and from there to Mercer county, Illinois, where John Cooper was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca Ann Stark, a native of .Indiana. Upon a farm in that county they made their home until 1860, when they removed to Warren county, Iowa, and in 1864 came to Story county, locating in the village of Iowa Center. There the father carried on agricultural pursuits and was also interested in other business until the spring of 1871, when he went to Kansas, living in that state for several years. Finally he returned to Story county and made his home in Maxwell until called to his final rest.
S. E. Cooper was reared on the home farm and acquired his education in the public schools of Illinois and Iowa. His father being a wagon-maker by trade, he took up that occupation during his boyhood and continued to work with him for some years. In 1879 he opened a shop of his own in Iowa Center, where he carried on business as a wagon-maker for five years. In 1882 he came to Maxwell, through which village the railroad had been built the previous winter, and here he erected a building on the corner now occupied by the Peoples State Bank, it being the second structure built there. In it he opened a stock of furniture, becoming identified in business with the firm of Baldwin & Maxwell, general merchants, under the name of S. E. Cooper & Company. In 1893 Mr. Cooper bought out his partners and continued in the furniture business alone. He carries a large and well selected stock, necessary to meet the demands of his customers but has not confined his attention alone to the furniture trade for he also does all of the undertaking business in his locality. On the organization of the Peoples State Bank, he became its president and has since served in that capacity. In the spring of 1909 he purchased the Miller block, which was built in 1900 at a cost of fourteen thousand dollars but at the present time would probably cost twenty-five thousand dollars, owing to the rise in building material. It is the finest business block in a town of its size to be found anywhere, and Maxwell has every reason to be proud of the institution.
Mr. Cooper was married in 1877 to Miss Nellie Squires of Iowa Center, a daughter of Henry and Josephine Squires, and to them were born seven children, of whom five still survive, namely : Rae, the wife of C. B. Wells, of Maxwell; Hugh J., who is engaged in the real-estate business in Weatherford, Oklahoma; Guy, who is a partner in his father's business; Hazel, the wife of Sidney Sherman, of Maxwell; and Nellie, a teacher in the public schools of this county. The mother of these children died in 1892, and the following year Mr. Cooper was united in marriage to Mrs. Mattie J. (Moore) Wood of Iowa Center, by whom he has one son, Forest F., now sixteen years of age.
Fraternally, Mr. Cooper is a member of Social Lodge, No. 463, I. O. O. F., and three times has represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge of the state. He is one of the leading members of the organization and wears the veterans jewel for twenty-five years in good standing. He is also connected with the Yeomen and with the Mystic Workers of the World. In