| Notater |
- Among Wm Penn's second boat of immigrants to the American Colonies were the Cope family and the Neill family. The latter, being Quakers, settled in Pennsylvania. Descendents of both families movedwestward and Jonathan Cope, founder of Cope, Colorado, was born Oct. 17, 1935 in Jefferson County, Indiana. He was the eldest of five children born to David and Nancy [New] Cope. His father had come from Kentucky to settle in Indiana, and was in the business of raising trotting horses.
Mary Ann Neill, daughter of a farmer, was born April 7, 1840 near Columbus, Ohio. She was one of eleven children born to Samuel and Mary [Cope] Neill. In 1858 Mary Ann Neill and Jonathan Cope were married in Indiana. Four children were born to them while they lived there: William Dayton, Eva Viola, Isabel Florence, and Elizabeth Myrtle.
While in Indiana, Mr. Cope served from August 26, 1861 to September 22, 1864 in the Grand Army of the Republic, fighting in the Civil War. He was a private in Company A under Lt. James C. Whaley in the 6th Regiment under the command of Col. Campbell. Mr. Cope was a member of "The National Association of Battle of Shiloh Survivors". During the time of his military service one hand was partiallydisabled.
In 1874, the family moved to a farm near Syracuse, Nebraska. Her Grace Ann was born. Later, they moved to Harlan County, Nebraska where Mr. Cope took a homestead. Alice Glenora was born here and the four older children married. Mr. Cope devoted much of his time to orchards and the growing of ornamental and windbreak trees while ranching and farming.
In the early days of railroad, transcontinental lines were viewing with each other, reaching out to the west from the Missouri River. In the mid 1880's the C B & Q Railroad employed Mr. Cope to select a town site for use as a division point in the area of the Valley of the Arickaree. It was in 1886 that Mr. Cope, accompanied by his son-in-law , E. E. Brown, traveled to Colorado.
At Yuma they met a real estate man who took them to look over the available homesteads and tree claims. That year the Arickaree River was full of water, the prairies were green and Mr. Cope was impressed with the fertile looking area. He went on to Denver to file a tree claim on the land that is now Cope and the surrounding territory in what was then Arapahoe and is now Washington County.
In 1887 Mr. Cope came out in a freight train to Otis bringing some household goods, tree slips and grain for seed. Later that spring the Barteldes, Browns, and Cope families left Huntly, Nebraska tocome to new homesteads in Colorado. Traveling in three covered wagons drawn by teams or oxen, they drove the cattle along. When they arrived, a tent was pitched and beds were made on the sacks of grain. It was 30 miles to the nearest neighbors except for the Meadow Ranch. It was 2 1/2 miles west of Cope. Sam Clegg was foreman. They didn't own the land, just had it fenced. They had quite nice barns and house. Mr. & Mrs. Abe Ingram and his brother George were the first neighbors. They lived south of Cope. The Calahans, Jim & George Beasley, Lynns, Laybourn, Bird, Bennet, Pettibone, Henry, Grifiman, George Wellmer were the first families to move to the area. Don Hayne moved to Cope from Bird City, Kansas and started a store. Frank Clavin moved in and started a paper. A lot of single men took claims. They all boarded at the Cope home.
Mr. Cope's first undertaking was getting his tree slips in to the ground. Cuttings were first planted, but not many lived.
They then planted little trees which were about a foot tall. These trees included cottonwood, ash and box elder. Then Mr. Cope planted an orchard of peaches, cherries, apples, plums, apricots, black raspberries, wild currants and strawberries. At first all the trees had to be watered by hand but later, with a good well and windmill, they could be irrigated. Next, he planted a large field of millet so the cattle would have feed next winter. Mrs. Cope planted a large garden. All went well until a terrible storm dropping a foot of hail wiped out garden and crop. The same storm riddled the tent and ruined much of the household goods. That summer they built a two room house out of sod and dug two wells.
As more settlers arrived, the town of Cope began to take shape and a surveyor came from St. Francis, Kansas to do the plating.
Mr. Cope was interested in community affairs as well as his trees. He helped bring about the organization of the territory into voting precincts and, with others, soon had both a church and school going. In the early days there was no doctor in the community. Mrs. Cope was often called on in cases of emergency or sickness and she delivered most of the babies.
