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Cooper - Penland Cemetery, 80-1 Summary Report, page 8
r> si on. tbit born llim From her ♦four notes, he added one quarter* Iof still another section. Thea camo his death??"threat 1 suicide??"on Dec. 7, 1531. the same year of hie purchase from Bowen |Just what Influenced him to take hla own life??"whether money mat-iters, troubles with hla wife, or de-1 spondoncy over hla heaJth??"la not | known. On this day, c41d for the method of dying he choss, he walk-1 rd the mile to tho banks of the! Tenncaxe, fastened an iron pot he! had carried with him over bl*[ head, and plunged Into the wateir. i His will, made the Juno prior, I left the majority of his property. I estimated at nearly 112,000. to bis wife. Hor share Included hla real estate, his cotton crop, valued at, $2,470.51. and 18 slaves, appraised* at $10,000. She also was bequeath-] nd all cattle, horsoa and household furniture. Cooper further specified that $500 should bo given to each of lib sisters, Mr*. Mary Wall, Mrs. Nancy* Veitch and Mrs. Elizabeth Roas, wife of the Rev. Alexander Roes.J His father wag to receive $25 annually as long as ho lived. Charity Took Over Farm Charity took over the reins there on tho plantation without thought, of moving the few miles to Hunts- , villa for an environment not nearly so lonesome. Sho directed hor slaves with as true an Iron hand as ever Irish woman possessed, us-' Ing her own judgment as a farm housewife in having potatoes planted In that field, com in this one. or cotton over the entire acreage. She forgot her troubles during the first year or two of this new* task, yet. as the months passed, she gradually began to miss the companionship of her husband. But a suitor appeared on the* rcene. He was Col. Houston H. Loe, originally of Tennessee, five years her junior and the owner of half a section of land jammed up into the ell formed by her three sections. After this courtship began, Lee often was her counsel in matters | 'pertaining to her farm. dften. he rode over In the early evenings and sat there at her doorstep In the bright moonlight that flooded the elope toward the river. Quietly, 1'they talked of new arrivals in Pond Beat, of the latest wrinkle in cotton planting, or of other topics of the day. interrupted only by some cow 'or sheep In the lowlands, or by the sound of a stern-wheeler chugging its way slowly up the ' river. aI the month* roUed by. Charity I Krsdually began to realize that this neighbor *u becoming a part otI her life, so eho listened to hl* proposal of marriage when finally it-came.__ / <*barit>' was a business worr.^n. .snd she considered that aH ar-*-menu should be treated carefu l ' and wisely. On D*e- L tMh. she came to the courthouse tn Huntsville ar.d had a marriage agree-' me nt recorded. ' •'Whereas. a marriage U ehorlly: , intended to be solemnized between J Charity Cooper and Houston H-Lee,” it read* “and the said Charity is po*s*.*ed in her own right of a large property, both of a ical and personal nature, and whereas. It la agreed by and between the ' contracting parties that said Charity Cooper shall reserve to bar own separate use, benefit and control,, exclusive of the said Houston H. Leo....but that the sama (prop- i trly) shall la all things remain in subject to the rights, control and dominion of the said Charity Cooper in as full ar.d ample manner as If said Intended marriage had never taken place. On this same day, she recorded a deed of trust with Jatr.es W. Fennell of r.oar Guntersville. -grandfather of W. F. Elinger and Dr. James L. Jordan of this city. After their marriage, the Lees began plans to enlarge ths wife's home left by her first husband. Four large rooms, 20 by 20 feet square, with ceilings 14 feet high, were built in a two-story* section to form the upper part of the Z, nearer the gateway. Stairway In Hall In the wide center hall between the two room* at each end of this division of the mansion was built the gradually winding walnut stairway, the really remarkable phase of the home, considering the tools with which carpenters worked in thoso days. These siepe were put up so carefully that even now. nearly a century later, they do not ehake or give with the weight upon them. To allow the curve, the wall in the rear part of the hall was rounded to coincide with the angle of the outer bannister. At regular * j Intervals in the wall along the. I stairs were placed niches for statuary, comprising another feature i seen in few local homes. From the front section of the J dwelling, back to the old brick ; part was constructed a connecting { link a story* and a half In height | and composed of four more rooms | This division was Inclosed on both j sides and at ths back by a brick V stoop, making It possible to pass from any room In the bouse during rainy weather without going , out into the dampness. A cellar, reached by two doors from the outside or by an inner . door near the back, was excavated under the enhre building. 8 - (2732)