Businessmen remembered - Bumgarner & Cooper
Former Pike businessmen remembered
The venerable John S. Bumgarner departed this life at the Hammon Home in Cedarville, Ohio. He was in his 86th year of his age at the home of his daughter, Mrs. George Hammon. He was born May 20, 1915 at Givens Station.
His death took place suddenly on Tuesday morning at the Hamman Home, where he spent most of the winter. His son, Stephen O., of Givens received the sad news at once by telephone and came to Waverly where he made arrangements with Gehres, undertakers, to take charge of the funeral, which will take place Thursday at the Givens Chapel burying ground.
Mr. Bumgarner's wife preceded him in death ten to twelve years ago, was a daughter of Thomas Givens, brother of Samuel, George and James Givens.
Nine children were born to them, seven of whom survives. A sister of the deceased was Mrs. Stephen Graham.
He belonged to the Christian Union Church at Givens (Germany Road) was its first Sunday School Superintendent of the old Baptist Church, on almost the same spot.
The photo shows the Gehres Funeral Home on the left of Gehres Furniture and the Presbyterian Church on the extreme right in this photo around 1900. The scene is at the southwest corner of High and North streets in Waverly.The other obituary is of John W. Cooper, 82, a well-known Pike Countian and founder of Cooper's General Store in Piketon (now Davis Market) died at 2:06 a.m. last Saturday in Grant Hospital in Columbus.
Mr. Cooper was prominent in all activities of the county and village. He was an original director of the Pike County Agricultural Society that was organized in 1907 and president for a number of years during the 1930s.
Mr. Cooper was a lifetime member of the Piketon M. E. Church, a member of the I. O. O. F. (Independent Order of the Odd Fellows) and was a former member of both the Piketon board of education and village council.
Born in Elm Grove, Pike County, November 15, 1871, John was the son of Albert and Hannah Cooper. His boyhood was spent in Morgantown, in Higby, where his family lived on the Higby farm (the large brick home still stands near the railroad tracks on Higby road north of Waverly), on the Clough farm in Waverly before moving to Piketon.
Following his high school days in Piketon, he passed the Boxwell Teacher's examination and taught for three years at the old Bell School on Loy's Run in Newton Township.
Mr. Cooper was well-known as a story teller and one of his favorites was during the winter season of his school-teaching days, skating from Jasper bridge down to the canal at Loy's Run Sunday night and back after school on Friday.
Following his teaching he entered the retail coal business with his father and brother in Piketon and then employed by P. W. Rheinfrank, who operated a general store.
Shortly before the turn of the century, he bought out the John Reif Store and founded "Coopers" at its present site.
Besides store operation, he was engaged in the tie and timber business until 1913. In that year, he took W. A. Sampson as a partner in Cooper's Store. Mr. Sampson retired as a partner in 1919 to become Pike County Treasurer.
Mr. Cooper was married to Sally Duke Brown, who was killed in an auto accident in 1935. The only son, Frank B. Cooper, became associated with his father in the store in 1928 and is now operator.
Services were held at the Piketon Methodist Church with Reverend Waid C. Radford, pastor and Rev. David Williams of Lackland officiating. Burial was in Mound Cemetery with the Howe Funeral Home in charge. Surviving are two grandchildren, John I. and Carolyn Cooper.
Picture here is the store as J. B. Reif and both buildings are still standing.
Pike's Past by Jim Henry
The Pike County News Watchman
August 16, 2006
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Pike Co. Genealogy & Historical Society
P. O. Box 224, Waverly, Ohio 45690