at Stamford, N.Y., and united him with Miss Ella Sarah Hartwell, a daughter of a New York pioneer, and they are the parents of two daughters; Marjorie, Mrs. W.E. Graham, who has a son and resides at Modesto; and Mildred. Politically Mr. Cooper is a Republican; fraternally he is a Mason. The family reside in a comfortable residence at Lathrop.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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