Sacred Ground: Cooper Memorial Gardens
Cooper Memorial Gardens, located in the Coopertown neighborhood of West Oneida, adjacent to New Haven Missionary Baptist Church, is one of Scott County’s best-kept cemeteries. It dates back just over 100 years — and, of course, started with the Cooper family.
The Cooper family
A flat stone in Cooper Memorial Gardens, which is also commonly known as West Lawn Cemetery, was placed in memoriam of the family of Eli Cooper and his wife, Jemima Taylor.
Eli Cooper was born in 1849, the son of George Washington Cooper (1819-1881) and Emily Wilson (1818-1901) of Pine Knot, Ky. Jemima, also born in 1849, was the daughter of Dempsey Taylor (1813-1891) and Ann Meadors (1825-1886) of Winfield. (They’re both buried at Davis Cemetery on Alderville Road.)
Eli and Jemima were married in 1871. Their first child, daughter Elizabeth, was born later that same year (d. 1908). Other children included Barbara (1873-1908), George (1875-1890), Jane (1877-1945), Dr. William Sherman (1879-1963), Elmon (1881-1958), Vica (1884-1918), Margaret Susan (1886-1912), Horace Fayette (1888-1967) and Belle (born Florence Isabelle, 1890-1939).
The most prominent of the Cooper children was Horace Fayette, commonly known as H.F. Cooper. He was a successful merchant and businessman who perhaps played a bigger role in the early growth of the Town of Oneida than any other single person.
But the Cooper business actually began with H.F.’s father, Eli. He owned a general merchandise store in the downtown area, overlooking the railroad on Depot Street. H.F. would buy that store in 1901 (remarkably, he was just 13 at the time), and built it into a very successful business. At one point, it included a drug store, a hardware store and a feed store, in addition to a dry goods store.
Aside from his retail endeavors, Cooper served 12 years as the president of First Trust & Savings Bank — known today as United Cumberland Bank — and established Oneida’s first funeral home. He also established the first broiler business in Scott County.
H.F. Cooper’s civic endeavors were many. He helped start the Oneida Kiwanis Club and served as its president in 1926, founded the Oneida Water Department and served as its president for several years, helped organize Plateau Electric Cooperative and served on its board of trustees, and was instrumental in the early organization of Scott County’s first Boy Scouts troop.
When Cooper died in 1967, his obituary noted: “A considerable amount of the progress and growth now enjoyed by Scott Countians can be attributed largely to the unselfish efforts of Mr. Cooper, who gave of his time and money to make Scott County a better place to live.” Serving as his pallbearers were a who’s who of Oneida business and civic leaders, including Arlie Lay, Arnold Colditz, Herbert Jeffers, Tobe Phillips, J.J. Robbins, Roy Johnson and Lillard Human. On the day of his funeral, the town’s mayor requested that all businesses in town close for at least one hour during the funeral service, which was officiated by Philip Kazee and Roy Blevins.
H.F. Cooper married Myrtle Watters (1891-1982), the daughter of Joseph Watters and Luver Shepherd.
Of course, H.F. Cooper was just one of the children of Eli and Jemima Cooper, and several of his siblings also enjoyed considerable success in life.
Dr. W.S. Cooper, for instance, was a prominent physician, although he only practiced medicine in Scott County for a few years. He began his medical career in Morristown, Tenn. and then practiced in Hot Springs, Ark. Until moving back to Oneida in 1914. He practiced medicine here for six years before moving to the veterans hospital at Mountain View, Tenn. He then spent 20 years as a company doctor for the Stearns Coal & Lumber Co. before moving back to Oneida to practice in 1943.
Dr. Cooper and his wife, Nancy, had one child: W.S. “Bill” Cooper Jr.
Among the rest of the Cooper children: Elizabeth married Cyrenous Waite Shepherd (1872-1960), the son of John Marion Shepherd and Jane Ramsey of Kentucky and a long-time blacksmith for the Stearns Co.; Barbara married Fountain M. Carter (1874-1957), the son of William J. Carter and Viana Crouch of Kentucky, and a long-time carpenter for the Stearns Co.; Rebecca married Sidney L. Stephens (1874-1962), the son of Lewis Stephens and Amanda Shepherd of Kentucky; Elmon married Pearl Nelson (1887-1952), the daughter of George W. Nelson and Katie Manes of Georgia; Vicie married Calvin C. Newport (1879-1953), the son of Melvin Newport and Amanda Hughett of Robbins; Margaret (known as Maggie) married John L. Fetterman Jr. (1882-1943), the son of John L. Fetterman Sr. — the Yankee soldier from Pennsylvania who marched through Scott County with Gen. Ambrose Burnside in 1863 and was so impressed that he returned later in life and established a bowl factory on Smith Creek.
