Cooper Case Decided By Supreme Court
1915
TRANSCRIBED BY : TINA EASLEY
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ar/county/greene/
FROM THE WEEKLY SOLIPHONE
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Feb. 5, 1915 - FRIDAY
PECULIAR FAMILY TANGLE INVOLVING AN ESTATE , WAS APPEALED FROM GREENE COUNTY
ON MONDAY THE SUPREME COURT HANDED DOWN ITS OPINION IN THE CASE OF ELLA J. COOPER VS. MAUDE McGOY , APPEALED FROM THE CHANCERY COURT OF GREENE COUNTY.
THIS CASE IS ONE THAT HAS EXCITED A GOOD DEAL OF INTEREST , IN THAT IT WAS A CASE INVOLVING THE ESTATE OF JACOB COOPER , DECEASED, WHO WAS A PROMINENT CITIZEN AND FARMER OF THE COUNTY. HE LEFT SURVIVING HIM AS THE HEIRS OF HIS BODY , CLYDE COOPER , CLARENCE COOPER , VIOLA McCLURE , GLADYS COOPER , VESTER L. COOPER AND ONIT T. COOPER AND HIS WIFE , ELLA J. COOPER , CLAIMED HER RIGHT OF DOWER AND HOMESTEAD , WHICH WAS DISPUTED BY MAUDE McCOY WHO RESIDES IN KNOX COUNTY , IND. AND WHO SET UP HER CLAIM AS THE REAL WIFE WHO SET UP HER CLAIM AS THE REAL WIFE OF THE DECEASED , JACOB COOPER .
AT A HEARING OF THE CAUSE IN THE LOWER COURT THE CHANCELLOR RECOGNIZED THE INDIANA WOMAS AS THE REAL WIFE OF JACOB COOPER AND THE DECREE WAS SO ENTERED, FROM WHICH THE GREENE COUNTY WIDOW APPEALED AND THE SUPREME COURT , IN ITS OPINION MONDAY SUSTAINED THE FINDING OF THE CHANCELLOR ACCORDING TO THE RECORDS IN THE CASE COOPER WAS MARRIED TO INDIANA WOMAN IN MARCH , 1880 AND THAT COOPER DESERTED HER IN MAY 1895 , AND WENT TO ILLINOIS WHERE HE MET THE WOMAN WHO BECAME HIS SECOND MATRIMONIAL PARTNER AND THE RECORDS DO NOT DISCLOSE THAT HE WAS EVER DIVORCED FROM THE FIRST WIFE.
HE WENT TO TEXAS AND THE MARRIAGE TO THE RECORD OCCURRED IN ALVORD COUNTY , TEXAS IN OCTOBER 1895 , SHE HAVING LEFT ILLINOIS TO JOIN HIM , FOR THE PURPOSE OF BECOMING HIS WIFE. THE LEGAL CONTENTION OF R.E.L. JOHNSON AND GEO. A. BURR , WHO REPRESENTED THE INDIANA WOMAIN IN LITIGATION AND WHICH WAS SUSTAINED BY THE COURT IS "THAT WHERE A MAN HAS A LIVING WIFE .