Mark Anthony Cooper

Mark Anthony Cooper (April 20, 1800 – March 17, 1885) was an American politician, businessman and lawyer who was a U.S. representative from Georgia. He owned an iron works in Etowah and was president of the Cartersville-Van Wert Railroad.

Biography

Early life and family Cooper was born near Powelton, Georgia, in Hancock County in 1800. His cousin was U.S. Representative Eugenius Aristides Nisbet. He graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) in Columbia in 1819. After studying law and gaining admittance to the state bar in 1821, he practiced law in Eatonton, Georgia. He later moved to Columbus, Georgia. Cooper was first married to Evaline Flournoy, sometime around 1821, but she died three months into their marriage. He then remarried in 1826 to Sophronia Randle. The two had eleven children, seven who survived infancy.

Military and political careers In 1836, Cooper fought in the Second Seminole War and commanded a battalion of Georgia Volunteers. He rose to the rank of major. Representative from Georgia to the 26th United States Congress and served one term in that seat from March 4, 1839, until March 3, 1841, as he lost his bid for reelection in 1840. He returned to the U.S. Congress in 1842 after winning election as a Democrat Cooper sold his iron works to another company in 1862 for $400,000 in Confederate currency. The iron works were soon taken over by the Confederacy. Most of the town of Etowah was destroyed during Sherman's March on Atlanta; however, the iron furnaces themselves were left standing.

Cooper's investments in Confederate notes and bonds became worthless with the defeat of the Confederacy. Shortly after the war, in 1866, the Cartersville-Van Wert Railroad was chartered by the Georgia State Assembly. Cooper was appointed its first president.

He died at his home, Glen Holly, northeast of Cartersville, Georgia, on March 17, 1885, where he was buried. He was 84 years old.