Due to the plaque placed at Cooper Memorial Gardens in the early 1860s, there is some confusion as to when the cemetery began. Some sources incorrectly list the Cooper children who died prior to the 1920s — including 15-year-old George, Elizabeth, Barbara, Vica and Maggie — as being buried there. However, many of them were actually buried at Marcum Cemetery a few miles away. That was the town’s early cemetery, and is located on top of the hill roughly behind the Scott Farmers Co-Op.
It was at Marcum Cemetery where Elizabeth and Barbara were buried in 1908 (both of their husbands were buried in Kentucky), along with Maggie and her husband. George, who died at age 15, was buried in McCreary County. Vica — the mother of Oneida banker Archie Max Newport and grandmother of banker Charles Max Newport — was buried at Robbins Cemetery when she died the day after Christmas in 1918 at the age of 34. (Her husband, however, was buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens when he died in 1953).
Once Cooper Memorial Gardens was founded, the remaining children of Eli and Jemima Cooper were buried there, with the exception of Rebecca, who was buried in Pine Knot in 1945.
The cemetery begins
The confusion aside, the first burial at Cooper Memorial Gardens took place in 1922, when the family matriarch, Jemima Taylor Cooper, died at age 73. Her gravestone reads “Mimie J. Cooper.”
Interestingly, while his wife was buried at the cemetery that would eventually become known as Cooper Memorial Gardens, Eli Cooper was buried at Marcum Cemetery in 1929, where several of his children had been buried.
In fact, following Jemima’s death in 1922, another member of the family was not buried at Cooper Cemetery until Belle died in 1939, some 17 years later. A visit to the cemetery today reveals only seven Coopers buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens — Jemima and six of her sons and daughters-in-law.
The cemetery grows
In the early days, the cemetery next-door to New Haven Missionary Baptist Church was known exclusively as West Lawn Cemetery. After Jemima Cooper died in 1922, her grave stood alone until 1939, when Belle died at age 48 and was buried at the cemetery.
Four years later, Sgt. William “Sid” Stanfill died in World War II and was buried at the cemetery, becoming the first person outside the Cooper family to be buried there. Stanfill was the 19-year-old son of Oda Stanfill and Minnie King, and was married to Libby Jones (1921-2011). He had just returned from a furlough to visit his family in Scott County when he died of a gunshot wound at a military base in New Jersey. His widow, who died in 2011 in Georgia, never remarried.
The following year, 1844, 78-year-old John Shelby Davis was buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens. His wife, Lucinda Chitwood, was buried there two years later.
While only one person — Belle Cooper Leeper — was buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens between the death of her mother, Jemima, in 1922 and the war death of Sid Stanfill in 1943, burials at the cemetery greatly increased in the mid 1940s.
The same year John Shelby Davis was buried at the cemetery, 14-year-old Richard Earl Davis of Robbins — the son of William Davis and Mary Elliot, who would later be buried at the cemetery — was buried there when he died in a car accident.
Also that year, 41-year-old Earl Watters was buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens when he died of a heart attack. His parents, William N. Watters and Mary Etta Stephens, would later be buried at the cemetery, as well. So, too, were two of his siblings: Minnie Hutson in 1991 and Ray Watters in 1997.
Sgt. John F. Milsap, was killed in World War II on April 3, 1945, at the age of 24. He became the second wartime casualty buried at the cemetery.
That same year, 62-year-old John Coulter was buried at the cemetery.
Eleven more people were buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens in the 1940s, and 22 people were buried there in the 1950s. Cooper Memorial became one of Oneida’s most active cemeteries.
The Newport family
Of all the families represented at Cooper Memorial Gardens, few are more prominently represented there than the Newport family.
The first member of the family to be buried at the cemetery was Walter Jay Newport in 1952. He was the victim of a homicide at the age of 36. He died instantly from a blow to the head. He was the son of John Newport and Inez McDonald, and a veteran of the U.S. Army.
Jay Newport also had two siblings buried at the cemetery: Hugo Newport (1914-2003) and his wife Nella Coffey (1920-1981), and Edith Newport (1920-1959). Their parents are buried at the Vanderpool Cemetery in Huntsville.
Jay Newport and his siblings were not closely related to Calvin Newport, who married one of the Cooper girls and was buried at the cemetery when he died in 1953 at age 74. He was the son of Melvin Newport and Amanda Hughett of Robbins. His paternal grandparents were from Brimstone; his grandmother, Lucinda McPeters Newport, was the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Joseph McPeters. While Calvin Newport’s parents were buried at Robbins Cemetery — along with his first wife, Vicie Cooper — he had several siblings buried at Coffey Cemetery in Oneida.
