Calvin Cooper, Mineral, is a native of Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut, born March 20, 1810. His parents were of English descent, the father being a Baptist clergyman.
Calvin learned the carpenter and joiner trade when a young man, which furnished him employment for a number of years.
August 26, 1833, he married Miss Harriet Kies, a native also of Windham County. She was born December 23, 1812. They resided in Connecticut until the fall of 1854, when they came to Illinois, stopping in Stephenson County until the following spring, when they settled on a farm in Bureau County. At the expiration of two years they moved to Mineral, which has since been their home.
They are the parents of the following children, viz: Daniel C., Josephine E. (deceased in infancy), Mary T., Louisa F., Marie A., Sarah J. and Harriet Emma. All the children are married and settled in life. Daniel served as a soldier in the defense of his Government against rebellion; enlisting as a private, but afterward promoted to a Lieutenancy, and is now a prosperous grain merchant in Shelby, Iowa.
Mr. and Mrs. Cooper are members of the Congregational Church, and have always exerted their influence for the moral and religious elevation of mankind. Mr. Cooper is a zealous Republican, and warm in his advocacy of the cause of the people.
Source: History of Bureau County, Illinois, H. C. Bradsby, Editor. World Publishing Company Chicago 1885