As the years went by, Mr. Cope's twenty-five acre grove was the site of the Tri-County Fall Festival, an annual event held at the end of August. Pioneers from miles around would bring their familiesby team and wagon, pitch tents and spend the next several days visiting and enjoyed the entertainment provided. One year over 4,000 people attended the festival, with an estimated 5,000 planned for the next year. There was no admission and free hay for the horses. Eventually, the crowds got so big that admission was charged. Entertainment included such speakers as Tully Scott, Supreme Count Judge, Senator Shaw, Dr. Glover from Aggies [C.S.U., Ft. Collins], and Big Ed Johnson, then the Governor of Colorado, later to become a senator of Colorado.
Mary Ann Cope died November 19, 1912 and Jonathan died November 21, 1921, at the age of 86. Both were laid to rest in the Cope Cemetery.
"Cope Centennial Book [Heritage of Cope 1888-1988]
"No one will stay in a treeless country, so we'll plant some trees. They're Gods own signals to the weary wayfarer, that he may see from afar and know, like the trail blazers of all time knew, that here in the kindly shade and shelter of these trees men will naturally congregate and townships spring forth from the association" quote from Jonathan Cope.
Jonathan planted 50,000 trees one year, and then 25,000 trees the next over 35 acres.
Jonnathan was at the Natl Convention of the Republican party in Kansas City on July 4th, 1900. Ribbon in Hilma Cope Madison's possession. Has a picture of Abraham Lincoln on it.
From Scipio, March 24th, 1873.
LETTER LIST. The following is a list of letters remaining uncalled for in the Post office at North Vernon, on Monday, March 24th.
Hauke, Leany McCammon, W. H.
Jackson, C. W. Shattuck, N.
Williams, L. T. Persons calling for these letters should state that they were advertised giving date of this advertisement.
J. C. COPE, P.M.
APRIL 8, 1873
J. C. Cope has our thanks for a copy of the Tribune Almanac for 1873.
[Note: Jonathan emigrated in 1873 to Nebraska, was the proceeding done in preparation for moving?]
Lyn Michael Gillmore says her grandmother told her Jonathan was a struggling lawyer, and Mary Ann's family disinherited her when she married him. Mary Ann's family from Indiana, owned Dept Stores. She also says many lawyers in Cope family.
CHECK LAWYER STATUS IN INDIANA
Lyn Gillmore, 1109 Ariola Drive, Pensacola Beach, Florida 32561. 850-932-3719.H as family pictures, originals, says will send copies, 11/98. Rec'd copies of pictures of Jonathan 12/98 - in scrapbook.
COPIED FROM PAGES 59 AND 60 of "Colorado Prairie Tales" written by Hildred Walters and Lorraine Young and published by The Business Farmer Printing Co., Scottsbluff, NE. in 1974....
In the Name of Progress
Hand in hand with progress and prosperity in Northeast Colorado come the dissolution of old landmarks and the destruction of historical and legendary sites. This change is no doubt inevitable, and people will benefit by it, but it brings with it a feeling of nostalgia and regret for the scenes that once were and now will never be again.
Among these ancient landmarks now not much more than just a memory is the multi-acre Cope Grove.
When Jonathan Cope filed on the land that became the town of Cope and came to live there in the 1887's, he brought with him from the "East" his household goods, grain for seed - and tree slips, many of them, which he planted and cared for tenderly, until in time they grew and flourished and became the famous Grove. Mr. Cope built a sod house and settled down to make a home. Others came, built sod houses, and planted slips from the trees in the Cope Grove. Stores were established, and "Cope" grew into a town.
As time went on, the Grove became a center of attraction, and community picnics were held there year after year. Pioneers from miles around would bring their families to the Grove, in wagons, pitch their tents and spend several days together, cooking their meals on open wood fires. All kinds of entertainment were provided; horse races, radios, dances, games of various kinds, concessions and merry-go-rounds. Gamblers came from Denver to exercise their trade. Outstanding speakers were sometimes scheduled for the enjoyment of the more serious minded picnickers. One year an ice cream cone manufacturer showed up, much to the delight of the small fry!
The railroad never came, and the town did not develop as much as had been hoped, but the "picnics" continued and became annual events long after the days of the pioneers, in fact up into recent years. Cope picnics are still held in the Cope Memorial Park now that the Grove is no longer there. But much of the glamor and the zest is missing.
An irrigation system has been installed on the land where Mr. Cope's cherished grove once flourished, and the beautiful trees are gone.