Following Vicie’s death in 1918, Calvin Newport remarried to Luna Phillips in 1926. She is also buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens.
Among Calvin’s children were Archie Max (1908-1968), Calvin Cooper (1913-1993), James Howard (1927-1956), Calvin Phillip (1933-2006), Melva Jean Reed (1937-2019) and Marion Edwin (1941-1955). All were buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens, along with their spouses: Reba Sexton (Archie), Marietta Settles (Clayton), and Kay McIntyre (Phil). Dr. Finley Royce Reed (Melva Jean), who survives, has a shared stone with his wife at the cemetery.
The family lineage of bankers at Cooper Memorial Gardens continued with Archie Max Newport. His uncle, H.F. Cooper, had been president of First Trust & Savings Bank for several years, and Archie Max also served as the president of the bank. He also served as mayor of the Town of Oneida from 1939 to 1941, and was manager of his uncle’s store for 20 years. He died unexpectedly at his home in 1968, at the age of 60. He was the bank’s president at the time of his death. Some of the same town leaders who had served as pallbearers at his uncle’s funeral a year earlier also served as pallbearers at his funeral, including Arlie Lay and Arnold Colditz.
That banking lineage continued with Archie Newport’s son, Charles Max Newport (1943-2009). He was an employee of FTSB for more than 40 years, and served as its president from 2004 to 2009.
Charles Max Newport’s sister, Vicky Newport Lloyd, was buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens in 2006, as was her husband, Denton, in 2017.
Vicie Cooper’s other son, besides Archie Max, was Clayton Cooper Newport, who was buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens in 1993. He was the longtime manager of Cooper Funeral Home that had been started by his uncle.
Other Newports buried at the cemetery included Clayton Newport, the 19-year-old son of Clayton Cooper Newport and Marietta Settles, and his 76-year-old brother, Melvin E. Newport; newborn Larry Newport in 1959; Leland Newport, who was killed in a train-car collision in 1970, and his wife, Leoda, along with their son, James Louis Newport, who was murdered in 1984; and Melvin Newport’s daughter, Tracy Lynn, in 1999.
The cemetery today
The legacy of bankers at Cooper Memorial Gardens doesn’t end with the Cooper and Newport families. Longtime First National Bank president W.H. “Bill” Swain was buried at the cemetery in 2015.
Swain, a native of Michigan, moved to Scott County in 1942 at the age of 19 to operate his father’s lumber mill. He was elected president of First National, and spent the rest of his life with the bank in some capacity. Swain actually owned stock in First Trust & Savings Bank, but was elected president of First National at the behest of his close friend, Howard H. Baker Jr.
Swain played an instrumental role in bringing Roane State Community College to Scott County, and the Huntsville campus is named in his honor. As a timberman he brought the first chainsaw to Scott County. As a civic leader he played an instrumental role in the formation of Highland Telephone Cooperative.
Swain’s first wife, Marcy Lay, was buried at the cemetery in 1983, as was her mother, Anna Maye Cecil Lay. Swain also has a daughter, Nancy Swain Watters, buried at the cemetery.
There have been a number of other prominent Scott Countians buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens through the years.
The most recent person buried at the cemetery, as of this writing, was Eve Zdanio in April 2024. Her husband, Tom, was previously buried at the cemetery in 2016.
Other burials at the cemetery this year include Linda Davis Whaley and Edith Payne Foster. Their husbands, Larry Whaley and Art Foster, were previously buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens.
