Rev. Ignatius T. Cooper, D.D.

Rev. Cooper served as a minister to Whatcoat U.M.C. in 1864-65 .

On a website entitled “Ancestors & Relatives of Reverdy Lewin Orrell IV” we find the following vitals on Rev. Cooper. The earliest of Ignatius’ ancestors noted are Richard Cooper who died in 1773, and his wife, Ann Broadway who d. in 1798. They had four daughters and six sons which included Richard, who was born on 10 Sep 1755 at Tuckahoe Neck, Caroline County, Md., and died 28 Aug 1818 at Passey, Dover, Delaware.

Richard married Clarissa Taylor who was born in 1778, and died on 24 Mar 1841 in Dover, Delaware. They had three sons including Ignatius Taylor Cooper who was born on 16 Mar 1806 in Dover, Delaware. He married Mary T. Godwin on 7 Feb 1831 in Greensboro, Caroline County, Maryland. They had two daughters and six sons.

While still in its infancy, the Delaware “State library continued in its ¹inchoate state until the session of 1832, presumably in charge of the secretary of State, when, on the 4th of February of that year, the General Assembly by joint resolution appointed William Johnson and Ignatius T. Cooper, Esq. (Rev. I.T. Cooper, D.D.), “commissioners to take in charge and trust the books and papers in the libraries of this Legislature; and so arrange them on the shelves and within the archives of the said library, that they may be readily referred to as needed by the members, &c.

“They were succeeded by William R. Morris, February 8, 1833; by James H.M. Clayton, February 13, 1835; by Hon. Joseph P. Comegys (now chief justice), February 22, 1837; by Henry Eubanks, February 5, 1841, “whose duty it shall be to take charge of the Library of this State; to arrange and put in proper order all the books and papers deposited therein.” Source: History of Delaware,1609-1888, Thomas J. Scharf, Volume Two- pp. 1031-1042.

In 1840 Rev. Cooper pastored the Mt. Hope M.E. Church in Aston Township, Delaware County, PA.

He is listed as a delegate to the 1844 General Conference, as a representative of the Philadelphia Conference.

To view an address of a Committee including the Rev. Ignatius T. Cooper to the Philadelphia Annual Conference to the Societies under its care, Wilmington, Del., April 7, 1847, click on the blue links. They link to graphics of pages which include the arguments offered in defense of accusations of abolitionist beliefs. The graphics are large, so you’ll need to give them time to load. [Title Page of Source] [2] [3]
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, an abolitionist is a reformer who favors abolishing slavery.
Source: The Impending Crisis of 1860 or the Present Connection of the Methodist Episcopal Church With Slavery, and Our Duty In Regard To It; H. Mattison, of the Black River Conference; pp. 36-37; New York; Mason Bros., No. 46 Walker St.; 1859

Previous to 1850 Ignatius had preached in Thomas’ Chapel, the first church or chapel built by the people of West Dover, who later became Methodists.

“The Methodists were the pioneers in religious movements in Media. In 1851 the Rev. John B. Maddux, who had charge of Village Green Church, preached in Temperance Hall in Media, and a class of five members was organized, of which John Hardcastle was leader. During the winter prayer-meetings and class-meetings were held in the house of Joseph Iliff. In August, 1851, a lot, eighty by one hundred and fifty feet, was purchased, with a view of erecting a house of worship upon it at some propitious time. A charter was obtained the same year. The Rev. Ignatius. T. Cooper succeeded to the charge of the circuit, and services were held on the church lot under an apple-tree, and during the winter in the court-house. Mark Packard subsequently fitted up a room in the upper part of his barn, which was used as a meeting-place by the church and also for a Sunday-school, which was organized about that time under Mr. Packard’s superintendence. A public appeal in behalf of the project of erecting a church appeared in the columns of the Delaware County Republican, April 8, 1853, and was from the able pen of Rev. Cooper. In his communication it was stated that there were at that time but about a dozen Methodists in Media, but he intimated that a large number of them resided in its immediate vicinity. He gave a number of forcible reasons why such a church edifice should be erected without delay, and urged his brethren to commence at once the final efforts that were needed to consummate the work. It was stated that about twelve hundred dollars had been subscribed of the amount required, three thousand five hundred dollars, and that ground would not be broken until two thousand dollars had been secured. The ministers named to receive the contributions were Rev. Mr. Hobbs, Rev. Henry G. King, and Rev. I. T. Cooper. The others appointed were Mark Packard, of Media; D. R. Hawkins, Hinkson’s Corner; Abram Vanzant, Avondale; and John Godfrey, Crook’s Upper Bank. The appeal was an earnest, and subsequently proved to be an effective, one, in behalf of what Mr. Cooper termed “the Metropolitan Church of Delaware County.

“It may seem a little strange that one of the paragraphs in the reverend gentleman’s communication should have contained the declaration that “the men and women will sit separately in the congregation,” but such was the fact.” Source: History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania; Henry Graham Ashmead; Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co.; 1884

In 1854 Ignatius was called to be the second pastor at the Crozerville United Methodist Church which in 2003 is located at 673-A Mount Rd. Aston, PA.

In 1858 he pastored St. George’s Church, of Lower Chichester. Rev. Henry H. Bodine followed him as pastor 1859-60. In 1851 the church was part of Mount Hope Station, and in 1852 it became Village Green Circuit. Rev. Bodine also pastored Whatcoat church of Camden, DE. 1876-77.
Source: History of Delaware 1609-1888; by J. Thomas Scharf, A.M., LL.D.; Pub. in Philadelphia, PA by L.J. Richards & Co. 1888.