COPIED FROM PAGE 6 OF "Colorado Country Life" April 1974...article written by Stephen J. Leonard, Metro State College, Denver, Co. entitled "Bovines and Vandals Hinder the Greening of the Plains."
One of the best known early planters was J. C. Cope, namesake of Cope [Washington County]. Employed by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad to select a town site for use as a division point, Cope journeyed west with the understanding that he would also experiment with growing trees. His efforts proved successful and within a few decades his twenty-five acre grove was helping attract settlers into east central Colorado. For years after he left the area, Daddy Cope returned annually to attend pioneer gatherings in the grove. He died in 1921 at the age of 86 no doubt proud of his roleas Colorado's Johnny Appleseed.
FROM "ROSTER OF INDIANA SOLDIERS IN NEBRASKA" in January 1, 1886 from Grand Island, Nebraska, Times Book & Job Printing House.
6th Infantry - Jonathan Cope , Company A, Alma, Nebraska
FROM "REUNION AND ROSTER OF THE SIXTH INDIANA INFAN
TRY held at North Vernon, Indiana, October 10 and 11, 1889.
6th Indiana Regiment, Company A
Cope, W.H.H.......................[of] Faulkner, Indiana
Cope, Jonathan....................[of] Canaan, Indiana
Cope, James H.....................[of] Mudlick, Indiana
FROM 'PAPER' OF AUGUST 11, 1920 by Volney T. Hoggatt
ONCE A YEAR THE PIONEERS OF COPE, COLO., MEET IN DADDY COPE'S GROVE AND HOLD FALL FESTIVAL AND PICNIC, IN WHICH THREE COUNTIES JOIN.
The Cope Pioneers' Association and Tri-county Fall Festival will be held on the Old Settlers' picnic ground in Cope Park, Washington County, Colorado, for three days this year, on August 26, 27, and 28th.
This tri-county fall festival, including the counties of Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson, is held every year in the beautiful 25 acre grove known as Cope Park, at Cope, Colorado. Cope is situated inthe southeastern corner of Washington County and in one of the most prosperous farming countries in the west.
From four to five thousand people annually attend this festival, and from five to six thousand are expected this year. The park includes a children's playground, having in it swings, slides, teeter boards and other amusements, perfectly safe under the supervision of trained attendants. A sanitary water system has been installed in the beautiful grove known as "Daddy Cope's Grove" and every provision for the comfort and amusement of all. The big tent amphitheater will seat comfortably one thousand people and the best of speakers will be on the platform.
The officers of the association are: L.M. Challis, president; Judson C. Stratton, treasurer, and N. L. Fastineau, secretary. The writer of this story has visited these pioneers at their annual fallfestival for the past five years, and it has been my pleasure to have the opportunity seeing, without the necessity of going to my old home town in Iowa, the same country that exists in Ames, Iowa. You would believe that you were in the heart of the state of Iowa by attentively observing its magnificent crops, and the sturdy old grove planted there by Father Cope, the pioneer of Washington County, Colorado, back in the '70. Silos to the right of you and silos to the left of you.
Chockfull of human interest is the story of J.C. Cope who now has retired and is living in Los Angeles, but each year the good Lord has spared his constitution so that he has been able to be the king of the pioneers' association by being present with the old settlers.
The story of the Cope Grove reads like a romance. In the early days of railroad building, transcontinental lines were vieing with each other in reaching out to the west from the Missouri river. TheChicago, Quincey and Burlington Railroad had made a survey through northeastern Colorado and selected Daddy Cope as the road blazer and made arrangement with him to go to the point that now is the thriving town of Cope. This was in the valley of the Arickaree, located in the shallow water and rain belt of northern Colorado. The intention of the Burlington was to make what is now the town of Cope a division point or terminal of the railroad.
Mr. Cope, then a young man, was called to the office of the Burlington and offered the job to go out and select a town site in that portion of the State. He was a successful farmer and devoted much of his time to orchards and the raising of ornamental and useful trees on his farm. In other words, he had a "show farm" on the prairies of the west in those early days. The first question Mr. Cope asked the officers was, "Will trees grow in that Godforsaken country?" They were frank to say they didn't know.
With a distinct understanding, Mr. Cope agreed to go out there and homestead a claim, but with the provision that unless trees could be grown on that empire of prairie land, his engagement would terminate, but only after a careful effort and undertaking to grow trees. Patiently he worked, and the result was one of the most beautiful artificial groves on the western hemisphere.