Cemetery census
COOPER MEMORIAL GARDENS
GPS Coordinates: 36.49880, -84.56890
First Burial: 1922
Last Burial: 2024
Anna Belle Davis Adams, 1897-1979
Joseph Adams, 1893-1965
Elma Byrd Allen, 1928-1999
Ernie Allen, 1946-1994
William Allen, 1923-2001
Donald Baker, 1936-2010
John Baker, 1884-1968
Lina Burress Baker, 1912-2000
Archie Blakeley, 1923-1993
Robert Blakeley, 1950-1995
Ruth Millsap Blakeley, 1925-2015
Bonnie Huckelby Blevins, 1917-1989
Noah Blevins, 1915-1999
Wyman Blevins, 1947-1974
Harriet Goad Bond, 1945-2019
Ben Bowling, 2005-2005
Ernest Bowling, 1925-1974
Nanny Fancher Bowling, 1942-2014
Wilma Smith Bowling, 1930-1974
Dave Brewster, 1905-1959
Kizzie Burke Brewster, 1905-1964
Ronald Brewster, 1942-2022
Timothy Bridges, 1963-1993
George Burk, 1893-1971
Gilbert Burk, 1955-2001
Lola Boyatt Burk, 1915-1979
Jasie Burress, 2006-2006
David Buttram, 1923-2007
David Buttram Jr., 1959-2018
Paxton Carroll, 1994-2006
Ama Davis Carter, 1903-1976
Claude Carter Sr., 1901-1983
Gladys Davis Carter, 1905-1987
Lloyd Carter, 1899-1973
Doris Cross Chitwood, 1937-2017
George Chitwood, 1904-1966
Lizzie Crank Chitwood, 1869-1958
Lora Porter Chitwood, 1910-1983
Richard Chitwood, 1932-2019
Carolyn Newport Clark, 1942-2024
Elmon Cooper, 1881-1958
Horace Cooper, 1888-1967
Jemima Taylor Cooper, 1849-1922
Myrtle Watters Cooper, 1891-1982
Nancy Louise Cooper, 1901-1968
William Cooper Jr., 1923-2007
William Sherman Cooper Sr., 1879-1963
John Coulter, 1883-1945
Bailey Cross, 1924-1987
Betty Millsap Cross, 1933-2018
Zula Duvall Cross, 1934-2008
Jonathan Daugherty, 1899-1949
Bessie Davis, 1894-1947
Blanche Davis, 1921-1948
John Davis, 1891-1951
John Davis, 1865-1944
Lena Davis, 1901-1990
Lucinda Chitwood Davis, 1867-1946
Mary Elliott Davis, 1888-1969
Richard Davis, 1930-1944
Rose Phillips Davis, 1895-1977
William Davis, 1883-1950
William Davis Jr., 1909-1984
Filmore Dunn, 1893-1968
Minnie Manis Dunn, 1896-1980
Dallas Duvall, 1938-2017
Charlene Frogge Eads, 1929-1998
Edward Eads, 1948-2011
Elizabeth Carroll Eads, 1955-2006
Melinda Eads, 1970-1990
Sammy Eads, 1951-2000
Bobby Fancher, 1963-2019
Shirley Smith Fancher, 1937-2007
Tommy Fancher, 1936-2005
Willie Fancher, 1929-1999
Arthur Foster, 1925-2010
Edith Payne Foster, 1931-2024
Anna Cannon Free, 1924-1998
Bertha Ledford Free, 1900-1979
Blakley Free, 1923-1966
Donald Free, 1944-1989
Judith Free, 1951-1951
Laura Free, 1960-1960
Raymond Free, 1921-1972
Richard Free, 1945-2024
Ronald Free, 1947-2015
William Free, 1900-1965
Clarence Granstaff, 1907-1973
Thelma Cecil Granstaff, 1907-1965
Amy Bridges Griffith, 1966-1996
Georgia Cecil Hamilton, 1906-1974
Lillian Phillips Hamilton, 1932-2016
William Hamilton Sr., 1929-2010
Jerry Max Hughes, 1935-2004
Larry Hutson, 1952-1984
Minnie Watters Hutson, 1901-1991
Alicia Ball Jeffers, 1975-2012
Edna Thompson Jeffers, 1912-1976
Eula DeBord Jeffers, 1923-2009
James Jeffers, 1915-1995
Robert Jeffers, 1907-1988
Frances Smith Jurgens, 1919-2005
Anna Sheppard King, 1941-2016
Gentry King, 1948-1949
Minnie Newberry King, 1907-1982
Willie King, 1908-1971
Aubrey Kiser, 1910-1982
Edythe Davis Kiser, 1912-1986
Floyd Lane, 1900-1973
Anna Cecil Lay, 1903-1988
Ezra Lonzo Lay, 1899-1958
Florence Cooper Leeper, 1890-1939
Denton Lloyd, 1936-2017
Visa Newport Lloyd, 1937-2006
Reba Millsap Loftus, 1923-1986
Azree Long, 1918-2005
Haley Long, 1979-2002
Lucy Ray Long, 1920-2013
Onva Lowe, 1942-2009
Darby Lyons, 1996-2016
Gary Lyons, 1956-2017
Retia Fancher Lyons, 1959-2020
Jacob Manis, 1993-2016
Mark Manis, 1960-2011
Hazel Lowe Mays, 1927-2012
Sharon Mays, 1952-2003
Andrew McCartt, 1934-1988
Lee Miller, 1865-1948
Rebecca Miller, 1874-1947
Gracie Fox Millsap, 1895-1980
Ira Millsap, 1894-1984
John Millsap, 1920-1945
Patricia Haley Moore, 1927-2010
Betty Millsap Morgan, 1933-2018
Archie Newport, 1908-1968
Calvin Newport, 1879-1953
Calvin Newport I, 1933-2006
Charles Newport, 1943-2009
Clayton Newport, 1913-1993
Clayton Newport, 1937-1957
Edith Newport, 1920-1959
Hugo Newport, 1914-2003
James Newport, 1927-1956
James Newport, 1940-1984
Larry Newport, 1959-1959
Leland Newport, 1908-1970
Leoda Edward Newport, 1914-2002
Luna Phillips Newport, 1905-2000
Marietta Settles Newport, 1915-1980
Marion Newport, 1941-1955
Melvin Newport, 1934-2011
Nellie Coffey Newport, 1920-1981
Reba Newport, 1910-1988
Tracy Newport, 1962-1999
Velma McIntyre Newport, 1935-2002
Walter Newport, 1916-1952
Fred Noland Jr., 1929-1997
Pauline Boyatt Noland, 1936-2011
Jimmy Owens Sr., 1938-2018
Marva Byrd Owens, 1938-2018
Orangie Cotton Payne, 1927-2004
Henry Pergram, 1894-1981
Robert Pergram, 1932-1979
Winnie Pergram, 1904-1998
Bonnie Perry, 1923-1983
Jack Perry, 1919-1997
Randall Perry, 1953-1989
Iva Lavender Phillips, 1951-2018
Margaret Chambers Phillips, 1863-1957
Mildred Evans Phillips, 1929-2014
Ronnie Phillips, 1956-2019
Elva Coffman Porter, 1934-1982
George Porter, 1904-1976
Jody Porter, 1970-2005
Oscar Porter, 1941-2004
Robert Porter, 1961-2015
Rose McCartt Porter, 1902-1983
Thomas Porter, 1929-2004
Vicky Mull Porter, 1962-2015
William Preyer II, 1949-1950
Darla Free Price, 1946-1978
Melva Newport Reed, 1937-2019
Harold Sanders, 1895-1950
Roxie Ooten Sanders, 1902-1961
Lewis Selvidge, 1920-1978
Andrew Sexton, 1872-1948
Charles Sexton, 1918-1998
Lula McCracken Sexton, 1878-1963
Mildred Stanfill Sharp, 1926-2007
Willard Sharp, 1923-2009
Gary Slaven, 1954-2004
Robert Smith, 1945-2021
Bradley Speck, 1894-1949
Wilda Cecil Speck, 1900-1996
Chester Stanfill, 1921-2014
James Stanfill, 1934-1990
Minnie King Stanfill, 1892-1973
William Stanfill, 1924-1943
Mollie Litton Stanley, 1882-1962
William Stanley, 1878-1957
Roger Stewart, 1947-2019
Sidney Stout, 1867-1946
John Swain Jr., 1919-1996
Martha Lay Swain, 1922-1983
Bill Swain, 1922-2015
Barbara Brown Terry, 1939-2017
Hillery Terry, 1911-1996
Lurie Douglas Terry, 1907-2002
Thomas Terry, 1939-2014
William Terry, 1935-2023
Johnie Thomas, 1905-1952
Ashley Thompson, 1974-2020
Clifford Thompson, 1923-2003
Doris Laxton Thompson, 1925-2008
Marie Stone Thompson, 1919-2006
May Sexton Thompson, 1928-2022
Mazel Lowe Thompson, 1937-2021
Merchison Thompson, 1915-2011
- H. Thompson, 1922-1974
Sue Terry Thompson, 1940-2016
Frances Crabtree Walden, 1946-2023
Robert Walden, 1939-2016
Bertie Stanfill Watson, 1914-1984
Charles Watson, 1944-2011
Ezra Watson, 1910-1992
Arthur Watters, 1903-1996
Bessie Blevins Watters, 1906-1989
Earl Watters, 1903-1944
Hazel Hamby Watters, 1914-1952
Mary Stephens Watters, 1880-1975
Myrna Watters, 1935-1950
Nancy Swain Watters, 1956-2004
Ray Watters, 1919-1997
Roland Watters, 1935-1961
William Watters, 1879-1959
Christopher West, 1913-1949
Katherine Free Westfall, 1925-2012
Larry Whaley, 1944-2020
Linda Davis Whaley, 1946-2024
Amos Woods, 1932-2011
JoAnn Porter Woods, 1933-2022
Eve Ziarkowsk Zdanio, 1947-2024
Tom Zdanio, 1941-2016
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.