In March of 1871 there was an attempt by U.S. Representative Wood to have Rev. Cooper named as the Chaplain of the House of Representatives. The resulting vote failed to give him this honor. The record of Rep. Wood’s motion is seen below.

On February 10, 1873 U.S. Representative Biggs introduced a bill “For the relief of Reverend I.T. Cooper. See below.

The Preface of Beams of Light on Early Methodism In America states, “THIS work was written for the purpose of giving the student of the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church facts concerning her early years that are essential to a clear understanding of them. These facts have been gathered from the documents, letters, tracts, and diary of that venerable man of God, Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, and after his decease transmitted to his nephew and heir at law, the honored Rev. Ignatius T. Cooper, D.D., late of Camden, Delaware, who held them until April, 1884, when he was called to join his uncle in the courts above, leaving the papers hereof spoken in the hands of his son, Ezekiel W. Cooper, M.D., also of Camden, who now holds them in possession.”

It also states, “Of Rev. Ignatius T. Cooper, D.D., by whose kindness the writer received and held the documents for several years, it may be said: He was a man of God; for fifty-five years led the life of a pure and devoted Christian; for twenty-five years served the Methodist Episcopal Church in the act work of the itinerancy, was an able and impressive preacher, a wise counsellor, to whom was intrusted the responsibility of legislation in the Church of his choice, and was, as his biographer truthfully remarked, “A man of unbending principle, of positive convictions, and uttered his sentiments fearlessly, but with a dignity becoming the lofty character which he sustained. A warm advocate of temperance, and every progressive movement in moral reform, he was unswerving in his devotion to the cause he espoused.” He fell asleep in Jesus on the 12th of April, 1884, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.

“These papers, falling into his hands, were religiously preserved, and were loaned to the compiler of this volume, who in order to obtain them was led to give a written obligation to preserve them undefiled, and to return them without loss of any one of them when called upon to do so.” Source: “Beams of Light on Early Methodism In America”; Chiefly drawn from the diary, letters, manuscripts, documents and orig. tracts of the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper; Compiled by Geo. A. Phoebus, D.D.; 1887; pp. iii-v.

Thanks to Ignatius’ care and preservation of his Uncle Ezekiel’s documents, we now have another glimpse into the life of our Richard Whatcoat.

In writing about the area of Camden, Delaware, Thomas J. Scharf wrote in 1888, “Dundee” is a tract of nine hundred acres taken up by James Wells, for whom it was surveyed December 24, 1680. It adjoins Brecknock and “Little Geneva.” In 1771, Richard Jackson was the owner of one hundred and fifty acres. In 1783 the greater part of this tract was in possession of the heirs of James Gardner. In 1887, two hundred and nine acres of this tract is in possession of the heirs of the Rev. Ignatius T. Cooper. Other parts are owned by Thomas Saxton, Thomas Downham, the heirs of Walker Mifflin, the heirs of Thomas L. Madden, by Philo A. Kent, Abram N. Brown, Thomas Jackson and others.” Source: Scharf, Thomas J., History of Delaware, 1609-1888; Volume 2; pp. 1130-1147.

In the The Cecil Whig (Elkton,Cecil County, Md.) March 7, 1891 newspaper, the death of Mr. John Wesley Cooper, a highly respected farmer of Kent county, Del., was reported. Mr. Cooper, “who resided near Whiteleysberg in that county, died at his home on Sunday last in his seventy-third year. Mr. Cooper was the father of nine children, eight of whom are living, of whom seven were sons, three of them viz. Dr. John W. Cooper of this town, Dr. Peter Cooper of Wilmington, Del., and Dr. Thomas Cooper of Chestertown, are prominent Homeopathic physicians. Two of his sons were lawyers, one of whom is deceased, and two others farmers. Mr. Cooper died on the farm on which he was born in the year 1818, and which has been owned by seven generations of the Cooper family. He was married twice, his second wife surviving him. He has visited his son Dr. John W. Cooper, -who married Miss Annie R. Wells, only daughter of our venerable and respected Post Master, Joseph Wells, -a number of times. He was a man of character and integrity, and died possessed of a fine landed property

Mr. Cooper’s family has been a prominent one in the history of Delaware Methodism. The Rev. Ezekiel Cooper was his uncle and he was a cousin of the Rev. Ignatius T. Cooper, both of them eloquent Methodist preachers. His brother the Rev. E. F. Cooper was also a Methodist minister and died at Galena, Md., in 1863. The late Senator S. B. Cooper, of Delaware a prominent Methodist was also a brother of the deceased.”

Marriage performed by Rev. Cooper:
Appearing in the 6/3/1851 issue of the Philadelphia Public Ledger: On the 26th ult., by the Rev. Ignatius Cooper, Mr. Edward Stokes of Philadelphia to Miss Martha Rowe of Spring Garden.

¹Inchoate means to be only partly in existence; imperfectly formed.

Rev. Cooper’s obituary appeared in the April 17, 1884 issue of Baltimore, Md’s Sun paper. It states, “Rev. Ignatius T. Cooper, D.D., a well known minister of the M.E. Church, died at Camden, Delaware, a few days ago, aged 79 years”.

This biographical piece is a work in progress. As more information becomes available, it will be included on this page.
– B.J. Peters