It is no wonder that five thousand people visit Cope Park every year, if for no other reason in the world than to rest in the shadow of that luxuriant and magnificent bower of trees. I claim that it is one of the biggest assets to northern Colorado. But with it you will find as rich an agricultural country as can be found anywhere in the Mississippi valley. It is a natural corn country. Ideal for grain, hundred of silos dot the surrounding country, thousands of acres of corn fields have become a common sight in the heart of the great grain belt of the western plains, homes with every modern convenience, prosperous, contented and one hundred percent American farmers. Many of the farmers spend their summer vacations in Cope's Grove instead of going to the mountains, and will go further and say that there are numbers of people from the east who motor to Cope's Grove for their summer vacation.
Truly, it is an ideal spot on the landscape of fair, eastern Colorado. Perhaps it is as pleasing to the community of Cope that they are twenty five or thirty miles from the nearest railroad. The law of necessity told those old-timers, "You have got to stay there because you have not enough money to get to a railroad," and their stick-to-itive-ness brought prosperity, contentment and peace of mind. Had this beautiful grove been planted along the lines of any of our Colorado railroads today, these lands might have been in the hands of speculators and that magnificent, divine grove blooming alone in its won glory with no appreciation from contented settlers.
The early history of Iowa shows that the first settlements to that great empire, we well as in Illinois and Missouri, centered around the groves that nature created. Mr. Cope undoubtedly had that inmind and probably foresaw that the greatest asset to that timber less land was the creating of an artificial grove for shelter and as an attraction to his family and its early settlers.
You thrifty pioneers, you farmers who have blazed the trail, all of you who have cars of your own, don't forget your neighbor who is not yet blessed with one. A motor car is a necessity today and you cannot place it higher or more beneficial use than by using it to take your neighbors who has no car to this fall festival; call and get him and his family, because what is needed today is the cement of kindly feeling among all of us. That would not be an act of charity, it would be an act of love. Don't forget to bring all the children, and all your neighbor's to this annual fall festival in your cars. Some day they may have a car of their won and they will not then forget you.
COPE OPENS HOUSE FOR CENTENNIAL - ARKANSAS VALLEY JOURNAL - 8 SEPTEMBER 1988
by Dick Gillespie
COPE- Over the long Labor Day weekend, this sleepy little town by the dry bed of the Arickaree river woke up to its 100th birthday. Participants in the centennial celebration tried to remember all that's happened to it during the last century and celebrated it cowboy style.
Saturday, there was a parade at 10:30 a.m. and an Arickaree Saddle Club fun day at the Cope Arena in the afternoon. There was a style show and outdoor entertainment. A big country barbecue and beltbuckle auction began at 6 p.m. followed by square dancing or western outdoor dance for the nimble footed. Breakfast was served immediately following the outdoor dance at 1:30 a.m.
Sunday festivities began with an outdoor church service and Old Settler's potluck picnic. A horseshoe pitching tournament and jackpot roping were afternoon fare.
There were miniature train rides, a quilt show, craft and refreshment booths, wagon rides and games. The Cope Centennial book and other souvenirs were on sale throughout the celebration.
This celebration held special meaning for Hilma Cope Madison and Mary Cope Zech. They are direct descendants, great-granddaughters, of the Johnny Appleseed who founded the town, Jonathan Cope.
Cope was a Civil War veteran with a natural aptitude for growing orchards and ornamental and windbreak groves of trees learned while he was farming and ranching near Syracuse, Nebraska. In the mid-1880's, the CB and Q railroad hired Cope to find a town site for a railroad division point in the valley of the Arickaree River.
In 1886, a hotshot real estate agent from Yuma took them to look at the land around where the town of Cope is today. Cope, and his son-in-law, E. E. Brown, were impressed. That year, the river was full of water and the prairie was green. Cope was impressed enough to go to Denver and file a tree claim.
The next year, Cope came as far as Otis in a freight train bringing some household goods, tree slips and grain for seed. Later that spring, the Cope family, along with the Barteldes and Browns, arrived by covered wagon. They pitched a tent, laid their beds on some grain sacks and they were home.
Cope's first job was getting his trees in the ground. He planted cuttings, but not many survived. Then he planted little trees about a foot tall and had better luck. He planted cottonwood, ash andBox elder. After the windbreaks, he put in an orchard of peaches, cherries, apples, plums, apricots, black raspberries, wild currants and strawberries. They were all watered by hand until they could be irrigated by a well and a windmill.
He planted millet for cattle, and a large garden for the family. A foot of hail took care of both crops plus the tent, so they built a two-room house and put down a couple of wells. As the town grew, Cope became the civic leader, and his wife, Mary Ann, became the doctor without portfolio. She delivered most of the babies, and was called out for emergencies and sickness.
Cope's 25-acre grove became the home of the annual Tri-County Fall Festival. One year, over 5,000 people came to the celebration and finally they had to charge admission in self-defense. Politicians came in droves to stir the leaves on the trees with their oratory. The grove is still there, but there are abandoned old car bodies where the people used to park their teams and wagons, while they picnicked under the branches.
In the town itself, even the streets couldn't escape the pressure of politics. Cope, a staunch Republican, made sure the streets bore the names of Republican presidents.
Hilma and Mary were raised, for the most part, south of town on a ranch until their father became a businessman in town. Both are respected painters. Hilma has worked for the post office since she was in high school, and will retire in September. Mary, an expert in business management, now works for a telephone company in Joes. She can show you that the coolest spot in town is under the spittin' black elms, and can remember some guys stealing a horse tank from Jacob's Hardware and riding the crest of a flood that swept through Cope down the Arickaree.
They survived, but barely. Other floods altered the town a little and damaged it a lot, but it danced at its Centennial with only a little arthritis and without a noticeable limp.
From "Cope" a school report by Jimmy Galbreath----
The land [around Cope] already held some settlers [1887] as the tree claim was located in a pasture fenced by fifteen miles of barbed wire. In those days this territory was the pasture land of the Great American Cattle company, which had it's headquarters just west of town and ran several hundred head of cattle. This company was bitterly opposed to settlers coming in, for it broke up their range. Just how far they carried their hostility is indicated by the fact that when a family was in need and it was reported to the county commissioners in Denver, they would offer to pay the familys fare out of the county, but would not give aid for them to stay. In the face of such conditions, added to the hardships of the country itself, the homesteaders had to win their way and their right to live here.
Mr. Cope had planted his tree slips, but not many lived. Next he planted little trees, about one foot high; Cottonwood, Boxelder, and Ash. At first he watered them by hand, but later he had a well with a windmill on it and watered his trees by irrigation.
The tree claim flourished under Mr. Cope's care and grew, later he also planted Plum, Apple, Peach, and Cherry trees and Chokecherry and Gooseberry shrubs.
Newspaper article - Civil Works Interview of Luella Bell McKenzie -
"I was well acquainted with Jonathan Calvin Cope, the founder and owner of the famous "Cope Grove" where the Old Settlers Reunions used to be held. Mr. Cope came to Colorado in the spring of 1887 and took up a pre-emption and timberclaim, thus taking in the one-half section. He built a sod house and put down a well, then carefully surveyed and platted the grounds for the Grove and planted the little seedlings in the place prepared for them. Soon a General store was started, then the post office was made a part of the store, and a livery barn was built and managed by Jas. Wilson and his son, and a Feed store was owned by John Brandt. We had a newspaper too, the "Diamond Telescope" but I do not remember who was the publisher. When I went to school in Cope I stayed with the Cope family and I remember one big sod house was partitioned off with sheets. This was a very kind, nice family. Water was easy to get and Mr. Cope soon had irrigation ditches on his place, helping the little seedlings to grow into the famous grove in which the celebrations were held. A son, William D. Cope, lives in Seibert."
Could Jonathan have been a relative of Evan Cope, Mary Ann Cope Neills cousin [The Neill Record 5-9 appendices] who the Samuel Morton Neill family stayed with when they came to Butlersville from Columbiana Co, Ohio?
- Adresse:
1860 - Monroe Twp, Jefferson Co, IN
10 Okt 1882 - land patent in Harlan County, Nebraska. Homestead Cert # 3304. Application #6621.
10 Mar 1883 - Bainbridge, Harlan Co, NE
1 Jan 1886 - lived in Alma, Nebraska.
Okt 1889 - Canaan, Jefferson Co, IN
20 Okt 1919 - land patent in Harlan County, Nebraska. Homestead Cert # 3304. Application #6621.
274 N. Hicks St, Los Angeles, CA
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1835 - 1921 (86 år)