JOHN COOPRIDER.—An honored representative of those brave pioneers
that settled in Indiana in territorial days, the late John Cooprider was a
true type of the energetic, hardy and enterprising men who actively
assisted in the development of this fertile and productive region, being
identified with its agricultural, manufacturing and financial interests. He
lived first in Harrison county, but a few years after the admission of
Indiana to statehood settled in Clay county. In those days the wild beasts
of the forest had not fled before the advancing steps of civilization, and
the dusky savage still inhabited the vast wilderness. A son of Peter
Cooprider, he was born October 10, 1791, in Indiana county, Pennsyl-
vania, of Holland-Dutch ancestry.

    Peter Cooprider was born on the ocean while his parents were en
route from Holland to the United States. He subsequently lived in Mary-
land, and there married his first wife, Anna Hochstottler. They after-
wards removed to Indiana county, Pennsylvania, where, on September 25,
1807, his wife died, leaving five children: John, Folly, Peter, Jacob and
Peggy. After her death he migrated to Kentucky, settling at Elizabeth-
town, where he married for his second wife Mrs. Elizabeth Fleshman, nee
Yeoger. In later years he came with this wife to Indiana, and here, with
their children, they spent their remaining days; his death occurring at
Middlebury in 1847, at the age of four score and four years, and hers
about three years later. Warm-hearted and kind, he made friends with
the Indians, one of whom used to visit and hunt with him every fall.
    After the death of his mother; John Cooprider, the eldest son of Peter
and Anna Cooprider and the special subject of this sketch, went to live
with the Fleshman family, and with them went to Elizabethtown, Ken-
tucky, where he remained a number of months. In 1809, an ambitious
young man, full of push and energy, he came to the territory of Indiana
and settled near Corydon, Harrison county, where he lived until the
breaking out of the war of 1812. Enlisting then in the service of his
country, he fought under General Harrison and was present at the cap-
ture of Fort Harrison. Coming to what is now Clay county in 1821,
Mr. Cooprider located at Neal’s Mills, or Kossuth Bluff, as it was then
called, Clay county was at that time a thick forest, owned almost entirely
by the government, there being very few whites in this vicinity, but plenty
of deer, bears, wolves, panthers and other wild animals. In the fall of
that year he went back to Harrison county to spend the winter, but the
following spring returned to this county. Here, instead of settling on the
land that he had taken up on his first visit to the place, at Kossuth Bluff,
Mr. Cooprider entered another tract at what is now Middlebury, and
there established a home. He was a skilled mechanic, a blacksmith by
trade, and for many years manufactured not only edged tools of all kinds
but did general blacksmithing and made bells, which were in great demand,
as in those days stock ran at large and bells were attached to the horses,
cattle and sheep. There were no near-by markets, and he used to make
frequent trips down the rivers in flatboats, taking with him farm prod-
uce, including honey and furs. On his return trips Mr. Cooprider used
to stop over in the southern part of the state to hunt for flint, as all fire-
arms then made had flint locks. In 1832 he laid out a part of his farm
as the town of Middlebury. He had relatives in Harrison county, and
on returning from one of his visits to that place he brought with him many
fruit seeds, some of which he planted himself, giving the remainder to
the new settlers, and in the orchards thus established, known as seedling
orchards, some of the trees are still alive and bearing fruit. Improving a
good farm, Mr. Cooprider resided here, honored and respected, until his
death in 1877.
    Mr. Cooprider married; at the age of eighteen years, Elizabeth Flesh-
man, who was born August 14, 1793, and died in 1879. Their union was
blessed by the birth of twelve children, namely: Elias, Polly, Henry,
Washington, Anna, John, Susan, Elza, Elisha, Ann Eliza, Isabel and
Joseph. Anna had the distinction of being the first white child born in
Harrison township. Elisha, whose sketch may he found on another page
of this volume, is the only surviving son of this family.