John Gordon Cooper (April 27, 1872January 7, 1955) was an

Anglo-American Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

politician who served as a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Early years

According to his birth certificate, Cooper was born in

Smallthorne Smallthorne (population: 5,827 – 2011 Census) is an area in the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is in the north-east of the city, near Burslem. Smallthorne borders Bradeley and Chell in the north, Norton-in-the-Moors in ...

, Staffordshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Cooper emigrated from England to the United States in 1881 with his mother, grandmother and brothers, as his father had emigrated in 1880.US Census, 1880 The family settled in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...

, where he attended the public schools and began work in local steel mills in 1885. He entered the service of the

Pennsylvania Railroad Company The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

in 1896, where he was employed as a locomotive fireman between 1896 and 1900, and as an engineer from 1900 and 1915.

Political career

Cooper served as member of the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

county committee in 1906. In 1910, he was a delegate to the Republican State convention, and he served as a member of the State house of representatives from 1910 to 1912. Cooper was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth and to the 10 succeeding Congresses between (March 4, 1915 and January 3, 1937). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1936 to the Seventy-fifth Congress, but went on to serve as chairman of the Board of Claims, Ohio Industrial Commission from 1937 to 1945.

Retirement

Cooper retired from public and political activities in 1947 and resided in

. He died in Hagerstown, Maryland, January 7, 1955, and was interred in Lake Park Cemetery, in Youngstown, Ohio.

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, John Gordon 1872 births 1955 deaths People from Smallthorne Politicians from Youngstown, Ohio English emigrants to the United States American railroaders Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives British emigrants to the United States Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio